Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin says NCAA Tournament seeding is financially driven

[UConnSwag11]

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...tournament-seeding-is-financially-driven/amp/

 

[CTBasketball]

He's not wrong...

I would just win a few games in March before going off like that. Sounds like complaining to the casual fan, but we know he's right.

 

[Ts5034]

People have been saying this for years. The committee obviously says its all random and they dont put teams in certain regions to create better matchups for better stories. I think that is bull to a certain extent. Remember 2004 when we played Depaul and Dave Leitao in round 2? I think those type of things maybe intentional for better stories. Cronin is right, it is a business and the NCAA is trying to sell tickets, and the networks want as high of ratings as they can possibly get.

 

[UChusky916]

Mick Cronin is the biggest cry-baby coach I've ever seen.

But, he's right. Not sure why this is a headline, it's pretty obvious.

 

[dwalks93]

The more interesting part is people are actually shocked by the suggestion that the tournament seeding is financially driven. Or, perhaps the more interesting part is that the NCAA is still willing to deny that money drives the seedings.

The NCAA derives (feel free to substitute "steals" for "derives") over $800 million of revenue from the TV contact for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. In fact, the NCAA men's basketball tournament revenue almost entirely funds the NCAA coffers throughout a multitude of sports and divisions for the entire year.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament is the center piece of the NCAA's financial engine. The NCAA has a vested interest in seeding teams which will draw ratings. This is the same reason that UNC has never been punished for the APR scandal.

Money talks....the only difference between college football and college basketball is the NCAA keeps the money in basketball and the schools/conferences keep it in football. Sadly this is why UConn is in the AAC.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and chief is an insufferable blowhard.

 

[champs99and04]

People have been saying this for years. The committee obviously says its all random and they dont put teams in certain regions to create better matchups for better stories. I think that is bull to a certain extent. Remember 2004 when we played Depaul and Dave Leitao in round 2? I think those type of things maybe intentional for better stories. Cronin is right, it is a business and the NCAA is trying to sell tickets, and the networks want as high of ratings as they can possibly get.

Not saying this doesn't happen, but outside of Dave Leitao's family and Jim Calhoun who cared about that?

 

[willie99]

he's right, it's money and politics

even the women's game, remember when they had the strongest 1 (us) and the strongest 2 (RU) in the same bracket? breaking every unwritten tournament rule? or how about the fact the committee has never placed TN in our bracket ever since Pat stopped playing us

a couple of years ago, with only something like 3 AAC teams in the field, they had two of them positioned to meet in the 2nd round on the men's side

 

[UConn990411]

Cronin is largely correct in this case, but he whines so much about so many things that his words have very little credibility. It's the Boy Who Cried Wolf syndrome at this point.

 

[Chief00]

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...tournament-seeding-is-financially-driven/amp/

News flash - The NCAA is about money.

 

[Chief00]

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and chief is an insufferable blowhard.

I must be living inside your head - the power of Chief.

 

[don356]

Must be a slow day at cbs sports that this is the best topic they can find in college bball on the eve of the tourneys. I think i've read this same comment from coaches about 100 times.

 

[mauconnfan]

Wow thanks Mick. How stupid is his timing? I mean the little leprechaun should just shut up and try to win games at this point of the season. Prove to the NCAA he can win with a pretty good team, beyond the round of 32.

What a dope.

 

[UConnNick]

Not only are the team matchups rigged, but the entire tournament is designed to favor the blue bloods, right down to the Final Four. Everything is based on seeding.

I worked with a guy who played for Texas Southern in the mid 1990's. They were matched up with Duke in a first round game in Tampa. Duke was staying at a big, luxury hotel in downtown Tampa. As a 15 or 16 seed, TSU stayed at a Rodeway Inn.

Even fans can be affected. At the 1983 Final Four which we attended, the hotel situation in Albuquerque was a complete disaster. The NCAA failed to figure out that Albuquerque didn't have enough hotel rooms for such an event. The lowest seeded team gets the worst hotel assignments, which that year was NC State. Some of their fans were forced to stay in Grants, NM, a hellhole which is nothing more than a gigantic truck stop on I-40, about 70 miles west of Albuquerque. They had to ride a bus an hour and a half in both directions to get to the games. All you needed to know about Albuquerque was the best hotel in town where UH was HQ'ed was at the airport.

 

[ctchamps]

Not only are the team matchups rigged, but the entire tournament is designed to favor the blue bloods, right down to the Final Four. Everything is based on seeding.

I worked with a guy who played for Texas Southern in the mid 1990's. They were matched up with Duke in a first round game in Tampa. Duke was staying at a big, luxury hotel in downtown Tampa. As a 15 or 16 seed, TSU stayed at a Rodeway Inn.

Even fans can be affected. At the 1983 Final Four which we attended, the hotel situation in Albuquerque was a complete disaster. The NCAA failed to figure out that Albuquerque didn't have enough hotel rooms for such an event. The lowest seeded team gets the worst hotel assignments, which that year was NC State. Some of their fans were forced to stay in Grants, NM, a hellhole which is nothing more than a gigantic truck stop on I-40, about 70 miles west of Albuquerque. They had to ride a bus an hour and a half in both directions to get to the games. All you needed to know about Albuquerque was the best hotel in town where UH was HQ'ed was at the airport.

The committee is rigged by the P5. They are going to increase the odds their teams will stay in the tournament longer to increase revenues back to conferences. It's much fairer in sports not named football but even in the other sports it is rigged to support the P5 conferences. Basketball is not any different.

Things got much worse over past couple of years when the NCAA sold it's soul to the P5. The smaller conferences are cutthroat with one another. The power conferences have a unwritten agreement to help one another up to a point. But this is true in every aspect of life. The rich and powerful have an easier path to maintain power than the little fish.

And it probably will continue to get more unfair. Which is why some of us are advocating UConn leverage the AAC while developing it's football program to increase chances to get into a P5.

 

[joober jones]

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and chief is an insufferable blowhard.

No. Chief is the Kemba Walker of the Boneyard.