Division IAA Basketball?

[jackmd]

I assume others have seen this article quoting Bobby Huggins. He isn't exactly one of the darlings of the NCAA admin but he makes an argument.

http://timeswv.com/wvu_sports/x17202...ins-wants-I-AA

First for Huggins’ idea of how to make the game at its best.

“We ought to do what football does and go to a Division 1-A and 1-AA,” he said.

At present there are 334 teams in Division 1, ranging from the Special Ks — Kentucky and Kansas — who are both 24-1 to poor, poor Marist, who is 1-25.

As far as the NCAA is concerned, they are all equals.

Huggins knows they are not, not in facilities, not in recruiting, not in philosophy.

What he would like to do is take the top 110 and make them Division-1A, as football does.

“If they want to be Division 1-A, they would have to make the commitment to be big time,” Huggins said.

That includes all the trappings that you find at the schools in the power conferences. No offense, but this is about playing at the highest level of college basketball.

“Division 1-A teams could still play Division 1-AA teams, just like they do in football,” Huggins said. “But they would have have their own tournament.”

[propar80]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

I'm sure conferences like the MVC, West Coast Conference, Etc. get stomach cramps from articles like this.

Bottom line....if this happened, you would hear money being flushed right out of these conferences coffers into the BCS conferences, just like football.

This would create even larger have's and have not's in Division I. I think I saw it somewhere that no FCS Football team opperate in the black and it is mostly due to lack of television contracts, bowl bids, etc. I could be wrong about this, but I think there was a link on AGS.com somewhere.

Go Jacks!!

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

I like the current system. No wait I LOVE the current system. Give the George Mason's of the world a chance to do something. It wasn't all that long ago they made their run to the Final Four. And look what Gonzaga has become. Gonzaga is obviously big time now, but I'm not sure you could say that 15 years ago.

Marist would still be awful if there were two divisions.


And then you gotta raise the question about what to do with the MVC? They have top 25 teams every year, but the whole conference isn't in the top 110 teams.

[BTownJack]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

In my opinion there is no way this happens. It would diminish the aura of the NCAA tournament. IMO, the tournamnent expanding to 128 teams is going to happen before something like this.

[MontanaRabbit]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

In my opinion there is no way this happens. It would diminish the aura of the NCAA tournament. IMO, the tournamnent expanding to 128 teams is going to happen before something like this.

Do you think expansion is a good idea?

I am kinda on the fence about it. I think it might water-down the tournament a little. Also, I think the only reason this is being discussed is that every year there are a handful of major conference teams that are around .500 that complain about being snubbed.

I've always thought that if you don't play well enough throughout the season to be a "lock" for the NCAA tournament you have no business complaining when you are one of the first few out.

[BTownJack]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

Do you think expansion is a good idea?

I am kinda on the fence about it. I think it might water-down the tournament a little. Also, I think the only reason this is being discussed is that every year there are a handful of major conference teams that are around .500 that complain about being snubbed.

I've always thought that if you don't play well enough throughout the season to be a "lock" for the NCAA tournament you have no business complaining when you are one of the first few out.

I personally don't think expansion to 128-team tournament is a good idea. 65 is a good number to allow conference teams in and those schools who have had a very good year. If you are a big conference school team complaining about being snubbed...win more games. Pretty simple.

[Jacks-02]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

I love the current 64 team setup. Having the Thursda/Friday Saturday/Sunday format for consecutive weeks is awesome, but I suppose if they went 128 they'd just have to add another weekend for the extra 64 games that would need to be played.

[Evolution Prime]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

If that happened, I honestly think that would kill what makes the tournament special. You kill the Cinderella teams and therefore kill the first round or two possibly up to the Sweet 16. Everyone knows that the larger schools like Kansas, Kentucky, Connecticut, Duke, etc are going to win every year. That isn't what makes the tournament so popular. Its the "little" guys like Valpo, UNI, Kent St, George Mason making some runs and upsets. There are actual teams in the lower conferences that can play, though their entire conference as a whole maybe can't. You eliminate them, you eliminate the greatness of the tournament.

I don't want to go see a #15 seed Iowa team play a #2 seed Duke team. The excitement just isn't there. You aren't pulling for Iowa because they really aren't the "little guy." They are still a Big Ten team. They really aren't an underdog in the sence. You get rid of the lower conferences, then you start filling the rest out with lower teams from power conferences. You could get a vast majority of you leage in. What is the point of conference tournaments then?

The lower class of league would wind up playing in the NIT type of tournament. It would largely go unnoticed and unheralded, kind of like the FCS playoffs. It would matter to only those in those conferences and division. You really think a fan of Kansas would give any respect to a fan of the winner of the NIT? You really think Alabama fans give respect to Villinova fans? Highly doubtful. This only creates a more of a sence of superiority to the power conferences.

This would also be about money, money, money. The power conferences don't want to share that. They will do anything they can to keep that money with them. They feel as the little guys are taking away from their money. The split would keep a lot more of that money with them.

Another issue would be where to draw the line. The MVC is FCS for football so would you drop them into this new classification? The MVC has quality teams like Creighton, UNI, and Drake. What about UMass, Villanova, Georgetown and the likes out on the east coast. They play quality basketball, but only do FCS football. Would you include them in the upper or lower division? There has to be a uniformly drawn line somewhere and my bet it would be where the line is drawin where the FCS football level is drawn at right now. That would leave teams contemplating their jump up to a higher level of football to compete in basketball or possibly drop football altogether. Even whole conferences moving up or formed would be a possibility.

So to summarize everything up, I hate this idea.

[yotemeal]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

Why bother with any type of tournament? What they really need to do is develop some type of system that relies on polls and computer models to determine relative team rankings, ultimately narrowing the field to two teams which would face off in the championship game.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news...thrilling_ncaa

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

Why bother with any type of tournament? What they really need to do is develop some type of system that relies on polls and computer models to determine relative team rankings, ultimately narrowing the field to two teams which would face off in the championship game.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news...thrilling_ncaa

You could be on to something there!

[SFJACK]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

In my opinion there is no way this happens. It would diminish the aura of the NCAA tournament. IMO, the tournamnent expanding to 128 teams is going to happen before something like this.

I like the idea of expanding the tournament. I would like to see an automatic tourney bid for both the regular season champions and conference tourney champions. May the regular season count for something.

[LakeJack]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

Four words for Bobby -

George Mason - Final 4


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...032601040.html

[LakeJack]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

If that happened, I honestly think that would kill what makes the tournament special. You kill the Cinderella teams and therefore kill the first round or two possibly up to the Sweet 16. Everyone knows that the larger schools like Kansas, Kentucky, Connecticut, Duke, etc are going to win every year. That isn't what makes the tournament so popular. Its the "little" guys like Valpo, UNI, Kent St, George Mason making some runs and upsets. There are actual teams in the lower conferences that can play, though their entire conference as a whole maybe can't. You eliminate them, you eliminate the greatness of the tournament.

What he said

[propar80]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

I like the idea of expanding the tournament. I would like to see an automatic tourney bid for both the regular season champions and conference tourney champions. May the regular season count for something.

They may expand the tournament, but you can bet it won't be to let more Mid-Major's in the field, especially automatically.

Go Jacks!!

[SFJACK]

Re: Division IAA Basketball?

They may expand the tournament, but you can bet it won't be to let more Mid-Major's in the field, especially automatically.

Go Jacks!!

I'd take that bet...