Re: Source: 96-team March Madness a 'done deal'

[Banedon]

I am so happy that the NCAA cares so much about the STUDENT-athlete. MY bad, ATHLETE-student.

 

Eliminate collage basketball completely and call it the minor league for the NBA that is sponsored by a college

 

Ok, I'm gonna make my trip to crazy town and actually try to have an actual conversation out of this. It's fruitless, but I'm bored.

 

Why, if you were going to have an NBA minor league, would a college sponsor it? Because colleges are so rich with money (especially after they drop college basketball) that they have cash to throw at minor league sports?

[CubbieBum]

Seems like a lot of the arguments against this are similar to arguments against the wild card in MLB. Makes the playoffs less important...makes upsets less likely (the opposite was true in MLB actually)...undeserving teams getting a shot...etc

 

I know it's not a 1 to 1 comparison there...but I think people are pretty negative about this before its had a chance here.

 

Problem with comparing it to MLB is that MLB had so few teams in the playoffs before that they should have upped the number with wild cards. The NCAA already did the comparable wild card upping of teams. That was when they went to 64/65. This would be like MLB adding two more teams to both the NL and AL playoffs. You would go from having the right amount of teams to having too many and causing a lot of problems.

[chuckywang]

I'm guessing that the 32 lowest seeds have a playin round to get into the bracket of 64? Or each region will be broken into seeds 1-24. I can't wait to predict a 23-2 upset on my bracket.

 

1-24 seeding will not work since 24 is not a power of 2.

[RedFlash]

I don't watch college basketball till March anyways. But I don't really like the idea of basically invited everybody from D1 to play in what should be an elite tournament. 64 teams is fine, I prefer 32, but 64 is something I've learned to live with.

[chuckywang]

What happens to the CBI?

 

The correct question is "If the CBI is played and nobody watches it, did it actually happen?"

[chuckywang]

Here's one thing I won't like at all......Assuming that the top 8 seeds all get byes anyway. We won't have those 3-14, 4-13, 5-12, and 6-11 matchups where it's likely a power versus a mid-major, with the mid-major being the bigtime underdog and fighting like hell to earn some respect and doing it quite often, whether by winning or at least giving the powerhouse team a game for a while. To me, that's one of the best things about the tournament. Under this new format, it's likely to be those same 11-14 seeds as favorites against 19-22 seeds, which are very likely to be also rans from your major conferences. Or lesser mid majors, which just takes the level of play down quite a bit, not to mention the excitement as well.......

 

Take it a step further and realize that those same 3-6 seeds would then get to see their eventual opponent in action right before they play them, the surprise factor leaves us, and talent will probably win out more than it did before.

 

I've never looked at a bubble team that missed out to where I thought "damn, if they had just made it in, they could have won the whole damn thing". To me, it's not worth changing something that has very little to no flaws as it is.

 

We're getting fewer and fewer power versus mid-majors games anyways. Part of the reason for that is that fewer mid majors are getting at-large bids. You're getting more of the power vs. power or high mid-major (Xavier/Gonzaga/Butler) vs. mid-major or even high mid-major vs. low power games in the first round.

 

To me, the best tournament was in 2006 ... lots of exciting games, lots of startling Cinderella upsets. The tournament has declined since that year and has featured fewer and fewer of those upsets. I think expansion would be a good thing.

 

I think an analogous example would be the FA Cup that is played every year in England. Think of the NCAA Tournament, and take it to the next level. There are over 700 teams that compete and there are tremendous upsets. Who says the same can't happen still with a 96 team tourney?

[NCCubFan]

The "done deal" is not a done deal. It is being discussed as a possibility.

[hardcorecubfan]

I am so happy that the NCAA cares so much about the STUDENT-athlete. MY bad, ATHLETE-student.

 

Eliminate collage basketball completely and call it the minor league for the NBA that is sponsored by a college

 

Ok, I'm gonna make my trip to crazy town and actually try to have an actual conversation out of this. It's fruitless, but I'm bored.

 

Why, if you were going to have an NBA minor league, would a college sponsor it? Because colleges are so rich with money (especially after they drop college basketball) that they have cash to throw at minor league sports?

 

It is the pre-tense that these guys are actually students. I am saying we call it what it is a minor league camp for the NBA and a giant fund raiser for the University. the NCAA gives a crap about students.

 

I believe if any kid gives up a four year scholarship to go pro then they own the university the amount of that scholarship back.

 

Though college is much more entertaining than the NBA it markets itself under the delusions of developing the whole person when we all know what it is about. I am just asking for them to be honest with this suggestion to expand the format. If they do care about the student they would reduce the tournament time down as well as the number of teams so the student can get back and study for mid-terms

[Derwood]

should a business major who gets a full ride have to give his scholarship back if he leaves school early?

[hardcorecubfan]

should a business major who gets a full ride have to give his scholarship back if he leaves school early?

 

If the assets of the school directly get him a job? Yes. A business major would not have film produced and edited by the AV department, nor would he have agents sitting in on his classes to try to sign him. They are are not marketed by the university either

[SouthSideRyan]

Shouldn't you have had to be capable of getting into college to take part in this conversation?

[Derwood]

hardcore frequently forgets that no university would have a track or cross country team without the football and basketball programs

[hardcorecubfan]

hardcore frequently forgets that no university would have a track or cross country team without the football and basketball programs

 

No I didn't. I am saying that they should quit the pre-tense that these guys are students. they are money maker so unless they really want to they don't have to go to class. don't take up a seat that could go to someone who wants to learn, then they can concentrate on football and basketball and bringing in money for the University.

 

There is a college in Alabama that dropped there football program and the enrollment went up as well as the overall grade point average, not only that but the secondary sports participation skyrocketed despite a fee needing to be paid.

 

I will look it up but I heard it on NPR

[hardcorecubfan]

Shouldn't you have had to be capable of getting into college to take part in this conversation?

 

So, I guess you haven't? Sorry about that, someday you will be old enough. :roll:

[Derwood]

to make a blanket statement that student athletes don't care about learning is utterly indefensible

[TruffleShuffle]

hardcore frequently forgets that no university would have a track or cross country team without the football and basketball programs

 

No I didn't. I am saying that they should quit the pre-tense that these guys are students. they are money maker so unless they really want to they don't have to go to class. don't take up a seat that could go to someone who wants to learn, then they can concentrate on football and basketball and bringing in money for the University.

 

There is a college in Alabama that dropped there football program and the enrollment went up as well as the overall grade point average, not only that but the secondary sports participation skyrocketed despite a fee needing to be paid.

 

major college sports - like u. of alabama at tuscaloosa - is completely different than small colleges. my alma mater (holy cross) loses over a million dollars a year on their football team; alabama probably funds their entire athletic department with their team.

[radarluv1]

i went to a D3 school where they cant give athletic shollies. it would always suck to hear from a moron athlete who was given "academic" scholarships, despite being in the dumbest 10% of all students there.

[TruffleShuffle]

i went to a D3 school where they cant give athletic shollies. it would always suck to hear from a moron athlete who was given "academic" scholarships, despite being in the dumbest 10% of all students there.

 

yeah some of the patriot league teams do that for swimming (we did not, which was why we sucked relative to the other teams). a friend of mine was on a half-"academic" scholarship to lehigh while swimming there. when he quit swimming before his senior year his "academic" scholarship went away. another guy i knew was on partial "academic" scholarship to lehigh even though he scored under 1000 on his SATs. non-athletes don't get into lehigh with SATs that bad, let alone getting an academic scholarship.

[hardcorecubfan]

to make a blanket statement that student athletes don't care about learning is utterly indefensible

 

 

I said the ones that don't care.

 

I am surprised at this board, considering 99 percent of you want to be just like Europe. The Europeans have club ball and seem to survive.

 

My suggestion is simple let the college use these athletes to make money and the athletes in return get exposure and first class fascilities and coaching to help them reach their ultimate goal, the nba. If they choose to go to class, great!

 

You know and I know the athletes are the most driven of students in college and usually are the ones ending up with the MBA's, PHd and higher level degrees, but there is a segment that don't strive for anything greater than the NBA or NFL, and there is a segment of our society that believe the only job of a university is to win championships and produce NBA/NFL players. I am just trying to find a happy medium, just don't call them student-athletes if you are demanding more athlete than student

Edited February 7, 2010 by hardcorecubfan

[Derwood]

what on earth are you talking about?

[hardcorecubfan]

what on earth are you talking about?

Come on Derwood, you know, a liberal agenda includes looking like a European model, in Europe they don't have college sports so if we are going to go with this model I say let's go all the way and only have club ball. Unless you deny that fact then you would be in a conservative camp when it comes to sports.

[Derwood]

what on earth are you talking about?

Come on Derwood, you know, a liberal agenda includes looking like a European model, in Europe they don't have college sports so if we are going to go with this model I say let's go all the way and only have club ball. Unless you deny that fact then you would be in a conservative camp when it comes to sports.

 

 

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss251/jakesyma/animated_gifs/scanners.gif

 

[hardcorecubfan]

what on earth are you talking about?

Come on Derwood, you know, a liberal agenda includes looking like a European model, in Europe they don't have college sports so if we are going to go with this model I say let's go all the way and only have club ball. Unless you deny that fact then you would be in a conservative camp when it comes to sports.

 

 

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss251/jakesyma/animated_gifs/scanners.gif

 

Derwood, you know I love ya, come on and give me a hug

[bcl412]

Aren't sports scholarships given on a year by year basis (I thought this was the case)? If so the idea to pay back every dollar from a 4 year scholarship is dumb because they don't exist.

[Sosa21MVP]

I don't watch college basketball till March anyways. But I don't really like the idea of basically invited everybody from D1 to play in what should be an elite tournament. 64 teams is fine, I prefer 32, but 64 is something I've learned to live with.

 

Yeah 96 teams isn't anywhere near letting all D1 teams in the tournament. There are like 300+ D1 teams last I checked.