{"id":521,"date":"2010-04-29T12:42:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-29T17:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=521"},"modified":"2010-04-29T12:42:53","modified_gmt":"2010-04-29T17:42:53","slug":"tell-me-im-crazy-if-some-is-good-more-is-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=521","title":{"rendered":"Tell Me I’m Crazy: If Some is Good, More is Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Trying to catch up on some old posts, here.\u00a0\u00a0There will be plenty of Ryan Howard and Eagles draft\u00a0stuff\u00a0once I get a chance.]<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, for the most part, when it comes to sports, I am a purist.\u00a0 I hate the Designated Hitter.\u00a0 I hate the Wild Card.\u00a0 I hate the X-Games.\u00a0 I even hate the sports mockeries that are the current day All-Star Games.\u00a0 So, it would seem to make sense that on an issue where everyone<\/em>\u00a0seems to be against changing the format of one of my two favorite sports, I would be in agreement with the masses.\u00a0 But…<\/p>\n

Expand the tournament?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 Why not?<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m crazy; maybe I’m not.<\/p>\n

I have heard all the arguments, and some of them make a lot of sense.\u00a0 Here are some of the most popular arguments against expansion that I have heard.\u00a0 I tried to put them in order of how often I’ve heard them expressed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The current format is perfect, why mess with it?<\/li>\n
  2. You’re going to let in some bad teams.<\/li>\n
  3. It’s going to kill the conference tournaments.<\/li>\n
  4. The only reason it’s even on the table is because the coaches want expansion to give them more job security because they’re more likely to “make the tournament.”<\/li>\n
  5. Can you really take the kids away from class for that long?<\/li>\n
  6. It’s going to kill the NIT.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let me try and respond to them one at a time:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The current format is perfect, why mess with it?<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 Yes, it is BY FAR <\/em>the best annual sporting event on the planet.\u00a0 (The Olympics might be a better all-around sporting event, and the World Cup definitely is, but they are not annual events.)\u00a0 It would be hard to find someone that loves the NCAA tournament more than I do, so I do see some merit in this argument.\u00a0 BUT…I do not think that the fact that there are 65 teams is the reason it’s so great.\u00a0 I think it was probably great with 16 or 32 or 48.\u00a0 I know it was great with 64.\u00a0 Then, it went to 65, and it’s still great.\u00a0 Honestly, it is not complicated why the tournament is what it is.\u00a0 It is such a wonderful event because there is just so much basketball.\u00a0 There are the amazing stories of small schools versus big schools, fans from small towns of 1,500 people versus those from multi-million-person metropolitan areas, and teams of country-tanned farmboys against teams of hard-knocked survivors of America’s inner cities.\u00a0 Will any of this change if we went to 96 or 128 or 256?\u00a0 Yes, one thing and one thing only–there will be MORE games.\u00a0 More buzzer-beaters.\u00a0 More Ohio U over Georgetown upsets.\u00a0 More Bryce Drews; more Stephen Currys; more George Masons; more overly-excited child-like players we’ve never heard of picking up fat, Gatorade-drenched coaches we’ll never hear from again.\u00a0 In a word, more MADNESS!<\/li>\n
    2. You’re going to let in some bad teams.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 First of all,\u00a0let’s be honest, at 96 or even 128, the teams aren’t bad<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s not like 1-26 Marist is going dancing.\u00a0 It will just be more middling big-conference teams and more\u00a0second- and third-place\u00a0mid-majors.\u00a0 Am I scared that the entire Big East (except DePaul, of course) is going to make the tournament?\u00a0 Sure, I am.\u00a0 Do I think that North Carolina or UConn deserved a shot at winning the national title last year?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 Am I excited about watching a matchup between 15th-seeded Mississippi State\u00a0and 18th-seeded Texas Tech?\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 But, in the context of March Madness, sure, I’ll watch that game.\u00a0 I’ll watch any game.\u00a0 In fact, I didn’t hear one person <\/em>complain about Georgia Tech-Oklahoma St., Clemson-Missouri, or Texas-Wake Forest this year.\u00a0 And, why not?\u00a0 Because it was the NCAA tournament, and it was awesome.\u00a0 Just like that Mississippi St-Texas Tech game would have been.\u00a0 In fact, two of the more intriguing first-round games were Xavier-Minnesota and Marquette-Washington, and those were games that pit middling teams in bigger conferences.\u00a0 Again, we’re talking about more madness.\u00a0 How is this a bad thing?<\/li>\n
    3. It’s going to kill the conference tournaments.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 This is an argument that gets a lot of play, and I understand the concern and why people think that, but I just flat-out do not agree.\u00a0 First of all, if this is true than the current format would be killing tournaments like the Big East and ACC, who enter every year with about half the field pretty comfortable with their inclusion.\u00a0 Yet, we still see amazing, heartfelt games all the way through.\u00a0 Both Syracuse and UConn were comfortably in the tournament two years ago, yet they played 6 overtimes in a Big East tournament game.\u00a0 As much as the media is trying to take it away, there is still a lot of cache and a lot of bragging rights in the conference tournaments.\u00a0 Obviously, the goal is to win a national championship, but they still hang banners for conference championships.\u00a0 What is the difference between Ohio St. and Purdue this year?\u00a0 They both made the tournament.\u00a0 They both made the Sweet Sixteen.\u00a0 But, Ohio St. won the regular season and the conference title.\u00a0 Those kids get to relish in a conference title.\u00a0 OSU is going to hang a banner that says “2010 Big Ten Champions.”\u00a0 Purdue?\u00a0 Well, they had a nice season.\u00a0 They have stories of what could have been if Hummel wasn’t hurt.\u00a0 But, they don’t have what the Ohio St. kids have for eternity.\u00a0 No matter what you do to the NCAA tournament, these kids will play hard when it’s time to crown a conference champion.\u00a0 That’s for sure.<\/li>\n
    4. The only reason it’s even on the table is because the coaches want expansion to give them more job security because they’re more likely to “make the tournament.”<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 Now, I don’t know if this sentiment does exist among the coaches, but I do know that people are using the perception of this sentiment as a strike against expansion.\u00a0 First of all, the rationale of “we shouldn’t expand because it’s only what the coaches want” is not really a logical argument.\u00a0 Second of all, I think that if the coaches do actually feel this way, then they are way off-base.\u00a0 I actually think that tournament expansion is going to hurt <\/em>coaches’ job securities.\u00a0 Look at Seth Greenberg.\u00a0 He made a living off of his team’s “snub.”\u00a0 He may have actually\u00a0gained more national attention for his program and himself, as a coach, than say Florida St. who did make the tournament as a 9-seed and bowed out in the first round to Gonzaga.\u00a0 Everyone was talking about Virginia Tech.\u00a0 Everyone had an opinion on whether or not they should have gotten in.\u00a0 That is actually good <\/em>for Seth Greenberg, his job security and his program.\u00a0 But, what if they got a 17-seed and lost in the first round?\u00a0 Just another one of 96 teams that got in and didn’t do anything.\u00a0 And…even more so, imagine the 97th team or the 108th team.\u00a0 The teams that do not make the 96-team field–particularly those from big conferences.\u00a0 How can their coaches look their ADs in the eye and say “bring me back for another year, we’re on the right track.”\u00a0 Think about Mark Gottfried.\u00a0 He brought Alabama’s program back to national prominence, including a brief stint at #1 in the country in 2002 and three straight tournament appearances.\u00a0 But, in the next 6 seasons, they only made the tournament once (and probably would have only made a 96-team field once or twice).\u00a0 Yet, Gottfried kept coming back (for the record, I think Gottfried is an excellent coach).\u00a0 Imagine, though, if a proud program, like the Crimson Tide, in a big conference like the SEC, missed a 96-team <\/em>tournament even TWO years in a row?\u00a0 Gottfried is gone.\u00a0 I do not think that tournament expansion will help coaches keep their jobs.\u00a0 I actually think might have the opposite effect.<\/li>\n
    5. Can you really take the kids away from class for that long?<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 Hahahahahahahahahahaha.\u00a0 Hold on…hahahahahahahahaha.\u00a0 Seriously, people?\u00a0 This argument is absurd and probably not for the reasons that you think I’m going to cite.\u00a0 I’m not going to talk about how the term “student-athlete” is a joke because I don’t think it is.\u00a0 I think a couple O.J. Mayo’s ruin the reputation of a huge group of young men and women who are successfully juggling the pressure of big-time athletics with the rigors of higher education.\u00a0 But, let me tell you something about this argument.\u00a0 It’s a joke.\u00a0 Student-athletes are used to being away from campus.\u00a0 Going to 96 teams would add one extra game for 64 teams.\u00a0 That means that 64 teams would have to miss two more days of class.\u00a0 But, it’s during the season.\u00a0 How accustomed to being away are these kids?\u00a0 Hell, Boston College and Miami (FL) are in the same conference, which means every year the BC kids fly 1,500 miles for a road in-conference <\/em>game.\u00a0 And, think about the Maui Invitational or the Great Alaska Shootout.\u00a0 Granted some of these are over winter breaks, but you get the point.\u00a0 This is a ridiculous argument.<\/li>\n
    6. It’s going to kill the NIT.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0 I actually kind of care about this, to be honest.\u00a0 I don’t want to see the NIT get swallowed up by the NCAA tournament.\u00a0 The NIT has been around longer than the NCAA tournament, and for the first two decades or so, was considered college basketball’s “national championship.”\u00a0 It is a really good basketball tournament with a lot of tradition.\u00a0 Granted, it is no reason to hold up expansion of the Big Dance, but it will be a sad byproduct if it ceases to exist.\u00a0 And, for the record, the first ever NIT champions?\u00a0 The Temple Owls.\u00a0 Fight, fight, fight for the Cherry and the White!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      All in all, there are certainly drawbacks from expansion.\u00a0 But, in my opinion, if some is good (and “some” madness is DEFINITELY good), then more is usually better.\u00a0 You never know when you’re going to get a monumental performance, so why not give us 95 NCAA tournament games and, therefore, 95 chances to be amazed.\u00a0 More Madness!<\/p>\n

      Tell me I’m crazy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      [Trying to catch up on some old posts, here.\u00a0\u00a0There will be plenty of Ryan Howard and Eagles draft\u00a0stuff\u00a0once I get a chance.]\u00a0 Yes, for the most part, when it comes to sports, I am a purist.\u00a0 I hate the Designated … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,105],"tags":[1030],"class_list":["post-521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","category-tell-me-im-crazy","tag-ncaa-tournament-expansion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}