March Madness 2022

[danielmak]

I don't know how much I will watch, but let's get this started. The first play in game is wrapping up now. I just started watching with 90 seconds to go so don't have any analysis to offer. Of course, this last 90 seconds is taking about 5 minutes which is one of the major reasons I drift away from watching basketball. I'm sure I posted this last year in the March Madness or the NBA thread: I get how the time outs add some drama because the expectation is built up. But the over coaching of every little thing, just grinds games to a halt. And the big drama is often unscripted basketball with a last second shot.

BTW, I'm not happy saying this because I always liked seeing them lose, but I'm picking Duke to win it all.

[ursus arctos]

Texas Southern won the right to get trounced by Kansas.

I.cant recall the last season I paid less attention to.

[danielmak]

Indiana in as well.

[jason voorhees]

SO pissed Princeton got Skull and Boned in the Ivy Final.

At least we got RU and the Hall.

[Incandenza]

UCLA had been playing themselves into a scary team until things fell apart against Arizona in the second half of the conference championship game, and now have a tough draw--possible matchups against Saint Mary's, then Baylor, then if they get past them...Kentucky.

[danielmak]

Sorry, JV but Rutgers needs to get the bounce tonight. The record is piss poor, the RPI is poor, and strength of schedule is poor. I have no idea how they were the bubble team that got in when there were so many other teams between the 64 that got in and where Rutgers fell on the RPI and SOS scales.

[ursus arctos]

Surely the size of television and media markets would never influence such decisions . . .

[caja-dglh]

<wag-finger-baby.gif>

[danielmak]

Of course, I have no connection to Rutgers but my feelings would be different if it was one of my former universities. Then RPI or SOS wouldn't matter to me. Haha.

[jason voorhees]

They had a very weird season. Basically lost to every mid-major Lafayette or DePaul or Umass, then beat a whole bunch of Big 10 ranked teams.

Either way....have them WINNING IT ALL ON MY BRACKET

[danielmak]

Gotta change that bracket since they lost to Notre Dame in double overtime.

[jason voorhees]

Lost my ₲100.000 ($14.36) in the office pool.

COME ON HALL.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/chrisfallica/status/1504569555649277953?t=Wbfl7M_AshX9oy-zvspAsw&s=19

[jason voorhees]

Cleveland should've taken notice with their MLB name.

[ursus arctos]

Jersey City Represent

Kentucky are none and done

[Cal Alamein]

Sweet! Way to go Peacocks!

And, way to go NMSU!!!

[jefe]

Baltimore had UMBC, Coppin, and Towson all lose conference tourney finals even before this started.

[danielmak]

I don't watch enough to even make a halfway decent guess at a bracket, but people's brackets have got to be a mess after today.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/cbssports/status/1504636104896561158?s=21

There have to fewer than one percent intact

[danielmak]

Inca's Bruins with a great escape. They'll need to perform better going forward to get deep.

San Francisco just hit a three and defended well. This one's going to OT. Perhaps another (minor) upset.

[ursus arctos]

USF lost to Murray State in overtime, joining Marquette as the only Catholic schools to fall so far.

[ursus arctos]

Interesting

https://twitter.com/IvanTheK/status/1504808216768692230?s=20&t=uc5PglChVBF3SOMEPS2nyA

As is the fact that public institutions can spend USD 20 million on a men's basketball team without paying the players a cent.

[caja-dglh]

Kentucky are none and done

As noted on TV recaps this morning, the St Peter's basketball budget is ⅙ of the salary paid to Kentucky's coach.

[Incandenza]

Inca's Bruins with a great escape. They'll need to perform better going forward to get deep.

yeah, not a very inspiring performance for UCLA. Going to need to really step it up against Saint Mary's.

[danielmak]

As is the fact that public institutions can spend USD 20 million on a men's basketball team without paying the players a cent.

The system is ridiculous. Some programs generate a massive profit.

Universities argue that athletic scholarships include tuition, room and board, health care. All of that does add up and adds up in different ways depending on tuition and the city where the university is located (i.e., housing in San Francisco or Boston is much more expensive than housing in Athens, Ohio).

Then there is the total mix of costs. I have heard reports that my university loses $15million per year on athletics and we don't have a gridiron football team (which is a very expensive endeavor). So, bigger money sports like basketball must make up for sports that are never going to make any kind of profit (track, tennis, even soccer). My university is part of a conference with a national TV contract. People who are pro-athletics claim that every game is an advertisement for the university (which I partially agree with, although if the team loses a lot then????). People who are pro athletics also argue that these games provide opportunities to meet with donors and alums to build an endowment. I'm sure this is true for Texas. It's not true for my university. Maybe that would change if the men's basketball team was successful but my sense is that fundraising tied to sports is negligible for us. But we're not UCLA, Texas, Michigan.

None of this is to say that athletes should not be paid, but I'd speculate that most universities lose money on athletics which is really another topic of conversation. But if athletes are paid then the UCLAs and Michigans of the world are going to exist in a totally different stratosphere. Saint Peters would likely not have a program at all (saying that not knowing their finances) or something would have to radically change with Title IX.