A record 14 of 16 teams from the SEC made the NCAA tournament...

[ttowncoug]

...seems very TV biased if you ask me. Network knows the SEC fans will watch these games.

March Madness 2025: SEC sets record with 14 of 16 teams in NCAA tournament

The Big East held the previous record with 11 teams in a single men's tournament.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Coug90]

...seems very TV biased if you ask me. Network knows the SEC fans will watch these games.

March Madness 2025: SEC sets record with 14 of 16 teams in NCAA tournament

The Big East held the previous record with 11 teams in a single men's tournament.

sports.yahoo.com

The North Carolina invite reeks of corruption. Chair of the committee literally gets a six figure bonus if they make it. So F’n stupid how is this guy even on the committee. NC had no business getting an invite.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

...seems very TV biased if you ask me. Network knows the SEC fans will watch these games.

March Madness 2025: SEC sets record with 14 of 16 teams in NCAA tournament

The Big East held the previous record with 11 teams in a single men's tournament.

sports.yahoo.com

I'd love to know what the net profit of having extra teams is for the league and each individual school.

Also curious what the most teams any single league has placed in year prior. (*edit - in the story subtitle, its 11 by Big East)

At this point the corruption/ collusion is so blatant why not just jam all 16 teams into the tourney?

 

[95coug]

When you have 14 of 16 teams that have 19+ wins, that doesn't say much for your non-conference scheduling.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

When you have 14 of 16 teams that have 19+ wins, that doesn't say much for your non-conference scheduling.

The linked article made it sound like they all played a murderer's row of non-cons.

You'd think an article like that would come with the slant of "ehhhh, sounds a little fishy to me" but it seems to validate the SEC's 14 team bid.

 

[95coug]

The linked article made it sound like they all played a murderer's row of non-cons.

You'd think an article like that would come with the slant of "ehhhh, sounds a little fishy to me" but it seems to validate the SEC's 14 team bid.

Didn't read it. I pulled up Texas' non-con. They went 11-2, but only played 3 decent teams and lost to 2 of them:

Ohio State (L)
Houston Christian
Chicago State
Mississippi Valley State
Syracuse
St. Josephs
Delaware State
UConn (L)
New Mexico State
Arkansas - Pine BLuff
New Orleans
Northwestern State
NC State

 

[ttowncoug]

The linked article made it sound like they all played a murderer's row of non-cons.

You'd think an article like that would come with the slant of "ehhhh, sounds a little fishy to me" but it seems to validate the SEC's 14 team bid.

This is the media love affair with the SEC and BIg-10. If the SEC goes "bust" in the tourney, they will face some criticism.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

This is the media love affair with the SEC and BIg-10. If the SEC goes "bust" in the tourney, they will face some criticism.

fingers crossed.

 

[Observer11]

The linked article made it sound like they all played a murderer's row of non-cons.

You'd think an article like that would come with the slant of "ehhhh, sounds a little fishy to me" but it seems to validate the SEC's 14 team bid.

The SEC only played .500 ball in-conference.

 

[mikalalas]

Didn't read it. I pulled up Texas' non-con. They went 11-2, but only played 3 decent teams and lost to 2 of them:

Ohio State (L)
Houston Christian
Chicago State
Mississippi Valley State
Syracuse
St. Josephs
Delaware State
UConn (L)
New Mexico State
Arkansas - Pine BLuff
New Orleans
Northwestern State
NC State

St Joseph's and Syracuse are good wins, but yeah that's a weaker schedule, and going 2-2 vs the only 4 good noncon opponents isn't good.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Prob half of them gone in their first game. Guessing 2 to the sweet 16.

 

[95coug]

Prob half of them gone in their first game. Guessing 2 to the sweet 16.

It pains me to see that 7 of the sweet 16 are SEC teams. 5 of them were high seeds and had relatively easy roads, 2 of them had to pull at least modest upsets to get there. 6 got bounced in the first round and one in the second.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

It pains me to see that 7 of the sweet 16 are SEC teams. 5 of them were high seeds and had relatively easy roads, 2 of them had to pull at least modest upsets to get there. 6 got bounced in the first round and one in the second.

The SEC is definitely more legit than I had hoped. Arkansas is the one the burned me. I had St. John's going to the Elite 8 and that upset might cost me in the end. That said, I need them to beat Texas Tech now to kneecap someone else in my bracket pool.

 

[95coug]

And now 5 of the elite 8 are SEC teams.
🤮

Even worse, the lowest seeded team remaining is a 3. It’s boring when there’s no Cinderella.

 

[Coug90]

And now 5 of the elite 8 are SEC teams.
🤮

Even worse, the lowest seeded team remaining is a 3. It’s boring when there’s no Cinderella.

I agree. Some people argue the blue bloods squaring off are better. Tv ratings show that as well so ultimately the NCAA and the conferences banking off this are loving it.

But I’m with you when no dog in the fight I’m riding the George Mason or Florida Gulf Coast Train all the way and I could give two shits about the 100th installment of Duke Michigan State.

 

[Observer11]

I agree. Some people argue the blue bloods squaring off are better. Tv ratings show that as well so ultimately the NCAA and the conferences banking off this are loving it.

But I’m with you when no dog in the fight I’m riding the George Mason or Florida Gulf Coast Train all the way and I could give two shits about the 100th installment of Duke Michigan State.

Would love to see old man Izzo and Kelvin do battle for the title though.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Another reason why I will 100% root for Izzo:

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

St Francis is moving to D3.

I'd expect to see other schools do the same. There have been multiple stories of teams having players enter the portal the second their team had been eliminated. This is grotesque.

 

[Observer11]

St Francis is moving to D3.

I'd expect to see other schools do the same. There have been multiple stories of teams having players enter the portal the second their team had been eliminated. This is grotesque.

Hell, Calmese and Watts didn't even wait that long.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

The SEC only played .500 ball in-conference.

Yeah that's how it works. I assume you were being sarcastic?

And now 5 of the elite 8 are SEC teams.
🤮

Even worse, the lowest seeded team remaining is a 3. It’s boring when there’s no Cinderella.

Actually, 4 of 8. 1 B1G, 1(!) ACC, 1 Big-12. Agree on boring being no Cinderellas. In the Sweet 16, what - one 10 seed, one 7, several 6's?

Another reason why I will 100% root for Izzo:


Thanks for the link. I'd never heard him speak. What a class act, I bet his players would die for him.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Once my bracket became irrelevant I checked out.

 

[95coug]

Yeah that's how it works. I assume you were being sarcastic?

Actually, 4 of 8. 1 B1G, 1(!) ACC, 1 Big-12. Agree on boring being no Cinderellas. In the Sweet 16, what - one 10 seed, one 7, several 6's?

Damn, somehow I confused Texas tech with Texas A&M. Probably because I don’t care about either of them.

 

[Coug90]

Damn, somehow I confused Texas tech with Texas A&M. Probably because I don’t care about either of them.

Floridas comeback against tech was an all timer. 4 straight threes and they needed all of them. Great game.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Coug since birth, thanks for the Izzo clip. Worth the time to listen. Agree I can root for him, though I have not watched much March Madness this year. With it rigged to kill the Cinderellas it simply is not very interesting to me.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Coug since birth, thanks for the Izzo clip. Worth the time to listen. Agree I can root for him, though I have not watched much March Madness this year. With it rigged to kill the Cinderellas it simply is not very interesting to me.

How do you figure that? Were they seeded too low? Should the #1's have been from the Summit, Big Sky, etc? I'm bummed that there weren't any left mid-tournament but you have to win the games along the way.

 

[roses04]

Soon the NCAA basketball tournament will go back to 32 teams, the SEC and The Big Ten, yes, I know Houston made it. What made March Madness fun to watch in the past was the upsets, very few this year. Not sure it's a trend yet, but if the Basketball and Football playoffs end up being the SEC versus the Big Ten you will see ratings and revenues drop. Sports is entertainment, parity is what makes sports fun to watch, without it the interest in it will drop. Fairly simple for all of us to see, I guess the networks haven't figured it out yet. and for now they'll hang their hat on this: The ratings for this year's tournament are actually up, the highest in 32 years. Not a trend that's likely to continue, IMO, as the top two conferences keep "stealing" players and coaches.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Soon the NCAA basketball tournament will go back to 32 teams, the SEC and The Big Ten, yes, I know Houston made it. What made March Madness fun to watch in the past was the upsets, very few this year. Not sure it's a trend yet, but if the Basketball and Football playoffs end up being the SEC versus the Big Ten you will see ratings and revenues drop. Sports is entertainment, parity is what makes sports fun to watch, without it the interest in it will drop. Fairly simple for all of us to see, I guess the networks haven't figured it out yet. and for now they'll hang their hat on this: The ratings for this year's tournament are actually up, the highest in 32 years. Not a trend that's likely to continue, IMO, as the top two conferences keep "stealing" players and coaches.

I've not seen anything that suggests trimming the tournament down to 32 teams. Where have you see that?

 

[Coug90]

I've not seen anything that suggests trimming the tournament down to 32 teams. Where have you see that?

Yeah that’ll never happen. It would be more likely to expand to 128 than to go to 32. That would wipe out a TON of revenue (and gambling which is + revenue with the gambling sites ads) from the first 2 days of the tourney which probably get more eyeballs than any other stage of the tourney.

I don’t disagree that it’s watered down with NIL and the portal but viewers aren’t going anywhere any time soon.