BASKETBALL Basketball Talk at C-USA Media Days

[dukewayne]

Basketball Talk at Football Media Days

Interesting discussion on C-USA basketball. Glad there is discussion. I know Kermit said he wanted conference wide strength of schedule in ooc addressed etc at the end of the season. It's needed.

Thus far, I'm not real impressed with the early tenure of the new commish. While it is good that they are finally talking about basketball problems, those talks should have started immediately when C-USA fell below a RPI of 20 as a conference. Not only should talks have begun long ago, actions and solutions should already be implemented and executed for this upcoming season.

I hope the new conf commish starts to tackle some of these problems with a little more zeal and promptness. Some of these C-USA schools need to get with the program, you know get with the team and come on in for the big win.

I'm still trying to moderate my opinion of the job the new commish did with the media rights deal. Some slack for her since the job was handed to her shortly before negotiations. Plus, the conf rightly made the media deal short, 2 yrs. Hopefully, the conf and commish can get things together and get improved media rights deal in 2 years.

 

[RandallThomason]

I would limit the tournament to 10 teams. Top 2 teams go straight to the semifinals.

Remaining eight teams play 2 rounds to determine which 2 teams match up with the top 2 teams in the semifinals.

I would use all campus sites for the tournament, with home courts being decided by RPI ranking rather than straight up conference standings.

This would reward quality OOC scheduling, make the regular season race very exciting with so much at stake for the top 2 finishers, and give your highest RPI teams the best chance to advance in the tournament and therefore strengthen at large resumes.

 

[dukewayne]

I would limit the tournament to 10 teams. Top 2 teams go straight to the semifinals.

Remaining eight teams play 2 rounds to determine which 2 teams match up with the top 2 teams in the semifinals.

I would use all campus sites for the tournament, with home courts being decided by RPI ranking rather than straight up conference standings.

This would reward quality OOC scheduling, make the regular season race very exciting with so much at stake for the top 2 finishers, and give your highest RPI teams the best chance to advance in the tournament and therefore strengthen at large resumes.

Ding Ding Ding! Right on, Johnny tell him what he's won.

That is exactly right. For a number of years now, I've been thinking the reg season div champs should get auto bid to conf semis. That way it helps give the regular season some more value. It helps with even more motivation and intensity to get that regular season title which counts for little in the era of conf tourney auto-bid takes all.

Also important and implicitly included in your plan is that higher seed (RPI) teams getting home games almost guarantees great conference tourney crowds in attendance. In an era when attendance, energy, and buzz are crucial to media rights deals, having those conf tourney games with great crowds could positively help with basketball tv deals.

I think I understand these details. Conference standing determine seeds in conf tourney, but overall RPI determine home team. Say, finishing as a div champ automatically puts you in the conf semis. Better RPI determines whose arena that game is played.

If only top 10 get in, that still provides plenty of incentive for competitive contests late in the season even for teams in middle or lower half of the standings to even make post season play. Do the losing bottom feeders really deserve postseason? Plus, it eliminates waste of time and resources for usually poorly attended games for bottom feeder games in first round. A conference has to figure out what is important here. Reward losing teams some with horrible records just so they can have some motivation to play the last few regular season games of the year for the conf tourney? If they haven't found motivation by that point, does it really matter? Also, how many of those 12 or 14 seed teams actually go on to win the conference tourney championship? Few if ever. Then your conference auto bid goes to a team going to a play in game as a 16 seed. The conference loses a possible 12 seed or higher with a real chance to win, or two teams with shorter conf tourneys make it to finals contending for both to go dancing. An auto bid and an at large. It should be about giving your conference's best teams the best chance to get to the NCAA Tournament. A bonus is making the regular season matter for something more than just a trophy. For years, it's killed me watching MT finish high in the conf standings only to still have to play 3 or 4 conf tourney games. 3 or 4 games where one slip up cost you a shot at the Big Dance even though you just played 15-18 games proving you are one of the best teams in your conference.

Seriously, it's an excellent brief to the point plan you have there. I wish our new commish could quickly push this kind of plan through.