NC***yawn***AA tourny

[LoneStar_Brave]

With few exceptions, this year's tournament has not been very exciting. I would like to see the stats on average margin of victory per round compared to past tournaments. I don't remember so many 10+ point margins this late in the tournament.

[J Money]

I think this year's tournament has been outstanding. Davidson's run, SD taking out UCONN, 'Nova's run, WKU's win over Drake, it's been fun. The best is yet to come with 4 number ones in the Final Four! They have a combined record of 136-9! Are you kidding me? Next Saturday is gonna be awesome!

[Braves4Life]

I've really enjoyed it this year as well.......even with BU not in it.

What would make it more exciting Lonestar? I've gotta agree with JMoney here

[thefish7]

I have enjoyed it at times. Am going to have trouble caring now that Davidson is out, I think, though I like watching both UCLA and UNC... And I'll be too busy following the CBI (though of course, I think it'll be over by Wednesday with a Bradley win).

[tornado]

Does anyone think this is what the NCAA folks and selection committe really want?
I personally think there are those who are tired of teams like George Mason making the Final Four and not excited by any mid-major crashing the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
I guess this is their dream final Four, so let's see how the rating bottom out.



Guess what....here are the facts....
other than the really super interest in the Davidson games, the overall ratings for the tournament as a whole are WAY down!!!
Is anyone at all surprised??
Ratings are down 10%......

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/03/cbs_march_madness_ratings_down.php

Thusday's game had such low ratings, they were even behind NBC's "Apprentice" show, which was a shock even to the NBC people!

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=79519

But...Friday, the Davidson game put CBS back ahead.....and other people noticed the same thing, that the "little guys" drew the better ratings!!!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-colinsider-x3008mar30,0,6245531.column

"So the thought of a team like Coach Bob McKillop's making a run like Davidson's is far from novel.
Yet somehow, the NCAA Tournament selection committee manages to keep these sorts of teams
out of the NCAA field year after year. And the 10 people on that committee can make
sure we get more little guys in the Big Dance."

[J Money]

I know there is a mid-major bias on this board and rightly so, but come on. Who isn't excited about these four teams meeting next Saturday? I can't wait for an afternoon of Carolina/Kansas and Memphis/UCLA--it will be outstanding. Why would the committee not want this? These four teams have been the best four teams in the country all year long--this is how it should be. Why in the world would the ratings take a hit for an event as stacked as this?

[tornado]

Then why not just seed the best four teams, and have ONLY a Final Four and make each game into a "Best-of-Five" or "Best-of-Seven" series like the World Series?
That way every game is exactly what you'd want??
But the truth I have just shown is that even if there are people who like to see the #1 seeds all advance,
the overall fact is that the viewers in general think otherwise....read the facts and stats, you decide.
People do want to see the smaller teams.........and they do deserve to be there.
There is a bcs-bias.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-colinsider-x3008mar30,0,6245531.column

[J Money]

T, I was in no way implying that mid-majors shouldn't be there. Of course I don't want to see a format change. I have rooted for Davidson, San Diego, Butler, and Western Kentucky (except against Drake) the whole way...that's what makes the tournament fun. My original post on this thread mentions how exciting it was to watch those teams. Now I'm saying that the final four will be great and those teams have been the best all year long. They earned the right to be there. What's wrong with that?

[Braves4Life]

I know there is a mid-major bias on this board and rightly so, but come on. Who isn't excited about these four teams meeting next Saturday? I can't wait for an afternoon of Carolina/Kansas and Memphis/UCLA--it will be outstanding. Why would the committee not want this? These four teams have been the best four teams in the country all year long--this is how it should be. Why in the world would the ratings take a hit for an event as stacked as this?

I agree with ya JMoney. I think, for the most part, the selection committee did a fairly decent job of selecting teams this year. I don't necessarily agree with the large number of mid-majors that they paired against each other in the opening round. It seems as though this was done to both benefit the "majors" and to create interest in the game -- kind of a "who's got the biggest %$!*" among the mid-majors approach. Maybe they thought this would sell.

But, in the end, the cream DID rise to the top! The four best teams in the country are in the Final Four for the first time ever! (though I would have preferred to see Davidson play Carolina ). And, with all of the pairity that is in the college game today, I find that truly incredible! I'm looking forward to watching 4 "storied" programs battle it out for the National Championship. Go Carolina!

[tornado]

Glad you like the mid-majors...I do too........
Not only do they belong, but the push to usher them out (like making two of them play each other just to get the #64 seed and a chance to play the #1 seed) is hurting the tourney.
Of all the at large teams this year, only two (UAB and St. Joe's) were mid-majors....
all the others like Arizona (7th place team with a losing conference record), Oregon (a 9-9 team in conference and 13 losses overall - with a non-con SOS of 167!), and Kentucky (a 12-loss team with a non-con RPI of 210!! an no quality wins) were BCS-schools who sure didn't deserve the nod over teams like ISU, VCU, UMass, Houston, SIU, or Charlotte.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5649480.html

[LoneStar_Brave]

You all MISSED the point of my original message. I did say 'with few exceptions' that this tournament has been boring...I didnt say that the final 4 will be boring.

Only one of the elite 8 games was decided by less than 10 and only two were even competive. Average margin of victory, 12.5 including the 2 point Kansas win.

Only one of the sweet 16 games was decided by less than 10 points. The average margin of victory was 15.5.

This means that really only 2 of the 12 games went down to the final few minutes with the game in doubt. The big picture, not very exciting.

[pfunk880]

Of all the at large teams this year, only two (UAB and St. Joe's) were mid-majors....

UAB didn't make the tournament. And other mids made it as at-larges:
-South Alabama
-Gonzaga
-St. Mary's
-BYU
-Xavier

[J Money]

P, you beat me to it. Come on, T, you're better than that

[TheAsianSensation]

Every single god**************** thing that ever happens in the NCAA tourney or is related to the NCAA tourney is part of an elaborate conspiracy theory against all mid-majors.

C'mon. This is getting silly.

Wanna know why margin of victory was so skewed this year?

The breakaway pack of good teams this year was about 10 or so. The 2 and 3 seeds were stronger than usual.

[ser_solace]

I was surprisingly bored with a lot of the later round play. The first few rounds were exciting, but some of the later match-ups were surprisingly blow-outs like:

Mich. St. v. Memphis
Texas v. Memphis
Louisville v. Tenn.

I was hoping for better games. All I ask for now are exciting final fours and a good national championship. Basketball gods, please don't let the national championship be decided at the end of the first half!