• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

UNI victory starts up ugly anti-midmajor talk

BUSongwriter said:
In addition to UNI, St. Mary's is a case in point. That's a fun team (emphasize TEAM) to watch, and the tournament wouldn't be the same without them.

The Sportscenter talking point of the morning....UNI is "the first MVC champion since the Stone Age to advance to the Sweet 16." Everyone was using it -- OK, they didn't say Stone Age, but some commentators used it twice in the same minute. They ignored the accomplishments this decade of the likes of BU, Wichita, and SIU because they hadn't won the conference title. Who dragged up that stat? Whereas if we were a "power conference," they'd use it the other way to show the depth of talent in the conference.

It's part fun watching them deal with this, and part maddening.
Click to expand...

It's more maddening for me because I am sincerely getting tired of their arrogance! Just admit these are good teams that probably won't win the national championship, but that still belong in the tournament because they earned their way there under the current guidelines that drive the selection process. They went out and played good teams, as has beens suggested by the same media hacks, and they won. And now these pundits are upset.

Well then, tell Kansas, Villanova and Georgetown to play better the next time! Then they can actually win their way to the championship.

What a novel concept!
 
BUfan14 said:
I am against expansion unless it is to 68 teams, then I really don't care. Just have 4 play in games. It will never go back down though so no worry of that, way too much money involved. 96 teams water it down, makes the brackets less appealing to fill out, and makes deciding who gets a bye way too important. Most likely it would be the "mid-majors" that suffer if byes had to be decided upon.

On the subject of the "mid-majors" ruining the tourny, what makes the tournament great is the little guys advancing. Why do people love filling out the brackets? Because no one knows who is going to advance, and it makes it a lot of fun to see who was right. I remember a couple years ago all number 1's made it, it was the most boring bracket and tournament ever. Everyone loves the underdogs, it is what makes the tournament great. They haven't ruined it, they have made it the great sporting event it is.
Click to expand...

Agreeded. I'm not for putting in teams that have not earned their way into the tournament. Unlike the NFL and other pro leagues though, 64 or 65 teams are necessary due to the huge pool of existing teams. And you still have to play pretty darn well to earn a bid into this tournament. That's why the lesser tournaments don't have the following this one does, not even the NIT. That's why 96 teams would be a mistake in my opinion.

The more I think of it though, the more I like the 68 team proposal which would involve four play-in games. However, they need to involve the first four teams out and the last four teams in a traditional 64 team format. Have each "out" team play one "in" team for the right of earning a #12 seed in the main tournament. That way the first four out have no room to complain if they happen to lose this one game "playoff" to play their way into the tournament. And that would garner a huge audience on that Tuesday before the main tournament begins. And even CBS might be able to run those games assuming they still have the contract.

It's so simple, and yet may make too much sense to some people!
 
Beninator said:
I am against the 96 team expansion as well. Technically most schools are in the running... All those schools have to do is to win their conference tournament.
Click to expand...

I'm against the the 96 team expansion especially if they do not come up with a fair way to seed the teams. They'll just make more mid-majors play an extra game.
 
SFP said:
I'm against the the 96 team expansion especially if they do not come up with a fair way to seed the teams. They'll just make more mid-majors play an extra game.
Click to expand...

That's the big fear here. The Valley may routinely get two or three or occasionally four teams into the tournament under this format. But when our teams start getting seeded 15th, 19th and 22nd, the mid-major conferences are going to wish this new format never came into being!

Maybe a slight exaggeration here as there will be some high seeded non-BCS teams, but most will be seeded below mediocre .500 BCS teams every time. Just watch!
 
The NCAA will opt out of their contact with CBS this spring, then I expect them to announce an expansion of the NCAA tournament to 96 teams. Bottom line the NCAA(ESPN) does not care about integrity or tradition its about money.

The 96 teams simply gives more opportunity to have more BCS schools in the tourney.

I was driving yesterday and heard a local guy on Houston sports radio crying about how he wants to see upsets the first day but after that he wants nothing but BCS or in his words the name schools playing. He essentially said it is like having Boise State in the BCS, it just does not seem right.

So his logic is simple if the name is recognizable then it is important that I see them play in the latter stages of the NCAA tourney... this is a mentality of alot of National people. They do not follow the sport until maybe Feb then if they do they only will watch a few minutes of games from the BCS's and then conclude those are the best teams... because thats all they care to know about.

The uniformed is what is driving this 96 team tourney.. yes the NCAA is pushing it but it is because now the NCAA can get into the pockets of the Auburn or Oregon fan because now they have a real reason to follow. The expansion has nothing to do with Bradley or St Louis U its only about BCS.

The NCAA is so money hungry they have forgotten or ignored the fact that all D1 teams are involved in the NCAA but they really only want and care about the 70 or so school who are associated with the BCS. 96 teams and the exclusive rights to the tourney by ESPN... I say by August.
 
greed?? but doesn't all this legislation promise endless freebies without ever having to do anything to earn it??
That's the greed that's killing this nation...grab now and huge giveaways and pass the costs on to the next generation..
 
Future Walk-On said:
I agree with Doug Gottlieb about the expansion. "NO."
Click to expand...

Gottlieb is one of the few on ESPN that knows what he's talking about. I can listen to him and Lunardi all day and not get tired of them.

Good that there are at least a few out there in the drive-by media that think this is a bad idea!
 
houstontxbrave said:
The NCAA will opt out of their contact with CBS this spring, then I expect them to announce an expansion of the NCAA tournament to 96 teams. Bottom line the NCAA(ESPN) does not care about integrity or tradition its about money.

The 96 teams simply gives more opportunity to have more BCS schools in the tourney.

I was driving yesterday and heard a local guy on Houston sports radio crying about how he wants to see upsets the first day but after that he wants nothing but BCS or in his words the name schools playing. He essentially said it is like having Boise State in the BCS, it just does not seem right.

So his logic is simple if the name is recognizable then it is important that I see them play in the latter stages of the NCAA tourney... this is a mentality of alot of National people. They do not follow the sport until maybe Feb then if they do they only will watch a few minutes of games from the BCS's and then conclude those are the best teams... because thats all they care to know about.

The uniformed is what is driving this 96 team tourney.. yes the NCAA is pushing it but it is because now the NCAA can get into the pockets of the Auburn or Oregon fan because now they have a real reason to follow. The expansion has nothing to do with Bradley or St Louis U its only about BCS.

The NCAA is so money hungry they have forgotten or ignored the fact that all D1 teams are involved in the NCAA but they really only want and care about the 70 or so school who are associated with the BCS. 96 teams and the exclusive rights to the tourney by ESPN... I say by August.
Click to expand...

Well houston, I hope your prediction is wrong, but I'm afraid this is what may very well happen too.

Also, this talk show host is so misguided it's not even funny! First of all, it's not his tournament, so he has no say in who gets picked.

And second, aren't Butler, Memphis or Xavier familiar enough names for him?! :roll:
 
tornado said:
greed?? but doesn't all this legislation promise endless freebies without ever having to do anything to earn it??
That's the greed that's killing this nation...grab now and huge giveaways and pass the costs on to the next generation..
Click to expand...

Thank you! And don't even get me started on the garbage that passes as health care that got passed last night! :mad:
 
BUSongwriter said:
The Sportscenter talking point of the morning....UNI is "the first MVC champion since the Stone Age to advance to the Sweet 16." Everyone was using it -- OK, they didn't say Stone Age, but some commentators used it twice in the same minute. They ignored the accomplishments this decade of the likes of BU, Wichita, and SIU because they hadn't won the conference title.
Click to expand...

I liked how a CBS commentator said that UNI is looking to become the 1st team since Larry Bird and Indiana St. to reach the Sweet 16 in the Missouri Valley since 1979.
Where has he been this past decade???
SIU (2), BU, WSU made it to the Sweet 16 since 2001. Am I missing any? I know that SMS made it in 1999-2000, and Tulsa in the mid '90's I think.
He later corrected himself (probably after someone informed him) and said they are the 1st MVC regular season champ to make it to the Sweet 16.
But wasn't WSU the MVC champs of 2005-'06?
They also pointed out that this conference is continuing to grow.
Thankfully UNI has gotten to this point, or I would say that the conference has weakened since making runs a few years ago.
Very little respect for the Valley!
 
Missouri Valley - Sweet 16

Missouri Valley - Sweet 16

LittleBrave said:
I liked how a CBS commentator said that UNI is looking to become the 1st team since Larry Bird and Indiana St. to reach the Sweet 16 in the Missouri Valley since 1979.
Where has he been this past decade???
SIU (2), BU, WSU made it to the Sweet 16 since 2001. Am I missing any? I know that SMS made it in 1999-2000, and Tulsa in the mid '90's I think.
He later corrected himself (probably after someone informed him) and said they are the 1st MVC regular season champ to make it to the Sweet 16.
But wasn't WSU the MVC champs of 2005-'06?
They also pointed out that this conference is continuing to grow.
Thankfully UNI has gotten to this point, or I would say that the conference has weakened since making runs a few years ago.
Very little respect for the Valley!
Click to expand...

I thought I heard that first. I never heard them mention Bradley either since it was another Missouri Valley team that knocked out #4 seed Kansas in 2006 in the first round. As far as respect, there was no other valley team deserving of the NCAA this year.

I really don't hope they mess with the tournament format. If they expand to 96, the entire Big East conference will be in the tournament.
 
I still like the idea of 80 teams total. It may water down the tourney a bit, but not as much as 96 teams. I think that 11-12 teams are more deserving than 11-12 that make it due to Automatic bids. And then you have the 4 that are snubbed every year.
Seeds 1-11 would get a bye. Start the tourney on Tuesday for 32 teams to play for the final 16 spots to make the core field of 64.
The only problem might be the lack of rest to play 2 games in 3 days, and possibly 3 games in 5 days, but I think with the adrenaline and conditioning of today's players, it wouldn't matter that much. Just make sure that the final 32 teams play in the same building as they play for the next round (Thurs./Fri.)
 
It should be the 8 lowest at-large teams playing for 4 spots. That is the way I think it should be. 8 teams playing to determine who the four 12 seeds will be. Let the small schools be the 16 seed and not have to play-in for the right to be a 16 seed.
 
Or we let the 8 small conferences each have a representative in the play-in games. The 4 winners get one extra share for their conferences. That's $1.5 million. Arkansas-Pine Bluff earned the SWAC an extra $1.5 million by beating Winthrop this year.

I'd rather see the money for playing a 2nd game go to the little guys than the big guys. Putting the last at-large teams in the play-in games actually feeds the power confereces who get those bids an extra $6 million.

The extra play-in games could be a very well disguised cash grab by the big boys ;)
 
MDCowboy said:
It should be the 8 lowest at-large teams playing for 4 spots. That is the way I think it should be. 8 teams playing to determine who the four 12 seeds will be. Let the small schools be the 16 seed and not have to play-in for the right to be a 16 seed.
Click to expand...

That would have got Virginia Tech in so they couldn't cry about how they deserved to be in the tournament more then many of the other teams.

NEWSFLASH to VT: Improve your schedule and quite playing teams w/ RPI of +300 and you may be able to get in the tournament.
If I had a say in who gets in I would set up a criteria of any BCS team that wants a chance to play in the Tounament must play at least 75% of their games against non BCS teams w/ RPI's below 150 and maybe even below 125-then you get 23 wins VT you would be able to make the tourn. but then again w/a schedule like that you might not get to 20 wins.

Leave the tournament just like it is but make these BCS teams responsible and not just in their leagues. They may be good but how many BE teams are left-I for one am loving every minute and yes I picked UNI w/o any reservations after watching them play this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top