The six power conferences (Big East, ACC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, SEC, and Pac10) control the NCAA Tournament with an iron fist. Those who follow one of the majors rejoice in getting as many teams from their respective conferences into the Tournament as possible. But there’s no doubt, the Mid-Majors and other Non-BCS conferences conferences are greatly underrepresented, generally getting only one of their teams into the Tournament. That said, the Tournament wouldn’t be the Tournament without games where Mid-Majors rise up and bite one of the power schools in the first round.
Talking About Last Night!
Last night, we had two Mid-Major victories: Cleveland State over Wake Forest and Siena over Ohio State in two overtimes. As a basketball fan, I would like to see more of the Mid-Major and smaller school conference teams represented since I think the difference between a power conference and the lesser conferences is marginal. In fact, the cynical side of my brain says that the only difference is that Power Conference coaches are paid much higher salaries and have more assistants who also receive more pay.
Demetri McCamey of the Illini was quoted saying, after the Illini first round loss to Western Kentucky, that the differences between the power conference teams and lesser conference teams on the hardwood were overstated.
Let’s face, the power conference control of the tournament structure is all about money. The six power conference schools harvest large amounts of the TV revenue generated by the Tournament. The distribution of this revenue is distributed to each of the conferences based on the number of games played with larger distributions going to those teams that win and continue to advance in the final rounds.
So if you have seven teams in the initial tournament field, the probabilities are very high that a number of those teams will advance to the next rounds and maybe into the Final Eight or Four group. The odds that the Final Four will consist of only teams only teams from the six power conferences is highly probable statistically. Let’s take a brief look at the two Mid-Major upsets over power conference teams last night.
Vikings Highjack Deacons
Perhaps the biggest upset in the Tournament so far was the 84 to 69 Viking win over Wake Forest. The Vikings won the Horizon League Tournament with a 57 to 54 victory over Butler in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, the home of the Bulldogs. This win put them into the tournament as Butler had an at-large bid. Butler lost in their first round game.
Gary Waters has a long, impressive coaching resume as he has been successful at Kent State (upset win in the first round Tournament against Indiana several years ago), Rutgers, and now Cleveland State. Waters applies an intellectual approach to his coaching, selecting teaching techniques from the best of the college coaching fraternity.
The Viking squad is lead by two very tough seniors, Bullock and Jackson. Bullock is a force at 6′5″ and 240 pounds he is a good scorer, rebounder, and defender. Jackson also is a physical performer yielding good scoring and rebounding statistics. Bullock played quarterback on his Flint, Michigan high school team and many think he has a good future in the NFL, though he has not played college football. Though the Vikings do not have the length or athleticism of Wake Forest, they were in complete control during this game. Cleveland State now moves on to play Arizona. Given that many thought Arizona did not belong in this tournament, Cleveland State has a good chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen round.
Saints Stun Buckeyes
While Siena was a 9th Seed, they were expected to lose to the Buckeyes, a 9th seed team. The Buckeyes at various points in the second half appeared to have the game under control, but Siena worked its way back by good defensive play and some key shooting when it was needed.
Siena is coached by Fran McCaffery who was featured in Feinstein’s “Last Amateur” book about a season in the Patriot League where, at the time, he was coach at Lehigh. His coaching resume is impressive and he has done a marvelous job at Siena where he has built them into a consistent winner. Last year, they upset Vanderbilt in the first round of the tournament.
On paper, the Buckeyes appeared to be the superior squad with more athleticism and size than Siena. But the Saints line-up had a bit more maturity in their line-up and all five starters scored in double figures. The picture of Dallas Lauderdale putting a slim Rossiter to the floor with a simple movement of the left arm epitomized the size differential Siena had to overcome.
The Buckeyes could have cemented the victory had they made their free throws in the closing minutes on the regular game clock. Bufford missed two, Turner and Mullens each missed one at crucial points at the end of the game. These misses plus the inability to play tight defense in the final seconds in the game and its overtime led to the Siena victory.
Original Story:
http://hoopraker.com/2009/03/21/bewar...
