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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > April > 11 > Entry
Kevin Riley: Changes to March Madness could be good for Dayton
College basketball enjoyed its big finale last week. The annual “March Madness” has never been more popular, and the folks in charge of college basketball are looking to make it even more so.
The NCAA’s plan could be a good thing for the Dayton community, its basketball fans and our local universities. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a community where the changes could have a bigger positive impact than in Dayton — where so much of our community psyche is affected by basketball and our universities.
The proposal hasn’t been approved, but it looks like a done deal. With television rights to the annual tournament worth billions, the NCAA wouldn’t be messing with anything it’s not serious about.
Without getting into all the details, it comes down to this: the NCAA wants to put 96 teams in the tournament — 31 more than now.
With that number, the University of Dayton would likely make the “big dance” every season. (On paper, I think you could prove they would have been in the past three seasons, for sure.)
Wright State’s opportunity would dramatically improve, and the Raiders certainly would’ve had a strong argument to be one of the 96 this year.
When considering what this could mean for Wright State’s stature and to its many alumni in Dayton, it’s worth considering this:
Butler was the little school that got all the attention for reaching the championship game this year — the big story of the tournament that all the talking heads compared to the movie “Hoosiers.” The New York Times wrote about the school and its historic arena.
And admit it, if you watched the championship game, you were rooting for them against perennial powerhouse Duke. You were crushed when Butler’s last-second, almost game-winning shot just missed.
Well, Butler plays in the same league as Wright State, and the Raiders finished second to them. (I’d also argue Wright State gave them a tougher game during the season than a couple of the teams Butler beat in the NCAA tournament.)
Butler has built its program to be one of the higher-ranked teams in the country, but it started with opportunities in the NCAA tournament. Maybe, if Wright State got the chance, the Raiders could become a similar story.
But under the current system, only one team from their league typically gets a chance in the NCAA tournament.
The Dayton Flyers have enjoyed recent trips to the NCAA tournament, including in 2009 when they upset West Virginia in the first round. (West Virginia was a Final Four team this year.)
UD faltered late in this season and wasn’t invited to the NCAA tournament, although several teams from their league were.
It seems like each year, UD is one of the “bubble” teams — those that don’t know their fate until the last moment.
This year, fans were disappointed, especially when several teams the Flyers beat during their season made it.
(The Flyers brought UD and our community a lot of positive publicity with its run in the less prestigious NIT tournament, which the Flyers won. They beat some big-name schools along the way, including Illinois and North Carolina, on national TV.)
With an expanded tournament, UD would get off the bubble and could be expected to make the NCAA tournament almost every year. That would satisfy rabid Flyer fans, and, perhaps more important, enhance the school’s national reputation — a goal President Daniel Curran puts at the top of his list.
There’s nothing like being on national television. Just ask Butler.
The change might also improve the Flyers’ schedule, which fans love to gripe about. Typically UD has difficulty scheduling bigger-name schools at its arena. They worry about losing there to a “bubble” team — a loss that might haunt them when the tournament field gets picked.
If UD became an annual NCAA tournament team, a trip to the arena could be less risky.
In the sports world, the debate rages about whether the NCAA should expand “March Madness.” Your bracket sheet will be a lot more complicated with 96 teams. And many worry that the tournament will lose its prestige if more teams are allowed in.
But we’d like a little more madness every March in Dayton.
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Comments
By Mary
April 11, 2010 8:50 AM | Link to this
It is past time for all newpaper editors to put on their big boy hats, read newspapers, and get serious. Why in the world should colleges, with tuition going through the roof, even be in the sports entertainment business? Despite the myths, most college ahtletics departments do not break even - even after receiving tax breaks for their donations. Entertaining alumni and students is not their mission. OSU men’s basketball has not broken even for the past two years. A little over a week ago, USA Today had a front page article on how colleges are increasingly using students and taxes to subsidize their losing athletics departments while academic programs are cut. Read today’s adjacent column on Greece. Don’t you think their debt problem might have something to do with their sponsoring the Olympics a few years back with much show and high debt? How many people really watched the much hyped March Madness - 14% or so? Then we wonder why newspapers, education systems, countries and cultures fail.
By BB Fan
April 11, 2010 3:20 PM | Link to this
Kevin, get a clue. There will be 96 tourney slots, one fewer than the 97 in the NCAA + NIT this year. The current proposal is to include all the regular season conference champs as the NIT did this year. Wright State would still be out. Please pay attention before you write nonsense. [I do hope the Raiders do better next year.]
By MrLuckie
April 11, 2010 8:59 PM | Link to this
Kevin Riley has one area of interest and that is sports. We like that in a newspaper editor. Well-fed and focused on the ball - keep him in his box seats worrying about the ball. When he tries to think beyond the out-of-bounds lines it’s pretty embarrassing.
By Jack
April 12, 2010 8:27 AM | Link to this
Hey, Kevin, big name schools will not come to UD even after the move to 96. Why, you ask? Because they won’t have to. Look at Syracuse. They almost never leave their home, and do a good job of getting a good team. Now with 32 more slots available, they will never have to leave the Carrier Dome to visit a smaller school. The little schools will become more and more like Arkansas-Pine Bluff this year…play 11 out of conference games … ALL on the road. UD will never be able to get another BIG program to come to the Arena. (Seton Hall was #60 in RPI this year, and 9 out of 16 in the Big East.)