Bubble Watch

Expanding the tournament devalues everything prior to the tournament. Remember how amped up we were for the SHU game thinking we'd be in with a win and out with a loss? That's what makes college basketball great. Now those win and in situations will happen for the 9th place team in the Big East going forward. For everybody else, individual games would matter less than an individual NBA regular season game which would kill college basketball especially with so many rivalries being dissolved by conference realignment.

The only thing that needs to change about the tournament is the committee and defining clearer measurables for selection/seeding. The committee clearly does not factor in the Saturday or Sunday games when making the bracket and probably doesn't factor in most of Friday games either. They are wildly inconsistent about which metrics they value and which they don't and even contradict themselves when explaining themselves after the bracket is revealed.

It's also completely impossible for a group of university Athletic Directors and Conference Commissioners to be even a little bit unbiased in their process. I'm also highly dubious of the claim that these committee members "watch a lot of basketball throughout the course of the season".

I'd be far more comfortable with 10-15 of the bracketology Twitter nerds actually doing the selection than the committee as currently constructed.
Completely agree with bolded section above but greed rules everything and fear my favorite sport (college hoops) is going to the dogs based on the almighty dollar. Just thankful I've gotten to enjoy it as many years as I have is the glass half full take I guess.
 
I tweeted about this. I have never ever been more disappointed in a “Big East Man” than Jay Wright. He had every opportunity to stand up for our league and he just passed. I don’t care what they told him to say or not…you gotta go off script and address it. Jay needs the paycheck from CBS that bad?
 
Maybe Jay wanted to defend the BE getting screwed but couldn't figure out how to do it without coming off like a homer
Then he’s not good at his job because if you can’t have big east team metrics etc ingrained in your head then time to play more golf

He’d never be a good defense attorney
 
Completely agree with bolded section above but greed rules everything and fear my favorite sport (college hoops) is going to the dogs based on the almighty dollar. Just thankful I've gotten to enjoy it as many years as I have is the glass half full take I guess.
I have hoped since Pitino was hired he could hold off the dogs (for SJU anyway) for three to five years. Still think he can but they certainly have the Big East in a corner and they are licking their chops.
 
All Jay Wright had to do was make a comment like "When's the last time a team that finished in the top 4 of the Big East didn't make the Dance?" But that was apparently too much to ask of him.
"Looking at the conference breakdown....Wow... 3 teams...when was the last time the Big East only got 3 teams in? - 1993? wow... interesting."
 
Expanding the field is not really a big real. The tournament started out as an 8 team field and expanded to 16, 22, 24, 25, 32, 40, 48, and 52 over the years and reached 64 in 1985 and now 68.
There never has been a hallowed number for the field.
 
Its very simple there were not many Allies of the Big East on the committee. What should happen is if your conference wins a National Title the commissioner of the league should have a seat on the committee for 4 years.

Did anyone see the make up of the committee? The Butler AD should be embarrassed that he allowed this travesty to happen.

The 2023-2024 Selection Committee (the year the term is up is in parenthesis):

CHARLES MCCLELLAND (2024) – SWAC Commissioner (Chairperson)

JAMIE POLLARD (2024) – Iowa State Athletic Director

SCOTT BARNES (2024) – Oregon State Athletic Director

BUBBA CUNNINGHAM (2025) – North Carolina Athletic Director (Vice-Chairperson)

MARK COYLE (2026) – Minnesota Athletic Director

GREG BYRNE (2026) – Alabama Athletic Director

KEITH GILL (2026) – Sun Belt Commissioner

BARRY COLLIER (2026) – Butler Athletic Director

MARTIN NEWTON (2027) – Samford Athletic Director

TOM WISTRCILL (2027) – Big Sky Commissioner

ARTHUR JOHNSON (2028) – Temple Athletic Director

RENEE BAUMGARTNER (2028) – Santa Clara Athletic Director
Great, we have to deal with this Collier lightweight representing us for two more years?
 
I can see it now, we all root for UConn, they win it all, and ten days later they bolt for another conference. We all know they enter the conference portal every year. And at the press conference to announce it Hurley refers to the Big East as mid-major twenty times.
 
I can see it now, we all root for UConn, they win it all, and ten days later they bolt for another conference. We all know they enter the conference portal every year. And at the press conference to announce it Hurley refers to the Big East as mid-major twenty times.
Sounds good! Pay the exit fee and sayonara
 
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