PittsburghBucs
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The Public Perception of Mid-Majors
I was watching The Sports Reporters today on ESPN, and the lead topic of the entire show was "Can a team from Conference USA win the National Championship?"
My thought was "MY GOD! IF A C-USA TEAM CAN'T GET RESPECT AFTER A ONE-LOSS SEASON FROM THESE FELLAS- WHAT HOPE DOES AN A-SUN TEAM HAVE?"
Evidently, not much. In addition to William C. Rhoden saying there hadn't been a true "Cinderella" since Loyola in 1963, the opinion was presented that George Mason eventually proved they didn't belong in the Final Four in 2006 because they lost to Florida by 15 points.
It should be pointed out that Florida beat UCLA in the following game by 16 points.
I understand there are a lot of factors that prevent mid-majors from consistently competing with the major conferences. ETSU is never really going to compete with Tennessee, for instance, until the disparity of athletic budgets is significantly narrowed.
The Vols' budget is essentially 11 times more than the Bucs. That's one of the reasons I cringe when I see the headline "Local Businessman Gives Millions to College Outside the Area!" There has GOT to be more of an effort to identify ETSU as the home team in Johnson City and the Vols as the visitors from 100 miles away.
But this just kills me. To be honest, I think there is MORE of a chance for a mid-major to make a run now- witness George Mason- than perhaps 10 or 20 years earlier because so many stars either leave early or never go to college at all (though the latter is dwindling).
My final thoughts on the topic-
A- In many ways I think the ESPN commentators spoke almost of a Red State-Blue State divide. Mike Lupica and Bob Ryan simply don't spend much time watching college basketball in less-than-major markets- despite Ryan's column about attending an ETSU game a few years back.
He went to one. Wow! The Bob Ryans of the world so ignore Market #101 that when they do decide to pay us a visit, they consider their attendance to be newsworthy!
B- Bartow has got to start looking at four-year kids and not so many JUCOs if he truly wants to build a program here.
C- We've spoken a lot about who the Bucs should play on future schedules.
I mentioned the idea of playing more C-USA teams, or at least teams from a conference that maybe ETSU would like to be in someday.
Today, I have to say that ETSU has to quit complaining about how tough their out-of-conference schedule is and start taking on all comers. If it's a road game at UCLA without hope of a return visit- the Bucs have done that before. If they can get a three-for-one or two-for-one, fantastic, but I think it is going to be important to significantly improve the out-of-conference schedule to something even tougher than it was this season.
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03-16-2008 06:35 PM |
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tnbruisers
Water Engineer
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RE: The Public Perception of Mid-Majors
Total agreement.
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03-16-2008 06:45 PM |
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JWBUC
1st String
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RE: The Public Perception of Mid-Majors
George Mason belonged. As did Indiana State. They had Larry Bird, but they are basically cinderella if you compare their history to IU. Cinderella played for the NC against Michigan State in my opinion.
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03-17-2008 06:09 AM |
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