Does conference/division opponent strength really matter all that much? (what does it mean for UCmbb)

[Jaydumo20]

Disclaimer: I am not talking about money, funding and NIL.

The initial response would be "of course" but in research, a standardized test is only considered valid if the results match the hypothesis. So...

I'm assuming that we agree the goal is to win a Natty. But WE have Natty's while playing in some great BE conference years, off-BE years and the AAC.

In Baseball, the AL East has been consistently great but hasn't produced the amount of rings it should have in the 21st century so far.

The Chiefs??? The AFC west has been pretty terrible.

Does Iron sharpen iron? Or does it wear it down? Or is it arbitrary?

 

[bendm]

i dont think it's determinative, which is good news for us if the BE loses ground on the P4 in the revenue sharing era. the BIG10 has probably had more ncaa bids over the last 25 years than any other conference but only has 1 chip to show for it.

 

[REB1094]

Other than the AAC, I’d bet that you’d have to look back a few decades to find the last time a non-power basketball conference team won a title. I’d also guess that 90+% of E8 and F4 teams for decades come from those conferences

Better players want to play in better conferences, better coaches want to coach in better conferences, so the better a conference is the easier it is to get better players and better coaches

Certainly not a rule, but helps a lot. And let’s be real, the selection committee would rather put a 18 win B10 team in the tournament over a 25 win America East team

 

[Luna]

The big east is a high major conference.. no question about that…a lot of the best recruits are in the big east footprint… I don’t see that changing

 

[HooperScooper]

Better players want to play in better conferences, better coaches want to coach in better conferences, so the better a conference is the easier it is to get better players and better coaches

One addition to that comment is that those conferences can pay a coach the most money so I think that's more of a reason the better coaches are there.

 

[Luna]

One addition to that comment is that those conferences can pay a coach the most money so I think that's more of a reason the better coaches are there.

I think the big east has the best coaches in the country

 

[HooperScooper]

I think the big east has the best coaches in the country

I was including the Big East in those conferences since it's a high major conference for basketball.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Conference is huge
If your in a 1-2-3 bid league
You OOS has to be more robust if you wan an at large
The downside is the more robust or toss up games you play the better chance you have to lose . That OCS killed St Johms last year
plus no one but us wanted to play them in the round of 64 or 32

 

[McLovin]

Disclaimer: I am not talking about money, funding and NIL.

The initial response would be "of course" but in research, a standardized test is only considered valid if the results match the hypothesis. So...

I'm assuming that we agree the goal is to win a Natty. But WE have Natty's while playing in some great BE conference years, off-BE years and the AAC.

In Baseball, the AL East has been consistently great but hasn't produced the amount of rings it should have in the 21st century so far.

The Chiefs??? The AFC west has been pretty terrible.

Does Iron sharpen iron? Or does it wear it down? Or is it arbitrary?

Great question - I think its more about the styles of play the Big East exposes us to that helps us in March than the “strength” of the league.

We see a ton of different styles, play in very hostile environments and the whistle is much more brutal (against us, it seems) than it is in March Madness. Those 3 help us prepare for March, unlike other conferences where coaches say and think false things like “UConn isn’t anything we haven’t seen in the Big Ten”…

 

[Jaydumo20]

Great question - I think its more about the styles of play the Big East exposes us to that helps us in March than the “strength” of the league.

We see a ton of different styles, play in very hostile environments and the whistle is much more brutal (against us, it seems) than it is in March Madness. Those 3 help us prepare for March, unlike other conferences where coaches say and think false things like “UConn isn’t anything we haven’t seen in the Big Ten”…

This is exactly how I feel as well. I thought of posting this thread after my buckeye friend texted me about the possible big 12 entry:
"You guys would have a way tougher road regular season but you'll be better prepared for March"- and I thought, I'm not sure that's accurate at all.