Just how badly has the portal raped the mid-majors and concentrated in the major conferences?

[18IsTheMan]

Since the inception of the Sweet 16, this is the first year it has been comprised entirely of teams from major conferences.

Prior to this year, every Sweet 16 had at least 7 conferences represented. This year it's just 4 conferences.

This is the first year since 2007 without a team seeded 11th or worse in the Sweet 16.

Average margin of victory in the Round of 64 was the highest ever at 16.7 points and had the most number of 25+ point wins.

In short, March Madness is dead.

 

[Harvard Gamecock]

I was holding out after the 1st 2 days of tournament play, but not having the upsets, and the small to mid majors not advancing ruined the
experience for me.

 

[treyno2722]

Since the inception of the Sweet 16, this is the first year it has been comprised entirely of teams from major conferences.

Prior to this year, every Sweet 16 had at least 7 conferences represented. This year it's just 4 conferences.

This is the first year since 2007 without a team seeded 11th or worse in the Sweet 16.

Average margin of victory in the Round of 64 was the highest ever at 16.7 points and had the most number of 25+ point wins.

In short, March Madness is dead.

The committee loaded the brackets with teams from the SEC, Big 10 and 12, the Big East, and the ACC. I thought Drake and McNeese did well. Colorado should be in the Sweet 16 but the Mountain West is a very good basketball conference, so no big shock there. I would have liked to have seen teams like Bradley, UC Irvine, and Boise State.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I was holding out after the 1st 2 days of tournament play, but not having the upsets, and the small to mid majors not advancing ruined the
experience for me.

I thought the opening rounds felt dull, but figured it was just me until I saw others reporting details like this. Time will tell it it's just a fluke this year (there were some great opening round games last year), but it's surprising how non-competitive it was. Aside from hardly any upsets, few of the games were even close enough to be interesting. I know from several of the games I watched, several times I heard the announcers comment about a key player from a major team and noted that he was a transfer from such and such mid-major program.

 

[18IsTheMan]

The committee loaded the brackets with teams from the SEC, Big 10 and 12, the Big East, and the ACC. I thought Drake and McNeese did well. Colorado should be in the Sweet 16 but the Mountain West is a very good basketball conference, so no big shock there. I would have liked to have seen teams like Bradley, UC Irvine, and Boise State.

Yeah, Drake and McNeese were good R64 upsets. Maybe the only real upsets? Colorado St was a 10 seed winning over 7 seed Memphis, but Colorado St was actually favored.

 

[Dabo's Weenie]

The committee loaded the brackets with teams from the SEC, Big 10 and 12, the Big East, and the ACC. I thought Drake and McNeese did well. Colorado should be in the Sweet 16 but the Mountain West is a very good basketball conference, so no big shock there. I would have liked to have seen teams like Bradley, UC Irvine, and Boise State.

McNeese did exactly what they needed to do!

 

[Gradstudent]

McNeese did exactly what they needed to do!

 

[will110]

Since the inception of the Sweet 16, this is the first year it has been comprised entirely of teams from major conferences.

Prior to this year, every Sweet 16 had at least 7 conferences represented. This year it's just 4 conferences.

This is the first year since 2007 without a team seeded 11th or worse in the Sweet 16.

Average margin of victory in the Round of 64 was the highest ever at 16.7 points and had the most number of 25+ point wins.

In short, March Madness is dead.

March Madness is dead after one opening weekend without a mid-major advancing? A bit hyperbolic, don't you think?

Perhaps wait for this year to become a trend before declaring the death of March Madness.

 

[18IsTheMan]

March Madness is dead after one opening weekend without a mid-major advancing? A bit hyperbolic, don't you think?

Perhaps wait for this year to become a trend before declaring the death of March Madness.

Way ahead of ya. See Post #4.

Though it's a bit difficult to explain away all of that data as simply a fluke.

 

[Viennacock]

Since the inception of the Sweet 16, this is the first year it has been comprised entirely of teams from major conferences.

Prior to this year, every Sweet 16 had at least 7 conferences represented. This year it's just 4 conferences.

This is the first year since 2007 without a team seeded 11th or worse in the Sweet 16.

Average margin of victory in the Round of 64 was the highest ever at 16.7 points and had the most number of 25+ point wins.

In short, March Madness is dead.

Mid-majors are going to be dead for the most part in all sports. I just found out about the opt in and opt out in baseball on my son's OV.

If you don't already know, schools have the choice to opt in or out.

Opt-in- you can give 34 scholarships (I believe this is the number) and your roster size is 34. In other words, entire roster could be scholarship players.

Opt-out- you have much smaller scholarship numbers but your roster size is 40.

Guess which ones power 5 schools are choosing and which mid-majors are choosing? A player may start off at a mid-major with a 25% scholarship. They do well as a freshman, guess what they are doing the following year? Now, there could be some mid-majors that go all-in on baseball or have an alumi base that funds the 34 scholarships but there will be very few.

Throw on top of this the transfer rules and NIL opportunities at power 5's, mid-majors have very little opportunity for big success.

Very sad.

 

[18IsTheMan]

Mid-majors are going to be dead for the most part in all sports. I just found out about the opt in and opt out in baseball on my son's OV.

If you don't already know, schools have the choice to opt in or out.

Opt-in- you can give 34 scholarships (I believe this is the number) and your roster size is 34. In other words, entire roster could be scholarship players.

Opt-out- you have much smaller scholarship numbers but your roster size is 40.

Guess which ones power 5 schools are choosing and which mid-majors are choosing? A player may start off at a mid-major with a 25% scholarship. They do well as a freshman, guess what they are doing the following year? Now, there could be some mid-majors that go all-in on baseball or have an alumi base that funds the 34 scholarships but there will be very few.

Throw on top of this the transfer rules and NIL opportunities at power 5's, mid-majors have very little opportunity for big success.

Very sad.

Sad, indeed.

Maybe we'll see some cycles with basketball where mid-majors accrue some talent to make a good showing in the NCAAT, but then all that talent gets scooped up by the major programs so the mids have to start all over again, resulting in years like this one for the NCAAT. You had some mid-major programs last year where just about every starter transferred after the NCAAT.

It's a great disservice to those programs and coaches who identify and develop talent the major programs didn't see, just to basically serve as a minor league for the major programs who failed to identify those players in the recruiting cycle.

 

[atl-cock]

Mid-majors are going to be dead for the most part in all sports. I just found out about the opt in and opt out in baseball on my son's OV.

If you don't already know, schools have the choice to opt in or out.

Opt-in- you can give 34 scholarships (I believe this is the number) and your roster size is 34. In other words, entire roster could be scholarship players.

Opt-out- you have much smaller scholarship numbers but your roster size is 40.

Guess which ones power 5 schools are choosing and which mid-majors are choosing? A player may start off at a mid-major with a 25% scholarship. They do well as a freshman, guess what they are doing the following year? Now, there could be some mid-majors that go all-in on baseball or have an alumi base that funds the 34 scholarships but there will be very few.

Throw on top of this the transfer rules and NIL opportunities at power 5's, mid-majors have very little opportunity for big success.

Very sad.

A good observation.

 

[Uscg1984]

I was holding out after the 1st 2 days of tournament play, but not having the upsets, and the small to mid majors not advancing ruined the
experience for me.

I look at it differently. Since we didn't have a ton of upsets in the first two rounds, we're going to be treated to some pretty epic matchups in the rounds coming up. Of the 16 teams remaining, I think at least half of them have a legitimate chance at winning it all.

 

[Cackmandu]

The cream always rises to the top, isn't that what we want to see, the best v. the best! The sad part is it will most likely be the same teams year after year in each sport that pump the most money into their programs! So say what you will, but competitive balance in college sports as we boomers once knew it is dead!

 

[18IsTheMan]

The cream always rises to the top, isn't that what we want to see, the best v. the best! The sad part is it will most likely be the same teams year after year in each sport that pump the most money into their programs! So say what you will, but competitive balance in college sports as we boomers once knew it is dead!

As it pertains to March Madness, what has made it so wildly popular is the madness. If things are going to be constructed so only the top major teams can compete, then just go to a 32 team tournament and keep all the mids out. I think what made the NCAAT so popular over the years is that the mids got their shot against the top dogs and pulled some upsets in the tournament, leading to the Cinderella team each year that everyone loves to follow, but in the end things usually shook out by the Elite 8 or FF and you ended up with the cream of the crop. It was kind of the best of both worlds. Upsets and Cinderellas but eventually the best of the best competing in the end.

 

[atl-cock]

As it pertains to March Madness, what has made it so wildly popular is the madness. If things are going to be constructed so only the top major teams can compete, then just go to a 32 team tournament and keep all the mids out. I think what made the NCAAT so popular over the years is that the mids got their shot against the top dogs and pulled some upsets in the tournament, leading to the Cinderella team each year that everyone loves to follow, but in the end things usually shook out by the Elite 8 or FF and you ended up with the cream of the crop. It was kind of the best of both worlds. Upsets and Cinderellas but eventually the best of the best competing in the end.

You could then make the NIT a mid-major playoff, akin to FCS (I-AA).

 

[Harvard Gamecock]

Just how bad has NIL effected Mid-Majors/Smaller Schools ? This news item has pretty much gone unnoticed but this may be a tipping point for several smaller schools. This is not good

Saint Francis Drops to Division III One Week After March Madness Appearance​

https://www.si.com/fannation/name-i...n-iii-one-week-after-march-madness-appearance

A statement from SFU Chairman and the Very Rev. Joseph Lehman expressed these concerns in a university press release:

The governance associated with intercollegiate athletics has always been complicated and is only growing in complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play, and other shifts that move athletics away from love of the game.

 

[Piscis]

The portal and NIL have ruined college sports. The future (even the present to a great degree) is going to be one where talent is concentrated in a relative handful of programs with deep pockets. This is going to be true in all major sports.

 

[atl-cock]

Just how bad has NIL effected Mid-Majors/Smaller Schools ? This news item has pretty much gone unnoticed but this may be a tipping point for several smaller schools. This is not good

Saint Francis Drops to Division III One Week After March Madness Appearance​

https://www.si.com/fannation/name-i...n-iii-one-week-after-march-madness-appearance

A statement from SFU Chairman and the Very Rev. Joseph Lehman expressed these concerns in a university press release:

The governance associated with intercollegiate athletics has always been complicated and is only growing in complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play, and other shifts that move athletics away from love of the game.

Interesting that they're dropping all the way to D-III and not D-II.

In any case, I commend them for not losing their way with all the changes happening in D-I.

 

[18IsTheMan]

The other aspect that sucked about this year’s opening rounds is that there was no unknown mid-major player who burst onto the scene. Seems to happen every year. A lot of times it’s some goofy looking white kid who doesn’t like he would be able to dribble. There just wasn’t much in the way of mid-major talent like we usually see. That’s always been one of the best parts of the tournament…getting to see these guys ball out who haven’t gotten any coverage all season.

Even in the McNeese win, which was the biggest upset of the tournament,, let’s face it, they won because Clemson played like total poo in the first half. Nobody particularly stood out for McNeese.

 

[Piscis]

The other aspect that sucked about this year’s opening rounds is that there was no unknown mid-major player who burst onto the scene. Seems to happen every year. A lot of times it’s some goofy looking white kid who doesn’t like he would be able to dribble. There just wasn’t much in the way of mid-major talent like we usually see. That’s always been one of the best parts of the tournament…getting to see these guys ball out who haven’t gotten any coverage all season.

Even in the McNeese win, which was the biggest upset of the tournament,, let’s face it, they won because Clemson played like total poo in the first half. Nobody particularly stood out for McNeese.

Clemson was the better team in that game. They dug too big of a hole in the first half and ran out time at the end of the game. Every year there is a good team that craps the bed in the first round. Last year it was Auburn, this year it was Clemson.