https://twitter.com/ChrisVannini/status/1771316714715681038?t=zShms6dQBeQ_SkD0BN2M0w&s=19
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Here’s a really stupid idea. Izzo being an arrogant whiner.
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Really like James Madison’s style.
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USU is going to win. Former Ute Ian Martinez with 21 points. Sure could use him.
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Pac-12 is now 6-0 in all post season play. SEC is 3-5 and Big12 is 5-5. Not sure about ACC.
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Wait. I thought the PAC-12 was a weak league this year? Isn’t that the bullcrap narrative that just has to be true? Isn’t that the justification for everybody calling for Coach Smith’s head every time Utah loses to one of those teams?
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I think most people came to that conclusion since nobody in the Pac 12 has a winning record against Top 25 teams. This is why I hate bowls and the tournament. It makes people forget what we saw during the season. That said, it was 4 great wins and I am delighted to see Auburn, Kentucky, Florida and the whole lot of the SEC losing. I’ve never understood the pride in conference opponents winning.
As a Laker fan I want the East to beat every Western team when they play except the Lakers. Likewise, if the Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks, and Rockies lose I am delighted.
It will be interested to see how many Pac 12 teams make the Elite 8.
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Were the tourney to largely eliminate the teams from the mid-majors and just have mostly teams from power conferences, I would become rather disinterested.
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Agreed
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Units
“The NCAA distributes a portion of its revenue to member conferences based on how schools do in the tournament.
Those payments are determined by “units,” which are earned for each game a school plays, not including the national championship. Each of the 132 units up for grabs in the tournament is worth about $2 million paid out over six years. It amounts to $341,802 per game played.”
Units go to the conference, which then distributed to members teams.
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It’s really hard to argue that the Big12 has much depth based on what we’re seeing. I guess they’ll get some more depth next year by virtue of the incoming Pac-12 schools.
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Well, the Women’s Final Four has more tickets sold than the Men’s. Watching them has been more fun.
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It’s not Commissioner Sankey’s job to make friends among those whom he considers his lessers, but in my experience it’s a better idea for leaders in the world of athletics–especially those with power–to show some class.
From The Athletic:
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has had plenty to crow about during his tenure leading the conference. Football championships. Improved basketball programs. A whole lot more money. Conference expansion that has only increased the value of his league and the power he holds. Things are very good in Birmingham.
But he’s starting to put too much dip on his chip, getting out over his skis, getting a little too greedy, and fans are starting to get sick of it. So too, apparently, are the basketball gods.
One week after Sankey dismissed the small-conference champions, some of his league’s best teams have shown exactly why the NCAA Tournament is perfect the way it is and doesn’t need more teams from leagues like his at the expense of those little guys.
Sankey told ESPN recently, “We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers (from smaller leagues), and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end because of (conference) expansion.” He told The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker days later that automatic qualifying spots for mid-majors are “part of the review.”
The next week, 14-seed Oakland beat Kentucky and 13-seed Yale beat Auburn, victories for the exact kind of programs that Sankey said aren’t as worthy as the those from the “top end” leagues like the SEC. His conference, which tied for the most teams in the field of any league with eight, started 1-5 at the tournament, with all five losses coming to lower seeds. Only three league members reached the second round.
The more Sankey has pushed on this and other competitive balance issues, the more he’s become a villain to fans, the person against whom people are lashing out to express their frustration about the changing landscape of college sports.
Very true, IMO.
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It was a spectacular block, and 100% clean. Just a few seconds earlier a Kansas player (Dickinson) got away with a clear elbow. I always wonder about calls like these when one of the bluebloods is in danger of being upset.
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Kansas just got blasted by Gonzaga. They can’t shoot.
Puts in perspective how BYU could beat them.
Arizona looks really good. PAC-12 yet to lose.
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Regarding the Women’s tournament, I can’t wait to see what they have on LSU coach Kim Mulkey. If she’s willing to proactively bring this up mid-tourney, you know it’s something significant.
She’s always struck me as a particularly unpleasant human being.
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I do think that is interesting and not at all surprising. I’ve always recognized her as a very good coach.
I would recommend watching that. NSFW.
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I have no thoughts on her coaching ability. It’s just her public persona I find distasteful.
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Pac-12 men and women are now a combined 10-0 in all postseason games. Remind me again why we have to end this conference.
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