OT: UMBC over virginia, good or bad for college ball?

[Travelman6]

First of all, let us all take a minute to toast to UMBC! I know I chugged a beer in their honor. This is a historic moment.

Any way, is this good or bad for college ball? At first I thought it could only be good, but in the long run I can see how this might actually hurt the sport..no fault of UMBC of course. Bad because I can see the power conferences making even more of an effort to consolidate power to avoid this possibility of an epic upset, this kind of loss. I hope I am wrong, but I think money (and media) plays too much into the equation (and why Trae was even playing in the tourney) and we will just see more and more painfully mediocre power teams in the tourney and less of these solid mid major teams with strong fundamentals and experience. I start to wonder, after this, if perhaps Vermont was snubbed...but I better not wonder too much, all hail the power conferences!

But any way, lets all relish in history being made.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

GREAT! Great for UMBC. Great for the America East. Even great for Stony Brook! lol

Go UMBC!

 

[storrsroars]

I vote 100% good. I woke up my wife with 3 mins remaining so she could watch history. If it were UVA playing the 10th place team from the B12, I would've been watching Netflix.

Personally I've always been for the need to have a winning conference record to get in, and that one-bid leagues should not be in the First Four. If the little guys don't get to participate, likely our household won't be either. I don't believe I'm alone in this.

But holy hell... I've watched at least three UVA games and UMBC sliced and diced Bennett's vaunted defense like a hot knife through butter. Like they were standing still. I don't know if they can do it again - I think Buffalo could. But this is what makes watching the thing fun.

 

[Pudge]

Breathe out ...

That’s a fine distinction the University of Virginia now has and not my beloved Huskies. Losing to George Mason is enough for a lifetime.

 

[djct1999]

Great for sports in general. Even better for the squid and Kentucky.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I picked UVA to win it all. Now I can rip up my bracket and enjoy basketball for basketball's sake. Great work by UMBC!

 

[noeynox]

Great for the sport. Didn't see a minute of it sadly.

As great as Tony Bennett, this will stick to his ribs for a while.

 

[Hurleyman216]

I see it as good. If the P5 conferences split off to avoid these kind of upsets they’ll be unpleasantly surprised when they realize the media dollars and buzz of the tournament are gone. This is why people watch...we don’t watch to see a Syracuse team with a losing conference record play Duke for a 3rd or 4th time

 

[HuskyHawk]

All good. This has been coming. It’s tough to see when picking brackets, but the difference between the 1’s and teams in the teens has never been smaller. Transfers and early entry into the NBA and G league has spread out the talent.

Understand what it means for us too. We will probably never have a team like 1999 or 2004 again. It also means that a team that had no business winning a NC, like UConn 2014, can. One of the reasons my main complaint about Ollie is not his recruiting is that the key to winning is turning a bunch of pretty good players into a great team. Nobody is going to be able to build a roster that can compare to 1999 Duke. You have to win with flawed teams now. Coaching, metrics, offensive and defensive systems matter more than ever.

 

[BugsyCT]

I never fill out brackets just for this purpose - want to be able to root for the P5 bigwigs to go down as much as possible. If anything, it just proves that the mid-majors belong in the tourney with a fair chance to compete. More often than not it will obviously be the power teams that go deep in the bracket, but the magic of this tourney is defined by what UMBC did last night. Give the little guy a chance to go toe-to-toe with the big boys and see what happens (and that goes for the football side too - look at UH over FlSt and UCF over Auburn in NY6 games).

It's definitely a good thing for college sports, not bad.

 

[uconn_jack]

I think the P5 understands, and more impotantly I'm sure CBS and other TV networks cetainly do, that while college basketball diehards would still care to some degree, that they would lose the casual fans, magic, and money of the tournament if they shut out the non-P5 teams. I can see them wanting a P5 football bubble, but college basketball needs the little guys in the tournament to make people care.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's what it is all about. I was at Bobby V's Thursday in WLocks and the place was buzzing for URI and the underdogs. When the Jackrabbits from So Dakota State came back you could swear you were at the game as well as every big 3 by URI down the stretch, loud and fun. When the kid hit the 3 for Loyola Chicago it exploded.

That's what it's all about, so absolutely great for the game. Does it sometimes make an easier path for someone not as deserving absolutely but good for them too. Happens.

 

[UConnWingman]

I think UMBC’s HC Ryan Odom is going to be the game’s next hot commodity.

 

[UCFBfan]

Yeah there's no way this is a bad thing in any way. The tournament is all about the upsets and it's why everyone loves the first weekend of games. No one would be excited to see an 11 seeded team from the PAC 10 beat a 3 seeded team from the B1G. To me, that's not interesting and I'm sure the majority of fans who watch would agree. A P5 only tournament would basically be the same as the regular season, a bunch of games from major conferences on TV. I love being able to see teams you'd never find on TV and their star players. That kid from UCMB, Lyles, was absolutely insane and a joy to watch. The PG was great too.

If the P5 break off and do their own thing, ratings would plummet and the almighty dollar that they only care about would go away too.

It's games like this that make me keep watching the tournament. The past few years have been tough with us being so hard to watch. Years without a bunch of upsets in the tournament end up being dull.

 

[pj]

First of all, let us all take a minute to toast to UMBC! I know I chugged a beer in their honor. This is a historic moment.

Any way, is this good or bad for college ball? At first I thought it could only be good, but in the long run I can see how this might actually hurt the sport..no fault of UMBC of course. Bad because I can see the power conferences making even more of an effort to consolidate power to avoid this possibility of an epic upset, this kind of loss. I hope I am wrong, but I think money (and media) plays too much into the equation (and why Trae was even playing in the tourney) and we will just see more and more painfully mediocre power teams in the tourney and less of these solid mid major teams with strong fundamentals and experience. I start to wonder, after this, if perhaps Vermont was snubbed...but I better not wonder too much, all hail the power conferences!

But any way, lets all relish in history being made.

Let me see if I understand your question. You wonder if it might be better for the P5 teams to win all the games, so that they won't feel obliged to take additional steps to make sure they win all the games? It may be bad for college ball for a P5 team to lose a game, because the more games they lose the fewer they will lose?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I think it is gonna push for a P5 break in hoops. No one likes getting embarrassed

 

[August_West]

UMBC winning is great for hoops


Syracuse winning = they should bury this dumb sport

 

[BugsyCT]

If you missed it last night -



That Lyles kid put on a show. How can this be bad for college hoops?

 

[Purple Stein]

GREAT! Great for UMBC. Great for the America East. Even great for Stony Brook! lol

Go UMBC!

Go America East! Go Maine!

 

[HuskyBoi]

it embarrasses the ACC for letting Virginia run their conference and then get smacked by a school the size of a community college

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

This is great. The more high end mid majors the better, IMO.
As previously said, I watch the tournament for the David vs. Goliath matchups, not to see Syracuse vs. Duke for a 4th time. There's nothing better than a low seed mid major making big moves, and the whole country gets behind it.

 

[HuskyBoi]

This is great. The more high end mid majors the better.
As previously said, I watch the tournament for the David vs. Goliath matchups, not to see Syracuse vs. Duke for a 4th time. There's nothing better than a low seed mid major making big moves, and the whole country gets behind it.

yep. lets just hope Loyola takes care of Tennessee, for the sake of college hoops AND my bracket

 

[CL82]

Penetrate and kick it back out? Who knew?

Also shows how much you open up the paint when you can make threes.

 

[TIP-IN]

I think if we were in the ACC (as we should have been) then I'd bet we would all see this differently. Virginia played without one of the best player on their team due to an injury, still they should be embarrassed ! Go Cincinnati, Go Houston !!

 

[BugsyCT]

We've been on the other side of this to a certain degree with GMason - the whole world was rooting against us and for the underdog. As much as that loss still sticks in our craw even now, the fact that mid-majors can stand up to the big boys with the season on the line is great for college hoops.