CAA "uninvited" from bracketbusters

[Ta town]

http://www.mvcfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2162

I've never understood the association with this event and now it smells small time in a big time way.

[Ta Town Shocker]

Ouch. Elgin needs to do everything possible to get us out of this event.

[ShockTalk]

For the most part, VCU posters are upset by the news.

http://www.vcuramnation.com/forums/threads/caa-will-not-participate-in-bracketbusters-next-season.8587/

[GoShockers89]

Time to uninvite ourselves from this conference.

More realistically- MVC needs to break the dayyum TV contract with ESPN, sign with NBCSports (or whoever), and tell Bracketbusters to shove it.

[_kai_]

Something that I think that is funny is that everyone has the BCS mentality, it's just at different levels. BCS schools won't play mid's because they say it's not worth their time, no upside for them. Now a lot of the uppertier schools involved in bracketbusters say BB is becoming worthless with all the teams involved.

We all have BCS mentality, it's just at different levels. I'm guilty of it.

I was unhappy with BB when they expanded to 160+. If CAA is not involved, it makes it even more of a dumb thing for the MVC to be involved with. I'd like to see what Elgin does, but I'd imagine since the MVC and ESPN has just finally agreed to air games last season with the ESPN360 network, and increased ESPN/ESPN2, that Elgin won't do anything out of fear that ESPN will take a dump all over the MVC with retaliation from leaving their BB event.

[ShockTalk]

Something that I think that is funny is that everyone has the BCS mentality, it's just at different levels. BCS schools won't play mid's because they say it's not worth their time, no upside for them. Now a lot of the uppertier schools involved in bracketbusters say BB is becoming worthless with all the teams involved.

We all have BCS mentality, it's just at different levels. I'm guilty of it.

I was unhappy with BB when they expanded to 160+. If CAA is not involved, it makes it even more of a dumb thing for the MVC to be involved with. I'd like to see what Elgin does, but I'd imagine since the MVC and ESPN has just finally agreed to air games last season with the ESPN360 network, and increased ESPN/ESPN2, that Elgin won't do anything out of fear that ESPN will take a dump all over the MVC with retaliation from leaving their BB event.

At this point, I wouldn't say we would have a BCS mentality about the BB. The BB is getting to watered down. The intent of the BB is to give a team as much of a boost to getting into the Dance as popping their bubble. With the CAA out, Butler probably going to the A-10, and Gonzaga and BYU not participating from the WCC, I believe we're the only conference left that generally has a shot at an at-large berth. Even if a team from another conference beats a Valley team or a team with a higher RPI, they will still need to win their own tournament or they won't get in, so the BB really didn't help them. My guess is that the Valley's #2-4 teams will have much more to lose than gain due to who their opponents will be. A #3 team from the Valley will probably get no positive bump by beating whom ever their opponent will be.

The other former positive about the BB is not having the trouble of scheduling a quality RPI opponent. That to has a reduced value now. Fewer quality opponents means generally lower RPIs. Add this to the fact that ESPN controls who you play for their best bang for the buck TV approach and you end up with a top team playing a 50-100 RPI team (see WSU/Davidson this year). I don't believe it would be that hard for WSU to schedule a home and home of that caliber of game (remember, BB is a H/H deal). The plus for WSU would be to have both those games during the non-con and not at a crucial time of confernce play.

[BOBB]

http://www.mvcfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2162

I've never understood the association with this event and now it smells small time in a big time way.

I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member

Groucho Marx

[wu_shizzle]

I have heard the arguments for years and I still can't understand how some of you don't see BB as a positive.

It's great for exposure, It helped us get a 5 seed, and we get a good return game. Just win baby!

[WSU757]

I agree with alot that has already been said. What if Elgin could get a MVC/CAA challenge and we can get a "Davidson" or "Murry" in the BB every year, wouldn't that be better than filling the non-con schedule with some 300+RPI teams.

[tropicalshox]

hope I'm assuming correctly that our return game with VCU is still on.

[Rlh04d]

The quality of the teams in it definitely seems to be going down, but I still don't see a problem with us participating in it.

It's still ESPN coverage. It's still usually a solid team that we get to play. It's still usually a solid team that we get to play a second time a year or two later. And the downside is we can lose?

My only problem with Bracket Busters is that it seemed like it actually had some meaning when it first started, but it's been watered down to obscurity by including every single team. The thing is called Bracket Busters ... why are teams that have no earthly shot at the tournament being included? 18 teams played in the first one in 2003 ... 100 in 2006 ... 142 played this year. The vast majority of the games aren't even shown on ESPN3, let alone TV. So what's the point to them? What does a bad team playing another bad team at the end of the year do for anyone, or the guarantee that those two bad teams will play each other again in the noncon two years down the line?

I say go back to 18 teams (or the 26 that were actually on television this last season) that have good RPI's and a realistic shot at the tournament for which Bracket Busters has the potential to improve their seeding. No one wanted to see Bradley in a BB game last year, so why are they included? Limit it back to 18 teams, put all nine games on the ESPN networks, and then the games are a key factor in getting national attention/recognition and getting a solid home/home series against a team with a similar RPI.

I don't see any downside to us participating in it, but I think we and ESPN could get a lot more out of it if the event was exclusive to good teams.

[Rlh04d]

Add this to the fact that ESPN controls who you play for their best bang for the buck TV approach and you end up with a top team playing a 50-100 RPI team (see WSU/Davidson this year). I don't believe it would be that hard for WSU to schedule a home and home of that caliber of game (remember, BB is a H/H deal).

While I agree that we should probably have been matched against a better team, Davidson hardly hurt us. They probably helped us a lot. Thanks to the rest of the MVC, we only had three Top 100 RPI wins from conference play, and only a few from noncon. Who's to say that Top 100 win over Davidson wasn't the difference between a 5 seed and a 6 or 7?

Actually, that would have made us play someone other than VCU. I just flipped myself. Death to Bracket Busters!

[RoyalShock]

I think next season's VCU game will be only the 2nd time the BB return game was against a quality opponent (GMU was the first). We always seemed to get a team at their high point, with a bunch of seniors.

[Zardoz]

I hope we get out of this after the, I think it is four years that Elgin recently committed us to. It may have been a good idea as it started out, but it has been watered down too much throughout the years. When ESPN decided to kick the CAA out because they had the nerve to sign with another network that would pay them more to televise their games just makes the field that much weaker.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

About the only thing we can hope for now is that we'll have a chance to play another top 50-100 team. Anything above that is just wishful thinking.