College Basketball is dying on the vine for exactly what you just stated regarding the P5. They're trying to create a monopoly within the sport, and we saw it with that travesty of a tournament bracket this past season. What's ironic is that the mid-majors shut them up with the amount of upsets that occurred. But that won't change anything. It might actually make everything worse because the P5 monopoly doesn't want that. But they could care less of ruining the fun of upsets for the millions of people who fill out brackets.
Also, you can include what AAU and the fact that it has turned into a political machine/business along with the secret illegal contacts made between the likes of Nike and Under Armor with the colleges who are following the "one and done" model. Basically, it's organized crime through collegiate athletics.
I think CUSA and the SBC are playing catch-up at this point. They're trying to stay relevant in this time of change. It's definitely a start, but I think it might be too late. I hope that I'm wrong, but the style of basketball played now plus the fact that the politics that have gotten heavily involved has ruined the sport for me.
Mike, Basinbear and myself have been talking about schedule alliances for a few years now. This will be on the docket for football soon as well, after the next conference realignment. In fact, there won't be much more movement in actual conference realignment after the current TV Contracts expire. We will see more of it when it comes to NCAA Football within 5 to 7 years.
If they could prove that the administrator said there is a goal of eliminating mid major bids, a lawsuit may be viable. Not that I would advocate such a step as their are too many things in court now. Still, you are correct that this situation is hurting the sport.
Prime example: Oklahoma making the tournament over St. Mary's
Oklahoma didn't win a single conference road game, lost 13 games during the regular season, and bounced out early in the Big 12 tournament. Somehow, they get a 10 seed.
St. Mary's wins close to 30 regular season games while being ranked in the top 25 all season long. No automatic bid. NIT bound.
Then, the NCAA tries to pull a fast one by pairing Oklahoma with Rhode Island (10 vs. 7 seed) thinking that Oklahoma would win due to their conference affiliation only to lose in OT and get bounced out in the first round.
What these jack wagons don't understand is that they're killing their brand with their organized crime activities. At this point, I will still go to the UL basketball games due to being a fan. But unfortunately, I won't expect much more after that just by the way the model is being implemented.
The lack of at large bid possibility for mid majors is a major reason why basketball popularity has declined significantly in recent years. The fact they are still available in baseball and softball is a factory in why those sports have gained popularity over basketball in recent years.
Mike, schedule a non div I program and your RPI is neutral. In a very real way that's a loss of RPI. Schedule an elite on the road, lose and improve your RPI. So yes standing still can hurt.
We need to eradicate this bogus nonsense that playing a non Div I isn't harmful. Granted it’s not as harmful as beating #225 rated RPI teams.
I like the changes Mike. The SBC needs to also stop scheduling non-D1 schools. Maybe this will help. I like the on campus games for the first few rounds and moving to the Smoothy King is a great improvement. Not sure how all this will work long term, but something needed to change. Let’s see how this works.
I like any change that helps your best team through the whole year get to wreak havoc in the big dance. Also reduces the watered down home schedule which will attract more fan attendance for home games, especially in the last month of the season.
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