So what exactly are Seth Davis's credentials as a basketball expert?
Given the not nice things that CBS analyst Seth Davis said about our beloved basketball team tonight I though it would be worth looking up exactly what he did to warrant the main chair during selection Sunday. Well.........this is what I found out:
- He wrote for the Duke student newspaper (did not play basketball)
- Was an unsuccessful stand-up comedian
- Wrote a book not about basketball called “Equinunk, Tell Your Story: My Return to Summer Camp”.
- The publisher of this book - Chandler Press - also specializes in publishing XXX stories of all variations.
- He appeared on the HBO show "Real Sex" in the late 90's where he confessed to someday wanting to have sex in the White House
http://deadspin.com/5868558/seth-davis-was-on-hbos-real-sex-15-years-ago
Clearly he's a guy whose opinion MATTERS people. How can you argue with a guy whose basketball background is as solid as Seth's?
GAH YOU PUT AN APOSTROPHE IN YOUR TITLE GRRRRRR RIGHT NOW!!!
I knew some people would tear us apart after Saturdays blowout. Let's just prove them wrong next weekend.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^
That we would lose to Ohio
March 11th, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^
Did Davis come back later and say Ohio would beat us? When I was watching the show, he said that Temple would beat us in the round of 32, in what he termed a "mini-upset."
I don't pay attention to it. When we drew Clemson, people said we'd lose. We won.
Last year, all I heard was about all the great athletes Tennessee had. We crushed them.
The analysts are just fans. They all say predictable things.
That said, Temple is a quality, well-coached team. Fran Dunphy is an excellent coach. But I still like our chances of getting to the Sweet 16.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:05 PM ^
FWIW, if we care what Doug Gottlieb has to say, he also predicted Ohio to beat us, due to their 3 pt defense being strong.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:07 PM ^
"I'll be honest, I'm just looking to get paid."
Oh, wait. That's not what he said on air; that's from a magazine interview. Sorry. And it's sort of out of context, maybe. Or maybe not. Sammy in Eight!
March 11th, 2012 at 10:18 PM ^
Sounds like a chip off the old block. He's the son of Lanny Davis who has been criticized for some of his clients, perhaps just looking to get paid, and ignoring any ethical qualms he might have:
He has "built a client list that now includes coup supporters in Honduras, a dictator in Equatorial Guinea, for-profit colleges accused of exploiting students, and a company that dominates the manufacture of additives for infant formula," as well as an "Ivory Coast strongman whose claims to that country’s presidency have been condemned by the international community and may even set off a civil war." Among his clients are "Ivory Coast leader and flagrant human rights violator Laurent Gbagbo" and "Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the longtime dictator of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea."[19] "Just as Davis was assuring the American press that his client, Gbagbo, opposed violence, Gbagbo's forces were in fact mounting a campaign of organized violence against the opposition."[20] The latter representation has earned him criticism from human rights groups, who claim that he "appears to be engaged in little more than a whitewashing exercise designed to rehabilitate the image of theObiang regime on the international stage."[21]
March 12th, 2012 at 12:22 PM ^
I had no idea he was Lanny Davis' son until I looked him up myself yesterday...so we know he has connections...just wondering how he bacame a basketball expert
March 11th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^
What is with all the hub-bub over Seth Davis?
March 11th, 2012 at 10:33 PM ^
...being a Duke alum who had a lackluster career as a comedian, who then turned to writing about his summer camp experiences, which in turn were published by a glorified porn merchant, inspiring his wish to have sex in the White House - this might be all you need to know when considering his basketball credentials.
I dare say, however, several sports analysts who weren't athletes might be in a similar boat when it comes to formal credentials.
That being said, I am pretty sure we can handle the Bobcats.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:08 PM ^
Well, last year everyone said that we would get blown out by Tennesee. So they can cram it.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:11 PM ^
He writes for SI and tweets a lot.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:13 PM ^
Everyone has a little dirt, but that doesn't necessarily relate to their job. I think everyone knows we've been overperforming this year, so now all the analysts are waiting for the shoe to drop. Besides, they all know that if they pick ridiculous upsets, no one calls them out when they're wrong, but they get to toot their own horns if they can call the long shot. Davis and Gottlieb were both picking 3-14 and 4-13 upsets like crazy, even though these rarely ever happen. The best advice is Belein=Believe.
March 12th, 2012 at 11:24 AM ^
3-14 and 4-13 upsets aren't really that rare. 14 seeds have won 16 times in the 27 years since the 64+ team field was introduced. 13 seeds have won 23 times, almost once a year. Picking them like crazy isn't any good, but there will, on average, be 1-2 13/14 seeds in the second round.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:14 PM ^
He has a peerless talent to keep on speaking while having his head so far up his ass that he gets free colonoscopies. Why else?
March 11th, 2012 at 10:14 PM ^
March 11th, 2012 at 10:15 PM ^
What Davis doesn't understand is that "Beat Ohio" has been the team mantra all year. Ohio encompassing anything in that state.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:18 PM ^
just aren't that bright or open-minded. you see, like many analysts and fans outside of the big 10, they don't appreciate teams who play solid D. they focus only on O. michigan plays very much like wisconsin who always get no respect come tourny time.
they can look ugly on O sometimes but often win games because of solid team D, which people undervalue or don't respect.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:33 PM ^
March 11th, 2012 at 10:26 PM ^
Is a credential in of itself.
You find Brian's analysis is pretty worthwhile by being here, and what are his credentials?
Watching that much film/games and breaking it down, along with interacting with players and coaches rubs off some knowledge to him.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^
I found his absolute dearth of anything resembling basketball expertise to be somewhat laughable given his position of prominence at CBS that's all. Brian writes a blog that we follow - he's not on the main chair for the #1 network television network in the world....sort of different I thought buy hey....maybe that's just me.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:52 PM ^
but my question basically is how should someone who doesn't play sports get "appropriate" expierence?
He wrote about it for a while and worked his way up. Maybe he knew someone or something that got him a big break. A couple years ago it was a little strange that he got the shot, but hes taken it and run with it at this point.
March 11th, 2012 at 10:38 PM ^
March 11th, 2012 at 10:48 PM ^
What do credentials matter? ESPN, CBS, shit even BTN, it is all about business and ratings (aka money). What matters is who can entertain and keep people watching, not actual sports knowledge. The average viewer cannot tell the difference anyways. Do not take anything the majority of these "experts" have to say, there is a reason their brackets are beaten by 50+ percent of the population every year.
March 11th, 2012 at 11:22 PM ^
that's probably not doing ESPN any good. Unless, maybe the attention required for me to notice that he's appeared is all they're after.
I don't actually care what Gottlieb or Davis said about Michigan. Mostly I'm just tired, and especially so at this time of year, of having "experts" slammed into my face whose claims to expertise pretty much rest on their laurels of having landed a job at media outlet X. For the last ten days every stoppage in play has brought commentary on what Joe Lunardi has to say about what this latest development might mean for Northeast Canton State's likely seeding. Never mind that Lunardi gets his ass handed to him every single year by almost every other mass-media bracketologist and about 20 guys (the same guys every year, so it isn't just a selection effect) who post bracket blogs.
And to make matters worse, the handful of people they hire that actually do have some expertise, they force them to dumb down their commentary so as not to scare off the masses. I've heard Bob Knight at clinics. He's not that stupid. Why are they paying him millions of dollars and not making any use of the asset?
(Yes, I know, the name is the asset.)
March 11th, 2012 at 11:23 PM ^
Should being the key word, but not neccessarily always true. Yes it is about business, first and foremost. But ESPN has many people with great "credentials" working for them AND they do a pretty good job on the business end of things. I may not like the Mothership for many other reasons, and I may disagree about what many of them say, but their credentials give them plenty good reason to spout off what they spout off. Seth Davis, as the OP has suggested, does not have the credentials to do so and raises the question of why we should listen to him.
CBS also has many other people who work for their Sports team with great credentials. Their opinions are worth listening to because of their experience around sports (playing, coaching, etc.). Again, we probably disagree with much of it, but it's, I guess tolerable is the word, because of the aforementioned.
March 11th, 2012 at 11:15 PM ^
like anything else
March 11th, 2012 at 11:35 PM ^
of Ira from the Michigan Insider. He did an interview with Ira for last year's tourney on the show.
March 11th, 2012 at 11:56 PM ^
It's Kilgore Trout!
- Wrote a book not about basketball called “Equinunk, Tell Your Story: My Return to Summer Camp”.
- The publisher of this book - Chandler Press - also specializes in publishing XXX stories of all variations.
March 12th, 2012 at 12:37 AM ^
It was not the Ohio pick that bothered many. It was the fact that he seemed to pick against every Big Ten team, upset or not. The guy must hate the Big Ten, it was laughably obvious.
So I had to +1
Same old song and dance when it comes ot the tournament. Most thought Tennessee and Duke would run us out of the buliding. We obliterated the Volunteers and nearly took Duke to OT. The time before that, everyone thought we were going to get killed by Clemson and Oklahoma. We should be beat Clemson by more than we did and the game against the Sooners could have been worse considering we had nobody that could even think of checking Blake Griffin. I'm fine with analysts continuing to underrate us. We seem to prove them wrong every time.
His claim about 3 point defense is irrelevant as if he had even watched our team all year, he'd know that we didn't shoot the ball particularly well all season.
If anything, a team that really works to stop the 3 is almost good for this team, as they've proven that if you give them the 2s they're going to take a whole lot more of those shots. The teams we really need to be hitting 3s against are teams that are more talented. Like, say, North Carolina and their frontcourt that could all go in this year's lottery. I'm sure Ohio's a solid team, but I'm pretty confident that they're not a more talented squad.
March 12th, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
Bilas and Gottlieb picked Ohio to beat M in the first round too. I can sort of understand, since we definitely overachieved all year and looked awful in the tournament game against Ohio (YTO), but still - Beilien has never lost in the first round of the tourney at Michigan or WV. Can't start now - I think he'll have them ready to go.
I'm pretty sure Brian was an engineering major who never played college sports, yet he provides better analysis then pretty much anyone in the country.
I've always thought Seth Davis wasn't very good. But he sucks because he sucks, not because he has no credentials. Plenty of analysts on TV have no playing experience, etc.