Down Time

This is the worst time of year for Sport. What exactly is happening right now? Football is over, Baseball hasn't started, Soccer is in a lull. The only thin that is still going strong is Basketball. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can only watch so much basketball. Pro basketball only matter at the end of the year, and College basketball, it seems, is always the same group of teams playing. I am a fan of the Missouri Valley Conference, the mid-majors, and I would much rather watch Creighton play Missouri State in a competitive game than watch North Carolina beat up on Miami. The MVC actually has quality teams, and they are quite competitive. Why watch the number 1 team in the conference beat up on the last place team than see the 3rd and 4th place teams battle it out in a meaningful game. My real problem is with the TV coverage awarded to mid-majors. Even Gonzaga, a top ten team from last year, did not get much TV coverage.

What is the true difference between the MVC and the Big Ten? Both teams got 4 teams into the tournament yesterday, and both had the same number of teams in the sweet sixteen. In head to head meetings this year, the MVC only lost 4 or 5 games, I'm not sure of the exact number, against the major conferences. That includes victories against Wisconsin, Iowa, LSU, Nebraska, Kansas, and others. The only true, statistical evidence that has been found is that the major conference teams are taller. Seven footers are heavily recruited by major conference teams, and almost never go into the mid majors. Exceptions exist, like Patrick O'Bryant from Bradley last year. With recent evidence from the tournament, with George Mason making the final four with Memphis in the elite eight, and Wichita State and Bradley tagging along to the sweet sixteen. A full quarter of the field came from outside of the six major conferences. Why not give them some more face time?

On the down side, sort of, the women's basketball team won a game, so we aren't in competition to own the longest winning streak in NCAA history. And the men's team won too. We had a good weekend for NU athletics. The men have an outside shot at the NIT, with a good showing at the Big Ten tournament and a marquee road victory. Maybe if we can win in Campaign, take down Indiana, and make the semifinals of the Big Ten we might be able to sneak into the tournament. I don't think that that is very likely to happen, but you never know.

Basketball just gets boring after a while. I can only watch the Bulls beat up on bad teams for so long before I get bored. But, pitchers and catchers report on Wednesday, and March Madness is not that far off.

Pining for baseball,

Brett