CBS blows that stat

[xazshox]

MVC Sweet 16 teams

The WSU SID, Larry Rankin, has put out this list to the sports TV news on all the recent MVC teams who have made the Sweet 16. For the record, here it is:

MVC Sweet 16 Teams Since 1994 (Wins)
1994 -- #12 Tulsa (UCLA, Oklahoma State)
1995 -- #6 Tulsa (Illinois, Old Dominion)
1999 -- #12 Missouri St. (Wisconsin, Tennessee)
2002 -- #11 S. Illinois (Texas Tech, Georgia)
2006 -- #13 Bradley (Kansas, Pittsburgh)
2006 -- #7 Wichita St. (Seton Hall, Tennessee)
2007 -- #4 S. Illinois (Holy Cross, Va. Tech)
2010 -- #9 UNI (UNLV, Kansas)

[pogo]

That release looks like any school's pregame release: a bunch of random nearly useless facts that mostly don't even make the airwaves. The TV morons are the ones to blame here.

TV guys usually just scan these things before the game and mark what they think is a "good stat" and go from there. I'm sure Harlan read this before hand, noted it as a relevant stat for mid-game if it was close, then instead of reading it word for word from the sheet during the game, he paraphrased to make it sound more "off the cuff" and mis-quoted the information. Stuff happens. I heard it and instantly said "that's way off" and even got a few texts saying "CBS got some bad info there..." but shrugged it off and then later Harlan corrected himself. These guys don't see these teams as much as we do. Harlan probably hasn't even done more than 5 Valley games since 2006 anyway. I'm surprised he didn't screw up 'Ali Farokhmanesh' and 'Kwadzo Ahelegbe' over and over again......

These guys are suppossed to be professional and this is what they do for a living. If they would spend any amount of time preparing for their JOB they just might do a better JOB in their chosen profession. This just shows a total disregard for not only the teams playing but also for their chosen profession. How many people show up to a presentation and just wing it with just a glance at some notes someone else prepares for them. I mean since Al Gore invented the internet its not that difficult to garner some shred of information about who's involved.

[Aargh]

When these guys have 64 teams to cover in something like 48 hours, there isn't much time for research. They probably have assistants go through the stuff from the SID's and create sound bites for them. It's enough of a challenge to learn to pronounce names and relate names to numbers in the time they have to dedicate to each team.

Wait until they have 96 teams to talk about - it's likely to get worse.

Plus, there is a lot of press being generated about the "mistake". The Valley is probably going to get a bigger press run from the mistake than they would have gotten if an accurate statement had been made.

[SubGod22]

When these guys have 64 teams to cover in something like 48 hours, there isn't much time for research. They probably have assistants go through the stuff from the SID's and create sound bites for them. It's enough of a challenge to learn to pronounce names and relate names to numbers in the time they have to dedicate to each team.

Wait until they have 96 teams to talk about - it's likely to get worse.

Plus, there is a lot of press being generated about the "mistake". The Valley is probably going to get a bigger press run from the mistake than they would have gotten if an accurate statement had been made.

I know what you're saying, but these guys only had about 8 possible teams that they'd have this past weekend. I don't watch all of them and I'm sure they alternate games so it's possibly only 4 teams. At least if my pod thinking is correct.

But I have no idea, just irritated that they'd say this and then try and spin it and confuse all those out there that are even more clueless

[WSUShokker]

When these guys have 64 teams to cover in something like 48 hours, there isn't much time for research. They probably have assistants go through the stuff from the SID's and create sound bites for them. It's enough of a challenge to learn to pronounce names and relate names to numbers in the time they have to dedicate to each team.

Wait until they have 96 teams to talk about - it's likely to get worse.

Plus, there is a lot of press being generated about the "mistake". The Valley is probably going to get a bigger press run from the mistake than they would have gotten if an accurate statement had been made.

I was thinking the same thing....lets hope so

[wufan]

Heard Mitch Holtus on 610 or 810 talking about Norhern Iowa's win over KU. The host said that he was the only guy they talked to that gave UNI a snowball's chance. Mitch went on to say that teams like Wichita State deserved an opportunity because the top 2 or 3 teams in the MVC are better than half the big 12 and half the other BCS teams out there. Further, he said that CBS mis-represented the Valley with their comment that no MVC team had been to the sweet 16 since 1979 and that the MVC has one of the best percentages in all of college basketball by sending 25% of their representatives to the sweet 16 in the last 7 (?) years!

Way to go Mitch!!!! That is some fine radio journalism right there! He must read Shockernet.

[shockerfan]

I almost wonder if CBS will maybe take a moment to show how many Valley teams have made the Sweet 16 since 1994 during the UNI vs Michigan St game since that seems to be what the Valley is trying to point out with their recent release. I would have to think the Valley, UNI or others are pressing to get that corrected on live TV. CBS has a chance to make it right on Friday night during the game....let's hope they do.

[XManCometh]

I think everyone is forgetting that Harlan did every game at the OKC site over the 4 days. That's a total of 6 games and 8 teams in 3 days that he had to prepare for. He didn't spend every waking second preparing for the games either due to obligations to radio shows, CBS interviews, pre-game taped moments and whatever else he has going on professionally. By the time the KU/UNI game had rolled around he had read so many meaningless stats about Lehigh, North Texas and the like that he was bound to make a mistake. He's human, not a machine. He basically mis-read a poorly worded stat (that was dumb to begin with. seriously, who cares how far the MVC tourny champ had gone before?) from one of those jumbled messes called Game-Prep packets. He isn't out to get the MVC and CBS isn't out to get the MVC. It was just a simple mistake. I'm sure everyone on here has made a mistake and had to correct themselves at one point or another. Also, I'll bet a steak that CBS has a nice montage for MVC fans for the UNI game coming up and I'm sure we'll all get "sick" ( 8) ) of them saying how awesome the MVC is and how they always come to dance in the "big Dance" year in and year out. I'll even bet another steak that someone during the telecast says the MVC should have gotten more than 1 team in and they "don't know how they didn't". It'll be an MVC love-fest and we'll all forget this even happened... since it wasn't that big of a deal to begin with.

[shockball]

Kennedy and Dahl spend several hours before each game researching and studying so that they are prepared to do their jobs. Not everyone will do that. The second round of games for the CBS crew involved teams that they had already prepared for and watched the games.

They were given a poorly worded statistical statement by UNI that the annoncer is not responsible for. However, he should have read the statement in advance and it would not have been misquoted. He should have known that the MVC has been a recent visitor to the sweet 16.

A few years ago Curt Gowdy called 1st team AA Darnell Valentine "Darryl" for an entire game. He didn't do many games after that.

[im4wsu]

Missouri Valley participation 1994-2009 with overall record 15-9



SEC 5-2
Big 12 3-6
Big 10 1-5
ACC 1-3
Big East 3-5
WAC 1-1
Pac 10 0-2
Patriot 1-0
Colonial, USA, Summitt,West Coast and MidAmerican 0-1

[Kung Wu]

Missouri Valley participation 1994-2009 with overall record 15-9



SEC 5-2
Big 12 3-6
Big 10 1-5
ACC 1-3
Big East 3-5
WAC 1-1
Pac 10 0-2
Patriot 1-0
Colonial, USA, Summitt,West Coast and MidAmerican 0-1

I was looking for similar data, but want to go back much further. Mind sharing where you scooped up that data?

[SHOCKvalue]

Think you meant 15-29.

Nice info though.

[im4wsu]

Think you meant 15-29.

Nice info though.

Yeah, I sure did. Very poor proofreading.

Here are the inter-conference records for 1994-2009. I am using the conference affiliation in 2009, so a team in 19094 may be in the wrong conference.