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Friday, March 14, 2008

Mayer

Mayer: Big 12 comes around

By Bill Mayer

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2008 Big 12 Tournament

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2008 Big 12 Tournament

A video tour of the Power & Light District, Sprint Center and College Basketball Experience

On day one of the Big 12 men's basketball tournament, here's a mini-tour of the new Power & Light District, the Sprint Center and the College Basketball Experience.

The Big 12 Conference is big-time in most categories, and next year it will abolish one of its most bush-league habits: the postseason basketball tournament with a Thursday-Sunday run. Wednesday-Saturday in 2009 will be far fairer to the athletes and coaches. It will give them a much better chance to prepare for NCAA action the next week.

Interest in the tourney is so high that the money-grubbers won't lose a cent. In fact, if the earlier conclusion of the meet helps NCAA entries go deeper into the competition, even more loot will result.

However, the Big 12 is not alone among the prestige leagues that now follow a Thursday-Sunday slate. The Atlantic Coast, Big Ten and Southeastern conferences slap that same yoke across the shoulders of their beasts of financial burden.

Far more often than not, teams that win league tournaments with a Sunday finale never make it to the NCAA finals. You bust a gut to win three, perhaps are assigned a Thursday game the next week and can get there tired and ill-prepared.

Right now the probable No. 1 seeds for the NCAA meet shape up as North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis and Tennessee, with Kansas and Texas drooling over one of those to flop. UCLA of the Pac-10 and Memphis of Conference USA are in Wednesday-Saturday tourneys; even if they play three games they'll be a full day better off than the others.

UNC of the ACC, Kansas and Texas of the Big 12 and Tennessee of the SEC face Thursday-Sunday grinds. Coaches admit they prefer Wednesday-Saturday if there is to be a tournament at all. There continues to be sentiment to abolish postseason meets, but as long as there is all that MONEY, forget that idle dream.

Other good leagues that begin tourneys on Wednesday are the Atlantic 10, the Big East, the Big West and the Mid American. Could better-rested Final Four and national-title contenders emerge from there?

The Big 12 is stronger and more treacherous than it's been for a while. Suppose Kansas and Texas win their first two games in this week's Kansas City Sprint Center and then engage in a brutal, demanding, exhausting showdown for the title. Why not coast a little, you ask? No way will these proud teams and their coaches mail it in. But where does that leave them as far as peaking when they really need to, for a glorious 6-0 finish?

Why in the world the Big 12 and the others like the ACC didn't go to a Wednesday-Saturday format long ago is hard to understand. Bad management, I'd say. If The Suits running the cash registers would just listen now and then!

The major villain for the postseason foolishness is the ACC. It was the pioneer in this category in the 1950s because of the loot. North Carolina went 32-0 to win the 1957 NCAA title from Kansas, and I admire the Tar Heels immensely for how they got there. Only the ACC tourney champ made the 22-team tournament in '57, so Carolina beat Clemson, Wake Forest and South Carolina to do that. Because the ACC then lacked the clout of the Big Seven, it had to defeat Yale in a play-in game before it could lop off Canisius, Syracuse and Michigan State and break Kansas' heart, 54-53.

As the more prestigious Big Seven's entry, KU had to win only three games to reach the title match. Undefeated Carolina was forced to run off a 7-0 string and deserved the win.

Come 2009, an improved Big 12 format. Better late than never.

Comments

Timmay97 (anonymous) says...

I love the fact they are going Wed. to Sat. It's probably not true, but I do think KU gets screwed in the tourney seeding by finishing their final game so late on Sunday's.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter this year. Whether KU is a #1 seed or not, they will be the FOURTH #1 seed for the tourney. Or, they will be the FIRST #2 seed in the tourney. Any way you look at it, they will still be meeting up with the same team whether they are a #1 or #2 seed.

The biggest difference is "WHERE" they will play these games. I think they should be in Houston, but who knows. As long as they don't get the raw deal like last year in UCLA's backyard.

Good luck in the tourney Hawks......make us proud!

March 14, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Brock (anonymous) says...

*Yawn* The Big 12 is about football, Bill.

March 14, 2008 at 9:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

SFBayhawk (anonymous) says...

It has been suspect to me that a huge and complicated field like a 64 (65) team, bracketed tourney, would (or could) be jumbled because of any game which finishes just hours earlier. Sunday afternoon finishes must be irrelevant in the big room.

And where you play has always been a debatable "advantage". The last time KU got to the FF, they were isolated in the toughest bracket in the West. Some coaches think (hoops)ala is a distraction of necessary evil.

Getting "there" is what matters. Sooner or later, if you want to win, you must, in a fashion, play every victor.

March 14, 2008 at 9:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

speedy (anonymous) says...

OK so things are changing around. DOES ANYTHING CHANGE IN GETTING ONTO THE TV NATIONALLY!!!!!!!!!! why do we get shuffled on pay per view and lower ranked teams get tv exposure!? someone at KU is at fault! football and BB are a top team and yet we out west get screwed over and get pac 10 or worse big east games. is ESPN the blame? not if CBS has games too.
WHOS IN CHARGE BACK THERE????????????

March 14, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

Timmay97, quit griping about playing in San Jose. HP Pavillion was not nearly as hostile some of the places we'd played in before, and in 2007, K-State's Bramlage Coliseum was the most hostile arena we played in...and we WON! We missed too many easy buckets, and they hit some miraculous three-point buckets. Plus, we had played like crap two nights before in barely beating Southern Illinois. We did not deserve to be in the 2007 Final Four.

March 14, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

"Far more often than not, teams that win league tournaments with a Sunday finale never make it to the NCAA finals."

I don't know enough about how many of these teams actually won their league tournaments (or played in the tourney final), but Florida won the last two titles, Duke and UNC each won recently, Kentucky won twice in the mid-'90s, and Duke and UNC each won in the early '90s. I understand Bill's point in general, but I'm not sure he's right about this point.

jhwkfan, you summed it up perfectly. Don't forget, also, that Sherron wasn't even close to 100%. That would have made a HUGE difference against UCLA, with Sherron's ability to penetrate.

March 14, 2008 at 2:25 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Last 20 years of NCAA champions, with their conf. tournament results

2007 - Florida won SEC on Sunday
2006 - Florida won SEC on Sunday
2005 - North Carolina did not make ACC final
2004 - UConn won Big East on Saturday
2003 - Syracuse did not make Big East final
2002 - Maryland did not make ACC final
2001 - Duke won ACC on Sunday
2000 - Michigan State won Big Ten on Sunday
1999 - UConn won Big East on Saturday
1998 - Kentucky won SEC on Sunday
1997 - Arizona (no Pac-10 tournament)
1996 - Kentucky lost SEC final on Sunday
1995 - UCLA (no Pac-10 tournament)
1994 - Arkansas lost SEC final on Sunday
1993 - North Carolina lost ACC final on Sunday
1992 - Duke won ACC final on Sunday
1991 - Duke lost ACC final on Sunday
1990 - UNLV won Big West tournament the week before
1989 - Michigan (no Big Ten tournament)
1988 - Kansas did not make Big 8 final

Of the last 20 champs, near as I can tell, half played on Selection Sunday. Of those 10, 4 went into the tournament having LOST that game.

I say all of that to say this. The preparation time is a myth. It's a mental thing that has been thrown out so much that everyone believes that having a Sunday final is a horrible disadvantage. It's not. Being healthy and playing your style of basketball is what wins in March. Not rest, because after the first weekend, everyone is on the same schedule as far as rest and play. Most of the teams in the tournament finals are already set for high seeds, so their opening game isn't much of a challenge anyway.

March 14, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

darnelljackson32 (anonymous) says...

Vote for Danny Manning and Wilt!!

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsn...

March 14, 2008 at 3:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bhann (anonymous) says...

5 things have been proven to make it to the Final Four:

In order:

1. DEFENSE
2. Gaurd Play
3. Low-Post Presence
4. 3 point shooting
5. Coaching

The facts will show this and history backs it up. Watch all of the major conferences and you will see these areas come true.

March 14, 2008 at 5:16 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Yahweh (anonymous) says...

I like your ideas in the first half of this article, but I would like to see some math and stats to back up what you posit here, that major conference champions don't finish with a championship to me. It sounds counter-intuitive to me, but I'm not willing to shoot it down without facts. Nor am I really ready to concede the point to you.

March 16, 2008 at 1:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )