NCAA 2009-10 Hoops: Yo, mah Jordans, nigga

[citizen k]

I hope the Gonzaga does well against Duke.  They have a couple players from my neck of the woods.

Robert Sacre is great. But Gonzaga plays Syracuse tomorrow.

Oh well, the WCC is represented in the Sweet 16 by St. Mary's.

[crazy canuck]

I hope the Gonzaga does well against Duke.  They have a couple players from my neck of the woods.

Robert Sacre is great. But Gonzaga plays Syracuse tomorrow.

Oh, my mistake.  Even better. Syracuse looks beatable without their big guy.

[katmai]

Yeah Duke plays the fighting disturbed perverts aka California.

[jimmy olsen]

What foul sorcery is this! 

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2010/03/18/ready-for-a-96-team-ncaa-tournament-enjoy-this-one-before-the-onset-of-bloated-bracket-syndrome/

Ready for a 96-team NCAA tournament? Enjoy this one before the onset of Bloated Bracket Syndrome

Posted by Tim Kawakami on March 18th, 2010 at 11:41 am | Categorized as Cal, College basketball, Television

* Straight from this morning's paper...

Back-posted to get this out of the way of the McCloughan developments...

—-the column/

Savor your bracket this bright March morning, because it might never be like this again.

I'm not just talking about our tournament bracket picks, pure and pristine before the grisly cross-outs and upset debacles begin today.

I'm not just talking about the events today and Saturday at HP Pavilion.

I'm talking about the shape and feel of the NCAA Tournament — the 65 teams, the symmetry and rhythm of three weekends, six rounds, and no byes.

I'm talking about the possibility that, as soon as next year, the tournament could be very different — and much more bloated — than it has been for 26 years.

In fact, if you trust the NCAA to make the clunky money grab whenever possible, you can almost guarantee that these are the final days of the tournament as we know it.

The word is that the NCAA is looking to expand the field to 96 teams as early as next year, presuming ESPN or Turner Sports ante up and the NCAA opts out of its long-term deal with CBS by July 31.

"I don't like it," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said Wednesday of the 96-team potential. "I'm not going to tell you I'm going to get out of coaching because of it. But I'm more of a traditionalist . . .

"Now, there's a mystique, there's something special about being in the tournament. If they expanded, that mystique would go away."

Next year, your brackets could look very different, with much smaller print.

Next year, the whole thing probably will get another layer of fat. We could have the Final Four, Elite Eight, Sweet 16, Thankful 32 and...  err... Surviving 64.

Ready for a Louisville-Quinnipiac first-round matchup, for the right to play Cal?

That is almost certainly what the first round would be like if the 96-team field was in place this year — basically the NIT dressed up in Big Dance makeup.

If this happens, there will be an instant result: More games mean more money for the NCAA. Can we make sure to funnel some of that money to other needy groups, like Big Oil and maybe Wall Street bankers?

Practical result: Because the NCAA is determined to stick to the three-week window, the added round would be squeezed into the same time period, probably meaning games on Tuesday and Wednesday after the first weekend.

More practical result: It's likely that the top 32 teams would get first-round byes, with the other 64 teams playing in to the second round.

Understood result: The dilution of the NCAA Tournament after the postseason tournaments diluted it, after the expansion to 64 teams diluted it and after the glut of televised games diluted everything.

Anybody hear of diminishing returns? The NCAA hasn't.

More understood result: The cheapening of tournament berths across the board, as the NCAA gets richer. Weird how that works.

For instance, this year Florida, Utah State and Virginia Tech were "bubble" teams — Florida and Utah State got in, Virginia Tech did not, and it's hard to get too excited about any of that.

In a 96-team field, all of those teams would have been in by mid-February, and the "bubble" would have included mediocrities such as Portland, Arizona and Texas Tech.

Another intended result: Many coaches, as a rule, love any expansion of the tournament, because it means more teams get into the dance and fewer coaches get fired.

Since 1985, when the tournament field had its last significant expansion — from 48 to 64 — Division I has expanded from 284 to 347.

Coaches and administrators point out that currently only 18.7 percent of Division I teams make it into the tournament, while in football, almost 60 percent of Football Bowl Subdivision teams get bowl berths.

But, as Romar points out, isn't that also what makes the tournament good? That qualifying for the 65-team field means something?

Potential unintended result: Are you ready for 13 Big East teams in the field?

At some point, would ESPN lose interest in the mid-major postseason tournaments if the network had the actual tournament coming up and if the mid-major conferences already had multiple bids locked up?

Yet another unintended result: This might make it more difficult for Cinderellas, who would have to win an extra game before taking on the elite teams, and who might get less TV exposure, not more.

Oh, well. The expansion is probably happening next year. Nothing we say is likely to change the NCAA's greed.

So savor this tournament. Enjoy what you see, while it lasts, and prepare yourself for next year's Bloated Bracket Syndrome.

[Ed Anger]

I hope they rape your tournament if they fuck with the bowls.

[crazy canuck]

I hope they rape your tournament if they fuck with the bowls.

Bowl games are meaningless except for the one that decides the national championship.

That is what makes March Madness the superior sports product.

[Ed Anger]

I hope they rape your tournament if they fuck with the bowls.

Bowl games are meaningless except for the one that decides the national championship.

That is what makes March Madness the superior sports product.

I want Tim to suffer for his bandwagon fagg0try.

[grumbler]

I hope they rape your tournament if they fuck with the bowls.

Bowl games are meaningless except for the one that decides the national championship.

That is what makes March Madness the superior sports product.

This is the conventional wisdom, and probably holds true for the uninitiated, but while the NCAA basketball tournament is a great spectator sport for those who really pay no attention to the game except in the tournament, what it is doing is killing the game during the season.  National BB scores don't even get much play in the local papers, because it doesn't matter until the tournament comes.  People don't go to games unless they are students or alums.  I don't really mind; March Madness has weaned me off college basketball completely and I haven't felt any desire to look back.  But I would hate to see the NCAA football ruined by this kind of thing.  December football tournaments would suck (especially for teams like Florida, that may have to play in a freezing/snowy Columbus in an early-round game) and would simply encourage the same neglect for the regular season you find in NCAA hoops.

[CountDeMoney]

Dear God,

Please let the Terps land a wet steaming shit all over Charliebear's Spartans of Fail.

Thank you,
CdM


PS:  Then again, since you let me bang two different chicks the last two nights, I'll understand if I've already burned up my prayer quota this week.

[Razgovory]

I hope they rape your tournament if they fuck with the bowls.

Bowl games are meaningless except for the one that decides the national championship.

That is what makes March Madness the superior sports product.

I want Tim to suffer for his bandwagon fagg0try.

Now that's a good picture.

[CountDeMoney]

Oh Christ, what a 2nd half.

[charliebear]

How 'bout those Spartans!


Sweet 16, baby!   

[charliebear]

Dear God,

Please let the Terps land a wet steaming shit all over Charliebear's Spartans of Fail.

Thank you,
CdM


PS:  Then again, since you let me bang two different chicks the last two nights, I'll understand if I've already burned up my prayer quota this week.

putz

[CountDeMoney]

Dear God,

Please let the Terps land a wet steaming shit all over Charliebear's Spartans of Fail.

Thank you,
CdM


PS:  Then again, since you let me bang two different chicks the last two nights, I'll understand if I've already burned up my prayer quota this week.

putz

Fuck you.  Disappear for weeks and show up just to talk smack over a Spartoon lucky bucket.  You're worse than Strix.

[Strix]

What foul sorcery is this! 

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2010/03/18/ready-for-a-96-team-ncaa-tournament-enjoy-this-one-before-the-onset-of-bloated-bracket-syndrome/

Ready for a 96-team NCAA tournament? Enjoy this one before the onset of Bloated Bracket Syndrome

Posted by Tim Kawakami on March 18th, 2010 at 11:41 am | Categorized as Cal, College basketball, Television

* Straight from this morning's paper...

Back-posted to get this out of the way of the McCloughan developments...

—-the column/

Savor your bracket this bright March morning, because it might never be like this again.

I'm not just talking about our tournament bracket picks, pure and pristine before the grisly cross-outs and upset debacles begin today.

I'm not just talking about the events today and Saturday at HP Pavilion.

I'm talking about the shape and feel of the NCAA Tournament — the 65 teams, the symmetry and rhythm of three weekends, six rounds, and no byes.

I'm talking about the possibility that, as soon as next year, the tournament could be very different — and much more bloated — than it has been for 26 years.

In fact, if you trust the NCAA to make the clunky money grab whenever possible, you can almost guarantee that these are the final days of the tournament as we know it.

The word is that the NCAA is looking to expand the field to 96 teams as early as next year, presuming ESPN or Turner Sports ante up and the NCAA opts out of its long-term deal with CBS by July 31.

"I don't like it," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said Wednesday of the 96-team potential. "I'm not going to tell you I'm going to get out of coaching because of it. But I'm more of a traditionalist . . .

"Now, there's a mystique, there's something special about being in the tournament. If they expanded, that mystique would go away."

Next year, your brackets could look very different, with much smaller print.

Next year, the whole thing probably will get another layer of fat. We could have the Final Four, Elite Eight, Sweet 16, Thankful 32 and...  err... Surviving 64.

Ready for a Louisville-Quinnipiac first-round matchup, for the right to play Cal?

That is almost certainly what the first round would be like if the 96-team field was in place this year — basically the NIT dressed up in Big Dance makeup.

If this happens, there will be an instant result: More games mean more money for the NCAA. Can we make sure to funnel some of that money to other needy groups, like Big Oil and maybe Wall Street bankers?

Practical result: Because the NCAA is determined to stick to the three-week window, the added round would be squeezed into the same time period, probably meaning games on Tuesday and Wednesday after the first weekend.

More practical result: It's likely that the top 32 teams would get first-round byes, with the other 64 teams playing in to the second round.

Understood result: The dilution of the NCAA Tournament after the postseason tournaments diluted it, after the expansion to 64 teams diluted it and after the glut of televised games diluted everything.

Anybody hear of diminishing returns? The NCAA hasn't.

More understood result: The cheapening of tournament berths across the board, as the NCAA gets richer. Weird how that works.

For instance, this year Florida, Utah State and Virginia Tech were "bubble" teams — Florida and Utah State got in, Virginia Tech did not, and it's hard to get too excited about any of that.

In a 96-team field, all of those teams would have been in by mid-February, and the "bubble" would have included mediocrities such as Portland, Arizona and Texas Tech.

Another intended result: Many coaches, as a rule, love any expansion of the tournament, because it means more teams get into the dance and fewer coaches get fired.

Since 1985, when the tournament field had its last significant expansion — from 48 to 64 — Division I has expanded from 284 to 347.

Coaches and administrators point out that currently only 18.7 percent of Division I teams make it into the tournament, while in football, almost 60 percent of Football Bowl Subdivision teams get bowl berths.

But, as Romar points out, isn't that also what makes the tournament good? That qualifying for the 65-team field means something?

Potential unintended result: Are you ready for 13 Big East teams in the field?

At some point, would ESPN lose interest in the mid-major postseason tournaments if the network had the actual tournament coming up and if the mid-major conferences already had multiple bids locked up?

Yet another unintended result: This might make it more difficult for Cinderellas, who would have to win an extra game before taking on the elite teams, and who might get less TV exposure, not more.

Oh, well. The expansion is probably happening next year. Nothing we say is likely to change the NCAA's greed.

So savor this tournament. Enjoy what you see, while it lasts, and prepare yourself for next year's Bloated Bracket Syndrome.

They have expanded the number of teams in the Tournament about seven or eight times now. It has only gotten better each time.

AWAY WITH YOUR CHICKEN LITTLE CRAP!