Is the NCAA punishing teams for speaking out against them?
I live in Bucky territory and Wisconsin fans are livid about their 8 seed, and as non bias fan, I can't wrap my head around it either. Wisconsin fans are starting to come up with conspiracy theories that the NCAA is punishing them for Nigel Hayes' behavior. If you recall, Nigel is very outspoken vs the NCAA and the treatment of its college athletes. Here are some examples of his quotes -
"You make a company millions. They "pay" you with only a college education. Fair, right?" "The @bigten made nearly $450 million. My scholarship is about $160,000. If only there was enough money to pay us."
""(Wisconsin) just changed to Under Armour, who just gave us a couple hundred million dollars. I'm sure that's not enough to pay us for our playing, because that's not enough money."
And you may also recall him getting national attention showing up at ESPN's College Gameday with a sign saying "Broke college athlete, anything helps".
All that also got me thinking of Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin who ripped the NCAA this month for saying the tournament is only about money and selling tickets, and they drop team's seeds to get the "big matchup". Cincinnati was expected to be a 4-5 seed and they get a 6 and sent all the way across the country to Sacramento.
The big bear doesn't like being poked and it seems some players and coaches are started to speak up which the NCAA doesn't like. What you think?
March 13th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
March 13th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
According to Hollis- Wisconsin was a 7 and Michigan an 8 heading into Sunday. So 1) they punished Wisconsin for playing in a conference tournament title game and 2) they were already screwing over Michigan's seed.
I am so happy this is his last year on the committee.
Oh, and also, the BTT should conclude on Saturday.
March 13th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^
Will it change without him on the committee? I can't imagine putting together the bracket is in anyway easy, especially with all the rules and considerations based on conference affiliation and location. The committee has apparently settled on their preferred method of basically entering the second half of championship week with the teams in a set 1-68 order and sliding teams up and down based on results through a team-by-team comparisson as teams move up and down. I don't know if that's the best way to do it, but I'm not sure I have a better way that would work well in the limited time frame they have to work with. I'm sure if the committee had a couple days after everything is decided they'd have a better system. But that's not going to happen.
I think the BTT concluding on Saturday could have helped us, but I'm not sure how much if we were only an 8 headed into the day. We would have actually benefited from next year's schedule. If our seeding was being decided from scratch with the tournament results in, we're at least a 6 or maybe even a 5.
Next year it will end a whole week prior to selection sunday
March 13th, 2017 at 12:40 PM ^
It would impossible to track how many grudges the NCAA committee would need to hold if this were the cases.
March 13th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^
For teams that complain about where they are seeded
March 13th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
Is actually my pick to get to the E8 out of that bracket. I think they have the experience and the talent to make a run. Villanova is getting a bit fat and sassy and Wisconsin plays the brand of ball that frustrates high-octane teams like them.
I thnk everyone is confused about the NCAA's priorities here. The tournament is a money printing vehicle and their priority is to maximize revenue. You could argue whether they achieved that goal, but that is the goal. Fair play, not so much because you know... amateurism.
March 13th, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^
Also live in Badgerland.
Fuck Wisconsin fans. Wisco was #5 overall and fell off a cliff.
Whether they deserve it or not I'm happy about their shit draw.