The 2011 Digital NCAA Basketball Tourney: The First Four

Today is the first of our days unveiling matchups in this year's Digital NCAA Tourney. We'll start by breaking down the 4 play-in games for the tourney. Then we'll go region-by-region breaking down the field.

First, a reminder. These seeds were calculated using a weighted average between how the teams connect on social media, the level of access they give you to their program, the level of branding and emotion they deliver, the quality and depth of content, and (naturally) the intangibles... though it's digital so isn't everything intangible?

And finally, keep in mind that every team in this field of 68 is inspiring -- that's how they got here, to the big digital stage. And we can take great learnings from each of them.

Enjoy!

16-Hampton vs. 16-Arkansas Pine Bluff
This is a matchup of two conference champions, both of which lead by offering a clean design and a focus on getting you where they want to get you.

16-Hampton
Conference: MEAC
Website: http://www.hamptonpirates.com

How they got here: Won the MEAC's Automatic Bid by leveraging a clean design to connect directly with recruits. They hit you with a prominent "Join the Team. Get Recruited Here" call to action right from the comforts of the home page.



16-Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Conference: SWAC
Website: http://www.uapblionsroar.com

How they got here: Won the SWAC's Automatic Bid by pairing a clean design with a dynamic calendar that makes it pretty obvious when the action is happening.





16-South Carolina Upstate vs. 16- Liberty
Two teams that won their conferences show up in a 16-seed First Four game. That shows you just how tough this year's field is! Both squads find a way to add excitement around gametime, and they come at it from an entirely different standpoint.

16-South Carolina Upstate
Conference: Atlantic Sun
Website: http://www.upstatespartans.com

How they got here: Winner of the Atlantic Sun Conference's Bid. You have to dig for it, but the Spartans hit you with some great content from Coach Eddie Payne's website. Chief among the energy of this site is Traveling with the Spartans, a place where you can actually see what the team sees when they travel.



16-Liberty
Conference: Big South
Website: http://www.libertyflames.com

How they got here: Winner of the Big South's Automatic Bid. The Flames offer up an easy reminder of when the next game is, from a prominent countdown clock off the home page. They also pack together an athletics department social media widget!




15-Butler vs. 15-Indiana
This is one of those matchups I wish the NCAA Selection committee would bring out more often -- regional rivalries that don't get played in the regular season.

15-Butler
Conference: Horizon
Website: http://www.butlersports.com

How they got here: At-Large Bid. Strong play in the social media realm, as Butler does a strong job bringing their personality out across Facebook & Twitter.



15-Indiana
Conference: Big Ten
Website: http://www.iuhoosiers.cstv.com

How they got here: At-Large Bid. Indiana delivers good content, albeit tough to find inside a heavy recruiting virtual guide.





14 George Washington vs. 14-Middle Tennessee State
This matchup tells you a bit about the collective strength of the A10 and Sun Belt Conferences... or at least it tells you they have multiple bids.

14-George Washington
Conference: Atlantic 10
Website: http://www.gwsports.com

How they got here: At Large. Coach Hobbs gets you exactly what you need to understand once you hit his site -- what's the style of play? what's your philosophy? The challenge is that you have to get here to get this information.




14- Middle Tennessee State
Conference: Sun Belt
Website: http://www.goblueraiders.com

How they got here: At Large. The Blue Raiders give you easy, elegant access to their social media world. It's clean and it's clear where they want you to go.





Here's the bracket, updated.

Come back tomorrow as we dive into the first of our 4 regions...

As always, you can follow me on Facebook (here) or Twitter (I'm @pawlow34)

Andy

Big South Best Practices: Liberty's Social Media Window

Can you bring social media together in one place?

That's a great question... And, to be honest, I haven't seen a lot of places where this is done well. Many of us take the time to sync up Facebook and Twitter, but that's really more of a convenience thing than anything -- let us share with 2 networks at once. But can they really work together?

Hit the Liberty Athletics page, here and note the social media box in the bottom center of the image below.

Zooming in, you'll see that the default is set to "ALL," while there is individual access to both Facebook and Twitter. I'll take them on in a second, but first let's check out the ALL stream. I dig this because it is a simple feed of both sources, right here in the site. Each post gives easy access to the Liberty Athletics Twitter or Facebook page, but it's all brought here, together.

What we've called out before is that, by pumping these into the site, it makes you look at them differently -- Twitter and Facebook become more than a way to share what's new on the site (or they'd better!) But now, with both Twitter and Facebook brought together, they each need to form their own identity.


While the feed above shows only Twitter updates, in the image below you can see the style of Facebook updates. It's great to see the energy and personal communication style of Facebook pulled in, below...

Meanwhile, you have the quick, breaking news style of Twitter, shown here:

The result is a perfect marriage of personality and immediacy. Of elaboration and succinctness. And of two mechanisms of communication joined together. Really strong work here.

How could this be better? I'd like to see this style expanded to each sport. A filter and hashtagging system could allow the Flames to do just this -- thus allowing their style of two vehicles to connect individually with their key sports. The result? A crazy level of authentic communication tailored exactly to their audience...

With that is a wrap of the Big South Conference. Tune in next week as we shift gears to the next conference!

And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy

Big South Best Practices: Liberty's Countdown to the Game

Anticipation for the next game. The thing I love about anticipation is that, while it is something that happens naturally, we can influence the size of it by how we communicate. Enter Liberty's approach to game time.

Hit the Liberty Athletics page and it's right there before your eyes: a countdown clock packed with a sense of urgency that would make Jack Bauer and the crew at 24 happy. It's bold but not intrusive. And there's no doubt you're going to feel reminded about what's about to happen; maybe even a bit anxious.




I'll zoom in so you can get a better glimpse of what's available here: the next games for all teams, with their official game times and links to follow the action live when it happens. I believe that the design treatment of this makes you more compelled to attend. And, it's something that can continually reinvent itself through the seasons.


How could we make this better? Two things: 1) Personalization. Can I tweak it to only show the sports that I am vested in? For example, only Baseball or Basketball? 2) RSVP. Could we connect this to Facebook and have Fans RSVP to attend the game through Facebook events? This would allow for scale and let us get reminded, even when we aren't staring at the powerful clock!

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Big South! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy