(04-03-2017 07:36 PM)doss2 Wrote:  

(04-03-2017 11:49 AM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  

(04-02-2017 01:27 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  North Carolina in the championship game? How is this possible? They have a D1 football program anchoring them down?

Seems like FB doesn't "derail the basketball bus" at North Carolina.

Holy christ this is a stupid debate.

Yes, if a school has a football program, it will be more difficult to financially support two entities. For instance, imagine if the 100 mil we put into the stadium was instead channeled into the upcoming basketball renovations. We could build the freakin KFC Yum Center with that kind of cash.

However, programs that are basketball only operate as such for a reason. Xavier, Gonzaga, Villinova, etc. these are all small, mostly private schools with less than a quarter of our enrollment. Quite frankly, they don't have the resources to support a football program to begin with, and thus focus their energy on basketball.

All in all, it's a moot point. Our football program doesn't help our basketball by any means, but we are fortunate to support a major university that can compete at a high level in both major sports. It wasn't that long ago that we were one of 5 programs to field a top 25 basketball and football team in the same year. I'm sure we will return to that distinction soon.

You would not have raised the same money for BB only that was raised for both.

That's a great observation. With UC averaging less than 10,000 for basketball and maybe 30,000 for football you are reaching a new cohort at Nippert, some of whom may not be passionate about basketball. We can't assume if football disappeared all that revenue would flow to basketball.

Unrelated, but I think it's a big mistake for the NCAA championship to be played on a school/work night with a tipoff at almost 9:30 p.m. Play this one on a weekend and people would make it a special occasion much like Super Bowl Sunday. Kids could watch as well.