From the StL Post-Dispatch:
Blame it on little George Mason, which carried the flag of the mid-majors all the way to the Final Four in 2006. George Mason knocked off UConn in the Elite Eight, and a teardrop formed on the corner of the CBS eye. That’s because the TV ratings went way down for the Final Four in ‘06, and CBS couldn’t have been pleased. So the mid-majors are disappearing from the NCAA Tournament. CBS wants the big teams, the fans want the big teams, the sponsors like the big teams, and so I don’t know why we continue to poke and prod and analyze and study until our brains begin compacting.
The NCAA Tournament belongs to the power conferences. That’s the reality. Sports columnists, other pundits and mid-major commissioners and coaches get up on the soap box every year to complain about the selections and the system, but no one else cares. The fan nation wants (mostly) to see the brand-name schools, the iconic programs. And CBS wants to deliver the goods. So the selection committee should consist of Jim Nance, Seth Davis, various CBS basketball analysts, the chief of CBS Sports, couple of researchers, and maybe one NCAA rep to stay in the room just to make sure that the network doesn’t eliminate the no-name schools that qualified by winning conference tournaments. I gather that CBS would prefer that the tournament consist of 64 power-conference teams, including all members of the Big East and ACC. That’s where we’re heading, anyway. Hell, bring back ol’ Billy Packer and let him load that bracket up with all of his ACC and Big East favorites and assorted coaching buddies. At least we’d do away with the notion that this process is an actual deliberation, and that every team will be given a fair and impartial inspection.
* Related growl: three of the four No. 1 seeds were filled with at-large bids… and Oklahoma, second in the Big 12, received a better seed than Big 12 reg-season champ Kansas (a No. 3 seed)…meaning that you don’t have to win a conference to get a No. 1 seed, or even a No. 2 seed.
The regular season means less and less as time goes by, eh?
Not only did OU not win their conference, they got knocked out in their first game in the Big XII tournament. Playing their worst basketball down the stretch, they were by far from the best team to come out of the Big XII. Sure, you can argue that losing Blake Griffin to a concussion for 1.5 games led to two losses. But they were at full strength against Mizzou in the next-to-last game of the regular season and against Oklahoma State in the Big XII tournament, both losses. When Griffin went down against Texas, the Sooners lost their mojo and never really recovered. But for some reason, the committee didn't want to turn KC's Sprint Center into Mizzou Arena west or into Allen Fieldhouse east.
Related item: I believe an active secondary ticket market will be operating in Kansas City this week.
And as far as the mid majors not getting in: that's what we expect from a market. As Bernie noted, fans want to watch the name-brand teams and CBS wants to give them those teams. What's wrong with that (unless you're a fan of a mid-major team)?
Update: I originally forgot the link to Bernie's blog. That's fixed now.
Personally, as a fan, I'd prefer to see more mid-majors. The fun of the tournament comes from the upsets, which are more likely to happen of you let the mid-majors in.
Posted by: Eric Parsons | March 16, 2009 at 10:57 AM
The Mid Majors can be a good story, but I gotta imagine that the interest only goes so far. If there were more interest, you know that advertisers would put the screws on the NCAA and would get them to admit more Mid Majors to the tournament.
Posted by: Phil | March 16, 2009 at 03:04 PM