burden
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NCAA Tournament
All you are hearing is how many upsets etc have occurred. If you know college basketball it’s true but if you are just a casual fan it’s far from obvious when you look at the sweet sixteen. Twelve of the sixteen teams are still from the big 5 conferences, one from the Big East and Gonzaga. Hardly a bunch of mid majors. Only Nevada from the MWC and Loyola are big surprises.
On the women’s side 13 from the Big 5 and Connecticut fill the 16 slots. Only Buffalo and CMU are riff raff.
There were a lot of upsets but when it’s all said and done the major conferences still dominate. The only difference this year is that the Power 5 teams that made it weren’t the expected ones. That actually strengthens the argument that mid majors shouldn’t get many at large bids.
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03-21-2018 08:20 AM |
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Slinkin Street Flash
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RE: NCAA Tournament
No team seeded lower than 8th has ever made it to the Championship game. So since the theoretical reason for the tournament is to crown a champion, we really don't need any seeds lower than 8th. The NCAA can cut the first round out without affecting the outcome...
...but ... that's the theoretical reason for the tournament. The real reason for the tournament is to make a product to sell. Adding more teams in adds more games to sell, but it also adds excitement down into the conference tournaments. Knowing the MAC Champion gets into March Madness adds a lot of interest to the MAC Tournament, and to lots of other league tournaments. The MAC might win one conference game in 10 years, but that's enough to keep the dope on the rope.
If the NCAA thought they could reap in a lot more cash by adding 64 more teams, it woulda already been done. The play-in games seem like a first step towards going to 64 more teams, but I think the pay-ins haven't shown enough interest to say the cash is there,
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03-21-2018 11:29 AM |
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luckyflash
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RE: NCAA Tournament
(03-21-2018 11:29 AM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote: No team seeded lower than 8th has ever made it to the Championship game. So since the theoretical reason for the tournament is to crown a champion, we really don't need any seeds lower than 8th. The NCAA can cut the first round out without affecting the outcome...
...but ... that's the theoretical reason for the tournament. The real reason for the tournament is to make a product to sell. Adding more teams in adds more games to sell, but it also adds excitement down into the conference tournaments. Knowing the MAC Champion gets into March Madness adds a lot of interest to the MAC Tournament, and to lots of other league tournaments. The MAC might win one conference game in 10 years, but that's enough to keep the dope on the rope.
If the NCAA thought they could reap in a lot more cash by adding 64 more teams, it woulda already been done. The play-in games seem like a first step towards going to 64 more teams, but I think the pay-ins haven't shown enough interest to say the cash is there,
The play-in games in Dayton sell out every year. I do agree if they could monetize the another round or 2 NCAA would do it. They are all about the $$$$$
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03-21-2018 12:07 PM |
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Muskrat
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RE: NCAA Tournament
It's definitely all about the money. Pretty much everything is.
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03-21-2018 02:16 PM |
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Muskrat
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RE: NCAA Tournament
The NCAA and the networks love upsets, to sell the "product", but they don't want TOO many upsets, and after the first couple of rounds they would prefer their dark horses to be from Power 6 conferences, like Syracuse this year. And after all is said and done, they would be happy to have a final four each year of Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.
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03-21-2018 02:25 PM |
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burden
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RE: NCAA Tournament
(03-21-2018 02:25 PM)Muskrat Wrote: The NCAA and the networks love upsets, to sell the "product", but they don't want TOO many upsets, and after the first couple of rounds they would prefer their dark horses to be from Power 6 conferences, like Syracuse this year. And after all is said and done, they would be happy to have a final four each year of Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.
No doubt. I’ve always said first round upsets lead to a second round of blow outs.
(This post was last modified: 03-21-2018 03:37 PM by burden.)
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03-21-2018 03:30 PM |
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burden
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RE: NCAA Tournament
I can think of one thing that’s not about the money. The women’s tournament. Other than the final four it’s has to be a huge financial loss. To be honest I’m surprised even ESPN covers it (although much less than in the past). As most on this board know, I am a big fan of women’s basketball but looking at the crowds and ratings I’m not investing any of my retirement funds in the game. I’d be in the poor house in no time.
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03-21-2018 03:37 PM |
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Muskrat
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RE: NCAA Tournament
True Burden, but because of the law usually referred to as "Title IX", they have to have the women's tournament. Any monetary loss because of it is more than offset by the men's tournament.
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03-21-2018 05:53 PM |
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burden
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RE: NCAA Tournament
They might be required to have one but nobody is required to televise it(at least I don’t think so). I have to believe ESPN would love to drop most of it but are scared of the criticism. They have reduced it from broadcasting all 63 games a few years ago to about half of that number. I know the NCAA uses some blackmailing techniques to make them show some games in return for being able to televise the regular season games but I think ESPN and others bid somewhat less because of it. They have to get money to pay Rebecca Lobo, et al from somewhere. It’s better to make a $1,000,000 than $900,000.
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03-21-2018 06:23 PM |
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Muskrat
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RE: NCAA Tournament
Yeah, nobody HAS to televise anything, But I think you're right. There would be too much criticism if it wasn't covered to some extent. So, in the long run, it's part of a "package", a part that is a monetary drain, but the "package", as a whole, is all about the money and is very profitable.
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03-22-2018 04:37 AM |
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