NCAA Play-in Games

With 68 teams in the field, 8 of these teams must play what is called a "play-in" game to make it to the tournament. I understand the reasoning behind this is a money grab, and to be honest I don't really care that these games exist. What I do care about is who is forced to play these games.

Last night North Carolina A&T beat Liberty and Saint Mary's beat Middle Tennessee. 

Liberty (15-20) was Big South champions and won the automatic bid.

North Carolina A&T(20-16) was Mid-Eastern champions and won the automatic bid.

Middle Tennessee (28-5) last to Florida International in the semifinals of the Sun Belt tournament.

Saint Mary's (28-6) lost to Gonzaga in the West Coast Finals.

I brought these facts up because these two games boast two very different scenarios for the teams. The first match up of two 16 seeds consists of conference champions. Are they quality teams? No. Liberty has a losing record for crying out loud. The other game teams boast quality resumes and seem to have a strong case to be in the tournament. Saint Mary's should be in the tournament and is capable of beating most. 

Now which game do you think I have issues with? The two conference champions playing an a play-in game or the two quality teams playing to get in?

Let Saint Mary's and Mid Tenn duke it out! There are only so many number of seeds available, and these two teams have arguments for being in and out of the tournament. So let them play to get into the dance. 

For the 16 seeds, neither should be required to fight to get into the tournament. Why? Because they are CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS and have earned that conference's automatic bid. These kids played their hearts out and became bubble busters! This is the highlight of there college lives! They won their small conference and got an invite to the biggest stage in college basketball. So let them play the 1 or 2 seed and try their hardest to have an upset, but don't deny one of them that opportunity by making them compete in a play-in game. A play-in game isn't an automatic bid to the tournament. It is just another loop these teams have to do to convince the selection committee that they deserve to be playing for the NCAA championship. 32 teams, no matter how good or bad their season was, get an automatic bid into the tournament for being their conference champions. So, let NC A&T and Liberty play games in the first round instead of each other, and let those bubble teams play for a spot in the tournament. 

Tsaasifying March Madness

Finally, with the coursework, and major stepping stones towards finishing my degree have been completely, I  can now come back and talk about one of my greatest passions: Sports. 

I say let us start with the NCAA tournament which begins this Thursday (I don't consider the play-in games part of the tournament). Just like last year, I am challenging any readers out there which are few and far between since my sudden exit from last year. 

You can participate at ESPN's Tournament Challenge. 

The Group Name: Tassified Bracket Group

Password: 2013

So please partake in this awesome experience. With no dominate team to spank the bracket as Kentucky did last season, expect this to be one the craziest tournaments ever.Hopefully, I don't lose my national champion in the first round like Mizzu did to me in 2012.    

The Tsaasifying Bracket Challenge

As any sports fan would know, today is selection Sunday, which means March Madness starts Thursday!! I don’t know about the rest of the country, but Thursday I will be doing nothing but watching basketball.

Before that, though, I will be preparing my bracket probably tomorrow at some point.

So for those crazy fans that have to fill out brackets, you are more than welcome to join my bracket group and see how you fare against Brother Saas #2.

I will be using ESPN’s Tournament Challenge as my medium for this group.

So make a bracket and join my group which is called Tsaasify Challenge. My bracket entry will be named Brother Saas #2.

Good Luck!

NCAA Graduate Transfer Rule

This has been a hot button topic since Wilson transferred from North Carolina State to Wisconsin, but for those that don’t understand what happened, here’s the low down.

Russell Wilson earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communications at N.C. State with a year left of eligibility to play football, so he decided to transfer to Wisconsin and attend grad school. Most students who wish to transfer and play for another team must sit out a year of eligibility, but there is an exception to the rule: if the player completes his or her degree they are allow to attend another school without penalty if the school offers a program their current school does not have. Wilson did exactly that.

Now, Wisconsin’s coach, Bret Bielema took advantage of this rule with Wilson, but he publicly said the rule is terrible and will cause a “free-agent” system in college athletics. Other schools have also taken advantage of this rule as of late.

Some people find the graduate transfer rule to be terrible while others claim it to be one of the few bright spots of the NCAA. I agree with the latter. This fear of creating a free-agent market in college sports is absurd. College football and basketball graduates 69% and 68%, respectfully.  Let’s be honest, most of the ones that graduate are not the elite athletes we see winning the Heisman and going pro. These are not the players other teams are looking to add to their roster. Most student athletes are in school to play a sport they love and get an education. The other 30% of players that don’t graduate fail to do so because they leave early for the pros or can’t handle the collegiate level of school, fame, and sports. As such there are only a handful of students with eligibility who graduate that are good enough to make a difference on a team. Russell Wilson just happens to be one of those outstanding student athletes.

Wilson did nothing wrong. Actually, he did what is expected of a true student athlete. He played for his school and became a scholar. So why shouldn’t he take advantage of his eligibility if he wants to? He wants to continue his education and continue to play football. I see nothing wrong with this. In fact, I see everything right with this.

People are afraid that more and more student athletes will take advantage of this expectation, and I say more power to them. If students are completing their degrees, let them have that ability. Universities should encourage these players to graduate. Every university’s main product is their graduates, and the greater the number and better the quality of students that graduate, the better the product you have.

Another aspect people are worried about is the recruitment of these players. The potential of back-door dealing, illegal recruiting activities and such are going to occur under the current rule. I won’t deny that, but there is what I think is a simple fix. Don’t allow other schools to recruit with the athlete, period. The student should be the party to initiate talks with the school, since he or she is looking for a graduate program that “interests” them. This communication will have to be done through NCAA guidelines, and certain procedures are expected with some degree of professionalism. Remember, they are going not just to play a sport but to continue their education, so they will need to find a program that 1) their current school doesn’t have and 2) that will accept the student into their program.  So I would expect that these players go through the same process as I did to get into grad school. If they apply and get declined because they don’t qualify, then they can’t transfer their eligibility. End of story. Now I doubt this will happen too often because of the influence of athletic departments, but nevertheless, these guidelines should be used to prevent what critics are calling “free-agency” in college athletics.