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The 'March Madness' path still maddening for mid-majors


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I hate the term mid-major...

The 'March Madness' path still maddening for mid-majors


...If there’s any coach in the country who could relate to the disappointment Monmouth felt on Selection Sunday, it’s Kermit Davis at Middle Tennessee.

Davis and the Blue Raiders became one of the stars of this year’s NCAA Tournament after busting America’s collective bracket by upsetting highly regarded two seed Michigan State.

But it was only four years ago that Middle Tennessee was Monmouth; sitting on the outside of the NCAA Tournament in 2012 despite 27 wins, the best record in the Sun Belt and wins over UCLA, Ole Miss and tournament participant Belmont.

The Blue Raiders won 28 games, beat SEC Tournament champion Vanderbilt and Ole Miss again the next season, but were one of the last four teams in the NCAA Tournament after being upset again in the Sun Belt Tournament.

“Our nonconference schedule was so good that year, but even then we had no margin for error,” Davis said. “The whole thing is you’ve got to win games and schedule smart for the selection committee to even consider you.

“That’s hard for mid-major coaches to do who are trying to progress their programs and keep their jobs.” .....

 

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5 hours ago, UNT90 said:

And I'm sure it's gotten even tougher after the Davison back to back title game years.

Cant have THAT happen again...

I'm guessing you mean Butler in 2010 & 11. 

The whole system is rigged to favor the P5 (money makers). The whole BPI and RPI are numbers put into a systematic formula with numbers created by human beings that way more times than not have a hard on for the blue bloods and the step-brothers of. Football included. Just a bunch of arbitrary BS. 

It makes me grin ear to ear watching Nova knock off UNC. But more impressive was their entire run of beating Iowa in rd of 32, Miami in sweet 16, Kansas in Elite 8, OU in semis and UNC tonight. It has to be one of the toughest gauntlets in NCAA history. Also, make no mistake, the Big East is no more a "P5" conference. Their budget is far more closer to ours than it is UNC's or KU's or etc. It's almost like vengeance watching tonight. 

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I don't know man...Big East basketball has TV deals that make me think it's a helluva closer to being a P5 than you think.  Their games are on FS1 all the time and Fox most weekends.

 

I was also pulling for them, but Connecticut and Nova and some of those other schools...they do not skimp on basketball budget.

 

 

(That was an amazing game...one of the best title games I've seen.)

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6 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

I'm guessing you mean Butler in 2010 & 11. 

The whole system is rigged to favor the P5 (money makers). The whole BPI and RPI are numbers put into a systematic formula with numbers created by human beings that way more times than not have a hard on for the blue bloods and the step-brothers of. Football included. Just a bunch of arbitrary BS. 

It makes me grin ear to ear watching Nova knock off UNC. But more impressive was their entire run of beating Iowa in rd of 32, Miami in sweet 16, Kansas in Elite 8, OU in semis and UNC tonight. It has to be one of the toughest gauntlets in NCAA history. Also, make no mistake, the Big East is no more a "P5" conference. Their budget is far more closer to ours than it is UNC's or KU's or etc. It's almost like vengeance watching tonight. 

Yes, Butler. Thank you.

Great game last night, but Villanova has been a big boy for a while. Butler's 2 runs were much mrs impressive. Butler wasn't a member of the Big East during those runs, they were a member of something called the Horizon League. That's 2 hell of a runs.

Edited by UNT90
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All I know is that I placed my first legal sports bet 23 years ago.  Since then, I have won exactly zero dollars and zero cents on every sports related wager I've made.  Twenty three years.  Zero dollars, zero cents.  Let that sink in for a while.

Until last night.  

I know nothing about Villanova.  I don't know what state they're in.  I don't know what their mascot is.  I have no idea what their win to criminal act ratio is.  Nothing.

But their victory last night secured me sole possession of second place out of 61 brackets in the office pool last night.

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11 hours ago, CMJ said:

I don't know man...Big East basketball has TV deals that make me think it's a helluva closer to being a P5 than you think.  Their games are on FS1 all the time and Fox most weekends.

 

I was also pulling for them, but Connecticut and Nova and some of those other schools...they do not skimp on basketball budget.

 

 

(That was an amazing game...one of the best title games I've seen.)

The Big East in basketball is still a power league. When the Power Conferences pull away from the rest of us, trust me, the Big East schools will be included with the current power leagues. The current Big East has 10 schools that are all private schools with lots of monied alums and big markets to attract TV and recruits. Its not the original Big East from the 80s, but it also isn't that far away from it. Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Villanova, Xavier, Marquette, DePaul, Butler, and Creighton is still a very solid setup--and they can always poach off other Top A10 or MVC teams that they feel like would be a great compliment to their league.

I still don't understand why power conferences don't add some of these schools for non-football admission. Wichita State would be a nice fit in the Big XII, as would Northern Iowa. Gonzaga and St. Mary's would be great schools to be added to the Pac-12. And the SEC, who really needs to upgrade in hoops, could add teams like VCU and Davidson, for example. That strengthens their revenue sports not named football, as well as having another easier school to travel to for regional competition for nonrevenue sports. It'll never happen, but it would make sense for those power leagues to add in basketball-only programs that are very well-respected.

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