Keenan Henderson Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 Texas A&M, one of ORU's early opponents, is ranked #15 in the AP Poll. They are very talented and have an outside chance to be a final four team this year. The AP also listed their All American team and it has 4 centers and 1 guard on the first team. We hear so much about small ball, guard play, and hitting threes but the best players in the country are big men. Strange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 28, 2023 Author Share Posted October 28, 2023 Not sure where to put this so why not here? Mid major conferences were struck another blow today. The NIT no longer is going to give a bid to mid major conference champs who lose in their conference tournament (thus missing the Big Dance). Instead they give the top 12 seeds to the Power 6 conferences (2 from each) and then will pick the next 20 best teams according to their standards (who they think are the next 20 best). So if you are a mid major and win your conference and then lose in the tournament then you may miss out on any postseason experience. The Summit League tournament was big before but now it is basically everything. Any thoughts on this decision? My issue is that it seems they are squeezing the mid majors out of postseason and the Big Dance is not far beyond. I think we talked about this last summer on a different thread that the NCAA tournament may just be for the big boys before long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenEagleFan Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 Not a good day for mids and lows!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 It's a joke....Mid Majors need to have their own tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Everything seems to be pointing that way. NIL, formation of super conferences, transfer portal, refusal of "big" schools refusing to play mids. They all lead to the factor that determines it all....money. I'm sure they will point to the model of FBS and FCS football. But bball and fball are different. Sure, TV will love it (although Cinderellas make the tournament so much more interesting), the SEC's and B1G's will benefit financially even though teams with 17-15 overall records and 3 wins in their conference will be in the tourny. And we will be forced to accept it, seeking a championship among our supposed peers when we would rather be involved in the David vs Goliath battles where we have shown that we can not only compete with the self proclaimed "giants", we are actually pretty good at standing toe to toe with them, slinging a few stones (basketballs), hitting 'em between the eyes (wins) and knocking a few down (Ohio State and Florida). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share Posted October 29, 2023 When the NCAA goes to basically Power 5 only teams in the tournament then we will have maybe 90-100 schools fighting it out for 64 spots. So at the point does making the tournament really carry much weight to these teams because 2/3 of the schools eligible will automatically be in? Sure it is still important but just loses all of its luster. I am guessing that as Eagleman said, the other mid/low majors will have their own championship. Maybe they call it D1 AA, similar to double A baseball. Then you have 260-270 schools battling it out for 64 spots. Does that feel more like an NAIA type tournament from the old days? If the Eagles make a run in that championship and make the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 does it matter? Do you still hang banners? Sorry, I like to ask questions. Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Winning always matters… 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Winning sure mattered to our founder OR....he always said that winning was the thing that got the headlines on the sports pages around the country and ORU wanted to spread the Gospel by winning and getting noticed....it was that way the people would see what ORU was all about.....we can see how right he was as evidenced by the Sweet 16 run in 2021....the 30-6 record last season and our CWS exploits in 2023....nothing gets the nation's attention more than winning and doing it with style and it doesn't hurt to have the underdog story with a bunch of really good kids.....OR would be very pleased by what has taken place at his beloved university over the past few years and the positive attention it has attracted including lots of donations to help move the athletic programs forward in the future...... 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 5 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said: When the NCAA goes to basically Power 5 only teams in the tournament then we will have maybe 90-100 schools fighting it out for 64 spots. So at the point does making the tournament really carry much weight to these teams because 2/3 of the schools eligible will automatically be in? Sure it is still important but just loses all of its luster. I am guessing that as Eagleman said, the other mid/low majors will have their own championship. Maybe they call it D1 AA, similar to double A baseball. Then you have 260-270 schools battling it out for 64 spots. Does that feel more like an NAIA type tournament from the old days? If the Eagles make a run in that championship and make the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 does it matter? Do you still hang banners? Sorry, I like to ask questions. Just curious. I think the power conferences have wanted this ever since George Mason's Final Four run. They don't want to share any potential revenue with smaller schools. This would basically kill the allure of the tournament for casual fans and viewers. In my opinion this will happen eventually (after the current CBS/Turner contract is up) but for now the smaller conferences are going to lobby for a 96 team field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share Posted October 29, 2023 The NCAA signed a deal with CBS/Turner through 2032 in 2016. I hope you are right Dr. Cornelius and they wait until then but think it is coming very soon. Next year everything is changing in college sports (12 team football playoffs, Pac 12 ends, and various teams switching conferences). Now with the NIT deal, it seems ORU may only have 2 or 3 years left at making the Big Dance before the mid majors are left out. I am hoping the Eagles still get one more shot at the Big Dance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 20 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said: The NCAA signed a deal with CBS/Turner through 2032 in 2016. I hope you are right Dr. Cornelius and they wait until then but think it is coming very soon. Next year everything is changing in college sports (12 team football playoffs, Pac 12 ends, and various teams switching conferences). Now with the NIT deal, it seems ORU may only have 2 or 3 years left at making the Big Dance before the mid majors are left out. I am hoping the Eagles still get one more shot at the Big Dance. You may be right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Interesting article from CBS sports from last year. Anonymous interview of college coaches and their opinion on whether automatic bids should be eliminated. Vast majority of coaches say dont change it. https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/candid-coaches-should-the-ncaa-tournament-stay-as-is-with-automatic-bids-or-go-to-an-all-at-large-format/amp/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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