Post by Life's too short. on Mar 17, 2009 11:36:22 GMT -5
...BCS actions in Congress and the government in general.
From the NYT:
Sports of The Times
Calipari Says Judge the Team, Not Its League
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: March 16, 2009
A half-hour before the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament selections were announced Sunday, University of Memphis Coach John Calipari made a prediction that was stunningly accurate. Asked in a telephone interview about the prospects of Memphis’s receiving a No. 1 seed, he said: “There’s no way that’s going to happen. We will be a two seed. There’s no question in my mind.”
Calipari based his prediction on what he called a built-in bias against teams, like Memphis, that do not play in the so-called power conferences that are part of the Bowl Championship Series in football. He also predicted that the Tigers would be shipped west.
Bingo.
When the field was announced, Memphis (31-3), a member of Conference USA, was seeded second in the West Region and sent to Kansas City, Mo., where it will open Thursday against Cal State Northridge.
•
“Part of it is the B.C.S./non-B.C.S. business,” Calipari said. “If you think they’re going to root for us, you’re crazy.”
Only four teams from universities that are not B.C.S. conferences received at-large bids. That’s the lowest number since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
“I don’t think it’s right,” Calipari said, “but the good thing it’s going to do is create dialogue of ‘how could you do this?’ And they are going to have to explain, so that’s not all bad. And it will mobilize our city and our team.”
Selection Sunday is the most joyous and demoralizing day of the college basketball season. At places like Morgan State, there is the rapture of making it to the tournament for the first time. At places like St. Mary’s, there is gloom for being left out of the tournament.
In Calipari’s case, there is the sense of being slighted.
Based on merit — and numbers — Memphis should have been a top seed, ahead of Connecticut (27-4). Memphis went undefeated in Conference USA, winning the regular-season title and the tournament. UConn was knocked out of the Big East tournament by Syracuse in the quarterfinals after six overtimes.
The selection committee apparently felt that UConn’s body of work had been more impressive. “The statement they’re making is, You must be in a B.C.S. league to really do this,” Calipari said. “They’ll say, ‘You only played so many top-50 games.’ Are you telling us you’re judging us by our league? How about just judging us?”
Mike Slive, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and chairman of the selection committee, said that it wasn’t what Memphis did not do, but what other teams did.
The larger question is whether seeding is that important. Calipari says that a team’s success is tied to where its journey begins. “Where you’re seeded and who they put in your bracket is a big part of it, and if your team is playing well,” he said. “There may be three teams that are playing well in one region; only one of you is going to advance, so it does matter.”
Louisville Coach Rick Pitino says he thinks seedings are overvalued.
“There’s so much banter and talk about seedings,” Pitino said. “I’ve been doing this quite some time. I’ve never seen so much talk about in-and-out seeds. I can tell you from coaching in the tournament, it really doesn’t matter. You’re going to have to play good basketball.”
The Big East’s success harks back to its glory days of the 1980s, especially 1985, when three Big East teams — Georgetown, Villanova and St. John’s — reached the Final Four; Villanova upset Georgetown for the national championship. Two years later, Pitino led Providence to the Final Four.
Even then football was an issue because the traditional all-sports conferences like the Atlantic Coast, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pacific-10 and the Southeastern complained that they were spending millions of dollars to maintain big-time football while the Big East was, by and large, skating by with basketball only. The Big East was forced to embrace football, and Pitino conceded that football was the primary reason his team joined the Big East. When he became the Louisville coach in 2001, the Cardinals were part of Conference USA.
Pitino said that Louisville’s athletic director, Tom Jurich, had asked him to call Mike Tranghese, the Big East commissioner, about joining the conference. Louisville had built a good football program, and the Big East was looking to replace Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami, which decided in 2003 to leave for the A.C.C.
The Big East soon added Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati. Big East football has been mediocre, but its B.C.S. affiliation has been enough to cushion its members from the sort of secondary treatment reserved for midmajor teams.
After the emotion of Selection Sunday, 65 teams have the chance, in theory, to reach the Final Four. Last year, all the No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four for the first time. Memphis reached the championship game, losing to Kansas in overtime.
•
Is this year’s team better than those Tigers? “Not as explosive,” Calipari said Sunday. “But we may be better defensively. The key to this team will be, Are we making shots? We’re so good defensively that if we shoot 34 or 35 percent from the 3, we’re going to give a lot of people trouble.
“The problem is, every once in a while, we go 1 for 11.”
Chips are on the shoulders, slippers on the feet.
It’s March.
From the NYT:
Sports of The Times
Calipari Says Judge the Team, Not Its League
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: March 16, 2009
A half-hour before the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament selections were announced Sunday, University of Memphis Coach John Calipari made a prediction that was stunningly accurate. Asked in a telephone interview about the prospects of Memphis’s receiving a No. 1 seed, he said: “There’s no way that’s going to happen. We will be a two seed. There’s no question in my mind.”
Calipari based his prediction on what he called a built-in bias against teams, like Memphis, that do not play in the so-called power conferences that are part of the Bowl Championship Series in football. He also predicted that the Tigers would be shipped west.
Bingo.
When the field was announced, Memphis (31-3), a member of Conference USA, was seeded second in the West Region and sent to Kansas City, Mo., where it will open Thursday against Cal State Northridge.
•
“Part of it is the B.C.S./non-B.C.S. business,” Calipari said. “If you think they’re going to root for us, you’re crazy.”
Only four teams from universities that are not B.C.S. conferences received at-large bids. That’s the lowest number since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
“I don’t think it’s right,” Calipari said, “but the good thing it’s going to do is create dialogue of ‘how could you do this?’ And they are going to have to explain, so that’s not all bad. And it will mobilize our city and our team.”
Selection Sunday is the most joyous and demoralizing day of the college basketball season. At places like Morgan State, there is the rapture of making it to the tournament for the first time. At places like St. Mary’s, there is gloom for being left out of the tournament.
In Calipari’s case, there is the sense of being slighted.
Based on merit — and numbers — Memphis should have been a top seed, ahead of Connecticut (27-4). Memphis went undefeated in Conference USA, winning the regular-season title and the tournament. UConn was knocked out of the Big East tournament by Syracuse in the quarterfinals after six overtimes.
The selection committee apparently felt that UConn’s body of work had been more impressive. “The statement they’re making is, You must be in a B.C.S. league to really do this,” Calipari said. “They’ll say, ‘You only played so many top-50 games.’ Are you telling us you’re judging us by our league? How about just judging us?”
Mike Slive, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and chairman of the selection committee, said that it wasn’t what Memphis did not do, but what other teams did.
The larger question is whether seeding is that important. Calipari says that a team’s success is tied to where its journey begins. “Where you’re seeded and who they put in your bracket is a big part of it, and if your team is playing well,” he said. “There may be three teams that are playing well in one region; only one of you is going to advance, so it does matter.”
Louisville Coach Rick Pitino says he thinks seedings are overvalued.
“There’s so much banter and talk about seedings,” Pitino said. “I’ve been doing this quite some time. I’ve never seen so much talk about in-and-out seeds. I can tell you from coaching in the tournament, it really doesn’t matter. You’re going to have to play good basketball.”
The Big East’s success harks back to its glory days of the 1980s, especially 1985, when three Big East teams — Georgetown, Villanova and St. John’s — reached the Final Four; Villanova upset Georgetown for the national championship. Two years later, Pitino led Providence to the Final Four.
Even then football was an issue because the traditional all-sports conferences like the Atlantic Coast, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pacific-10 and the Southeastern complained that they were spending millions of dollars to maintain big-time football while the Big East was, by and large, skating by with basketball only. The Big East was forced to embrace football, and Pitino conceded that football was the primary reason his team joined the Big East. When he became the Louisville coach in 2001, the Cardinals were part of Conference USA.
Pitino said that Louisville’s athletic director, Tom Jurich, had asked him to call Mike Tranghese, the Big East commissioner, about joining the conference. Louisville had built a good football program, and the Big East was looking to replace Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami, which decided in 2003 to leave for the A.C.C.
The Big East soon added Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati. Big East football has been mediocre, but its B.C.S. affiliation has been enough to cushion its members from the sort of secondary treatment reserved for midmajor teams.
After the emotion of Selection Sunday, 65 teams have the chance, in theory, to reach the Final Four. Last year, all the No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four for the first time. Memphis reached the championship game, losing to Kansas in overtime.
•
Is this year’s team better than those Tigers? “Not as explosive,” Calipari said Sunday. “But we may be better defensively. The key to this team will be, Are we making shots? We’re so good defensively that if we shoot 34 or 35 percent from the 3, we’re going to give a lot of people trouble.
“The problem is, every once in a while, we go 1 for 11.”
Chips are on the shoulders, slippers on the feet.
It’s March.