The ACC baseball tournament is going on right now in a city that isn't Boston, like it was scheduled to be. The five-day tournament takes eight teams, divides them into two divisions and has them play round-robin style. Teams play three games in four days before the championship game on Sunday.

The Big 12 also uses this format and it's a big improvement over the double-elimination model. Fans know their team is guaranteed three games and know when their team will play. And it keeps fans in town for a minimum of four days, rather than two. It's a good idea.

But what if the concept was extended to the basketball tournament? It'll never happen in the ACC, but I think some of the smaller conferences should look at it. The WCC and Big East have staggered tournaments to try and keep its worst teams out of the championship game.

But the round robin does this by making the lesser teams pull multiple upsets to make the final. And, if there's a need for a three-team tie, the tiebreaker goes to the team with the best regular season record.

Advantages: Three more conference games to build RPI, fans guaranteed multiple games, more fans stay more days to spend money in host city, harder for a team with no NCAA Tournament shot to get the automatic bid, more games for TV.

Disadvantages: Not an all-comers tournament, teams can lose and still win the tournament.

Here's how the 2009 ACC Tournament would have looked with this format:

Pool A: No. 1 North Carolina, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Clemson, No. 8 Virginia Tech
Pool B: No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 3 Duke, No. 6 Boston College, No. 7 Maryland
Home: Miami, NC State, Virginia, Georgia Tech

Wednesday: FSU vs. Clemson, UNC vs. VT, WF vs. Maryland
Thursday: FSU vs. VT, UNC vs. Clemson, Duke vs. BC
Friday: Clemson vs. VT, Duke vs. Maryland, WF vs. BC
Saturday: UNC vs. FSU, WF vs. Duke, BC vs. Maryland
Sunday: Championship

Linkage

Hokies

- A trip to a really awful baseball game. (The North End Zone)
- Beamer talks to Michael Vick. (Annette)

ACC and Opponents

- America thinks GT will be better than UGa. (The Legacyx4)
- Scalp 'Em doesn't want or need your access. (Scalp 'Em)
- Does anonymity matter to blog readers? (Corn Nation)
- Maryland has O-line concerns for 2009. (Turtle Waxing)

Stuff Only I Care About

- The main motivation for me to watch that show. (EDSBS)
- NCAA 10 suggestions for the rest of us. (Dr. Saturday)
- JC Watts is in the BCS' pocket. (The Lost Ogle)
- Papi went deep. /*confetti* (Over the Monster)
- It's going to be a good weekend. (Buffett News)
- Blogs vs. MSM, round 172. (Stampede Blue)