Two weeks ago I posted THIS regarding the New York Mets.
While I'm still loosely standing by that post, I'm happy it looks like my baseball season will last at least through May which it didn't look like was going to happen two weeks ago.
Just looking at the 9-1 home stand they just finished, there are of course things that I liked:
-Ike Davis
-3 starters with a sub-1.00 ERA
-The Bullpen
-Jason Bay raising his average .052 points and driving in some runs
But there are also things that worry me:
-Oliver Perez: 5.19 ERA and 2.07 WHIP
-Only Santana and Pelfrey averaged 6 or more innings in their starts during this stretch.
-The Mets still only scored 4.8 runs per game and hit .262 over that stretch. That's still in the middle of the league average and that was during a winning streak.
I hope I'm wrong and the Mets are in it all year but the last 3 years have only allowed me to be cautiously optimistic so far. That's a far cry from 2 weeks ago
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Ultimate Fighter: Episode Recap
Another week layoff (blame New Orleans) but Im back for episode 5 of TUF. The episode starts with some of the fighters discussing who will get the wild card selection of the guys who have lost. It appears that there may be at least 2 losers getting a chance at redemption, because in addition to the wild card, one of last weeks winners Rich Attonito suffered a broken hand and will not be able to fight again.
Tito was relishing his first win (Jamie Yager last week) and selected one of his toughest guys Chris McCray to face unassuming Josh Bryant. Although Team Ortiz seems to already be looking past Bryant, both fighters enter their fight undefeated (9-0 and 10-0 respectively). While training for the fight it appeared that some guys on Team Ortiz question the rigors of their workout regimen. On Team Lidell, we find out that once again, Lidell won't be able to attend the fight so Bryant will be coached by assistant John Hackleman. Im starting to wonder why Lidell was offered the coaching spot this season considering his "other engagements" have gotten in the way of all but 1 fight. What engagements could be more important than coaching the show of the sport that made him famous? Who knows, maybe Entourage came calling again.
Now to the fight....
Round one starts out and both guys trade some solid shots, but overall McCrary pushes the pace and Bryant seems unable to find his rhythm. McCrary takes Bryant down several times and one point I looked to my wife and asked whether or not bryant was even alive. I thought maybe McCrary was tossing around a corpse. Bryant rallies a bit but not enough and McCrary wins the round.
Round two is an entirely different story. McCrary is completely gassed as soon as the bell rings and one wonders if Kyacey was right in his questioning of the arduous training. Bryant lands several great jabs and combos during the round and also scores a couple decisive takedowns. Although he finishes the round on his back, he does damage from that position and thus, he wins this one convincingly and the judges agree. Onto sudden victory.
Sudden victory starts off with Zzzzzzzz's. Both guys are exhausted and neither can mount an effective flurry or takedown during the first 3 1/2 minutes. But when Herb Dean separates them, its all over. Bryant lands 8-10 great shots to McCrarys face and then takes him down where he almost chokes him out, but instead takes the unanimous victory.
Team Lidell 4 - Team Ortiz 1
Tito was relishing his first win (Jamie Yager last week) and selected one of his toughest guys Chris McCray to face unassuming Josh Bryant. Although Team Ortiz seems to already be looking past Bryant, both fighters enter their fight undefeated (9-0 and 10-0 respectively). While training for the fight it appeared that some guys on Team Ortiz question the rigors of their workout regimen. On Team Lidell, we find out that once again, Lidell won't be able to attend the fight so Bryant will be coached by assistant John Hackleman. Im starting to wonder why Lidell was offered the coaching spot this season considering his "other engagements" have gotten in the way of all but 1 fight. What engagements could be more important than coaching the show of the sport that made him famous? Who knows, maybe Entourage came calling again.
Now to the fight....
Round one starts out and both guys trade some solid shots, but overall McCrary pushes the pace and Bryant seems unable to find his rhythm. McCrary takes Bryant down several times and one point I looked to my wife and asked whether or not bryant was even alive. I thought maybe McCrary was tossing around a corpse. Bryant rallies a bit but not enough and McCrary wins the round.
Round two is an entirely different story. McCrary is completely gassed as soon as the bell rings and one wonders if Kyacey was right in his questioning of the arduous training. Bryant lands several great jabs and combos during the round and also scores a couple decisive takedowns. Although he finishes the round on his back, he does damage from that position and thus, he wins this one convincingly and the judges agree. Onto sudden victory.
Sudden victory starts off with Zzzzzzzz's. Both guys are exhausted and neither can mount an effective flurry or takedown during the first 3 1/2 minutes. But when Herb Dean separates them, its all over. Bryant lands 8-10 great shots to McCrarys face and then takes him down where he almost chokes him out, but instead takes the unanimous victory.
Team Lidell 4 - Team Ortiz 1
Friday, April 16, 2010
The Ultimate Fighter: Season 11 Episode Recap
Episode 3 of TUF Middleweights starts with Dana making one of his classic over the top announcements. Unfortunately for Team Ortiz, it wasn't good news. One of their fighters, Chris Camozzi, had a fractured jaw and had to be sent home which opened the door for prelim loser Seth Baczynski to come on as a replacement.
Team Lidell was in control for the 2nd fight selection and they decided to match Brad Tavares against James Hammortree. Thats a rough draw for Tavares, because lets face it, a guy with the last name Hammortree was born to fight. Back at Team Ortiz training session, tensions rose as Nick Ring and Jamie Yager got into it while sparring. Yager, who gets under everyones skin, apparently really ruffled feathers when he called Ring a bitch. Ring hates name calling.
When the fight starts, The 1st round is back and forth with Tavares stuffing an early takedown and attempting a rear naked choke. Hammortree eventually gets in side control, but does very little damage. The rest of the round could go either way, but I score it for Tavares, barely.
The 2nd round starts in a clinch that eventually lands Hammortree on his back. They reverse position and end up battling against the cage. Ortiz then secures himself as the most annoying ringside coach ever by yelling the same thing over and over again, in one case screaming bodylock 8 times in a 5 second time frame. Tavares spends the remainder of the round trying to secure an arm lock. Although thats not a bad tactic, it may have cost Tavares the round as he inflicted very little damage and spent a good portion of the 5 minutes on his back.
The first two rounds are scored a draw, so they battle for sudden victory in the 3rd round. Both fighters are gassed, so I expected a sloppy final 5 minutes. Instead they start by exchanging solid jabs (the best of the fight) for the first minute, and then Tavares is taken down. Hammortee gets in half guard, lands a couple of blows and just when you start thinking the fight could be over, somehow Tavares gets to his feet and controls the next 3 minutes. Although Tavares never secures a submission and Hammortree did more early damage, I score the 3rd round for Tavares because of Octagon Control.
The judges agree with Tavares winning and retaining control for Team Lidell. They go into next week up 2-0 with a chance to really bury Team Ortiz.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Why Do The Mets Hate Me?
The Mets are not a good baseball team. There is no bill of goods that could have been sold to Mets fans that would have made us believe that they had a shot to compete for the playoffs this year. I understand that it's only 8 games in to the season and I really hope I'm eating crow for this in September but I'll bet you I'm not.
They went out and got Jason Bay. That's great. You can always use more offense but going in to the season, the Mets had one pitcher (Johan Santana) that will probably finish over .500. You can make a case for Pelfrey to finish (at most) at .500 or a game over but that's not impressive if you consider he is probably their "number 2" starter. Going in to the season anyone with any common sense knew that nothing good could possibly come out of having John Maine and Oliver Perez make up 40% of your rotation. Omar Minaya says that after weighing what was out there against what we know Maine and Perez can do based on them each winning 15 games a few years ago it was worth the risk. It blows my mind to think that me and the Mets front office are watching the same players.
Even with them keeping Maine and Perez to start the season, there are a two things the Mets could have (or still can) do to make me happy that doesn't involve any trades or free agent signings. I'll speak for the whole Mets fan base with these:
1. They should have kept Nelson Figueroa and sent Jenrry Mejia down to AAA as a starting pitcher to start the year. Someone with any Common Sense Index had to know the Mets were going to have starting rotation problems. Figueroa could have stepped in as a spot starter or came in and gave 3 or 4 inning out of the bullpen after John Maine finishes throwing his 100 pitches and 3 and 1/3 innings. And I know the Mets strive to be like the Yankees but does it even have to reach down to messing with a good young arm. The Mets say they like Mejia as a starter. So what good would have come out of them having Mejia pan out as an 8th inning guy? Having the front office go back and forth about whether or not to start him or keep him in the pen. Then maybe have him lose all his mystique like Joba Chamberlain. Maybe come up with a cool name for his pitch and inning counts as they convert him back to a starter. The Jenrry Policy? Mejia Regulation? And to top all of this off, the Phillies claimed Figueroa off waivers. So apparently he wasn't good enough to make a team with obvious pitching deficiancies but he's good enough for the best team in the National League.
2. Bring up Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez. That's just throwing us a bone. Fernando Tatis and Mike Jacobs are not doing it at first. Ike Davis raked in Spring Training and is continuing to do so in AAA. I am a Daniel Murphy apologist and I was okay with him coming in to the season as the Mets first baseman. As it is, Murphy is not going to be ready for a few weeks. What's the worst that happens bringing Ike Davis up? He gets his cup of coffee and he gets sent back down if he doesn't perform better than Murphy would and the best case is that your first basemen of the future is ready now. I'm not saying Tejada is any great shakes but this is more a way to officially end the Luis Castillo era. To me, he's the face of this failure. I get bad feelings everytime I see him. What is Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews Jr doing in centerfield that is blocking Martinez from playing until Carlos Beltran gets back (for the record, I do not think he's coming back)? Fans like to see the young guys. For better or worse, we have shown up for Alex Escobar, Lastings Milledge and Martinez' first starts at Shea. When your team isn't good, fans at least can get in to seeing the young guys. By throwing these average re-tread type players out there every night you're not doing your ticket sales or the product on the field any favors.
They went out and got Jason Bay. That's great. You can always use more offense but going in to the season, the Mets had one pitcher (Johan Santana) that will probably finish over .500. You can make a case for Pelfrey to finish (at most) at .500 or a game over but that's not impressive if you consider he is probably their "number 2" starter. Going in to the season anyone with any common sense knew that nothing good could possibly come out of having John Maine and Oliver Perez make up 40% of your rotation. Omar Minaya says that after weighing what was out there against what we know Maine and Perez can do based on them each winning 15 games a few years ago it was worth the risk. It blows my mind to think that me and the Mets front office are watching the same players.
Even with them keeping Maine and Perez to start the season, there are a two things the Mets could have (or still can) do to make me happy that doesn't involve any trades or free agent signings. I'll speak for the whole Mets fan base with these:
1. They should have kept Nelson Figueroa and sent Jenrry Mejia down to AAA as a starting pitcher to start the year. Someone with any Common Sense Index had to know the Mets were going to have starting rotation problems. Figueroa could have stepped in as a spot starter or came in and gave 3 or 4 inning out of the bullpen after John Maine finishes throwing his 100 pitches and 3 and 1/3 innings. And I know the Mets strive to be like the Yankees but does it even have to reach down to messing with a good young arm. The Mets say they like Mejia as a starter. So what good would have come out of them having Mejia pan out as an 8th inning guy? Having the front office go back and forth about whether or not to start him or keep him in the pen. Then maybe have him lose all his mystique like Joba Chamberlain. Maybe come up with a cool name for his pitch and inning counts as they convert him back to a starter. The Jenrry Policy? Mejia Regulation? And to top all of this off, the Phillies claimed Figueroa off waivers. So apparently he wasn't good enough to make a team with obvious pitching deficiancies but he's good enough for the best team in the National League.
2. Bring up Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez. That's just throwing us a bone. Fernando Tatis and Mike Jacobs are not doing it at first. Ike Davis raked in Spring Training and is continuing to do so in AAA. I am a Daniel Murphy apologist and I was okay with him coming in to the season as the Mets first baseman. As it is, Murphy is not going to be ready for a few weeks. What's the worst that happens bringing Ike Davis up? He gets his cup of coffee and he gets sent back down if he doesn't perform better than Murphy would and the best case is that your first basemen of the future is ready now. I'm not saying Tejada is any great shakes but this is more a way to officially end the Luis Castillo era. To me, he's the face of this failure. I get bad feelings everytime I see him. What is Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews Jr doing in centerfield that is blocking Martinez from playing until Carlos Beltran gets back (for the record, I do not think he's coming back)? Fans like to see the young guys. For better or worse, we have shown up for Alex Escobar, Lastings Milledge and Martinez' first starts at Shea. When your team isn't good, fans at least can get in to seeing the young guys. By throwing these average re-tread type players out there every night you're not doing your ticket sales or the product on the field any favors.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
J! E! T! S! - 2011 SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!!!
Not so fast.
Nobody can deny that the Jets have had an nice off-season considering how they were hamstrung by the "final four" rule in free agency this year. I do agree they have gotten better, but how much better have they really gotten?
-Adding a potential shutdown corner (Antonio Cromartie) opposite Darrelle Revis is still far and away the best move the Jets made this off-season. Having a guy used to covering another team's #1 receiver now having to cover their secondary receivers could be huge if he pans out.
-Getting LaDainian Tomlinson would have excited me five or six years ago. At this point Thomas Jones is better than Tomlinson. Money shouldn't have been an issue since we're going in to an uncapped year and the Jets are opening a new stadium. I can understand it a little if you tell me that everyone in the locker room respected Thomas Jones and it could never truely be Shonn Greene's team while Jones was still there. But don't think that the Jets got better at running back by adding LT2.
-I'm not going to complain about giving up a 5th rounder for Santonio Holmes but I really found this to be unnessesary. There is something about him that doesn't do it for me. The Jets actually had enough weapons for a running team. I just think with getting Edwards last year, Cromartie and now Holmes this year the Jets are starting a bad trend with getting some bad character guys on their roster.
-And one move that is being highly overlooked right now is letting Jay Feely go to Arizona and signing Nick Folk. The Jets better have something else planned for the kicker position because Folk should not even have a job after that year. 18 for 28 is a college kicker type of percentage.
I'm reading too many things right now about the Jets surpassing the Patriots in the AFC East. The gap may be a little closer than it has been but championships aren't won in April. After all those words it still simply boils down to Tom Brady > Mark Sanchez.
Nobody can deny that the Jets have had an nice off-season considering how they were hamstrung by the "final four" rule in free agency this year. I do agree they have gotten better, but how much better have they really gotten?
-Adding a potential shutdown corner (Antonio Cromartie) opposite Darrelle Revis is still far and away the best move the Jets made this off-season. Having a guy used to covering another team's #1 receiver now having to cover their secondary receivers could be huge if he pans out.
-Getting LaDainian Tomlinson would have excited me five or six years ago. At this point Thomas Jones is better than Tomlinson. Money shouldn't have been an issue since we're going in to an uncapped year and the Jets are opening a new stadium. I can understand it a little if you tell me that everyone in the locker room respected Thomas Jones and it could never truely be Shonn Greene's team while Jones was still there. But don't think that the Jets got better at running back by adding LT2.
-I'm not going to complain about giving up a 5th rounder for Santonio Holmes but I really found this to be unnessesary. There is something about him that doesn't do it for me. The Jets actually had enough weapons for a running team. I just think with getting Edwards last year, Cromartie and now Holmes this year the Jets are starting a bad trend with getting some bad character guys on their roster.
-And one move that is being highly overlooked right now is letting Jay Feely go to Arizona and signing Nick Folk. The Jets better have something else planned for the kicker position because Folk should not even have a job after that year. 18 for 28 is a college kicker type of percentage.
I'm reading too many things right now about the Jets surpassing the Patriots in the AFC East. The gap may be a little closer than it has been but championships aren't won in April. After all those words it still simply boils down to Tom Brady > Mark Sanchez.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Ultimate Fighter: Season 11 Episode Recap
I'm a week late on the recap column, so I'll jump right into it.Season 11, featuring coaches/adversaries Chuck Lidell and Tito Ortiz, jumped off to a quick start when 28 middleweights showed up to try and fight there way into the TUF house. If this season is anything like the preliminary fights, we are in for some high octane entertainment. The prelims featured some great bouts and included devastating knockouts, versatile strikes, and impressive submissions.
Episode 2 starts with the team selection, and Dana White and Tito agree that maybe Chuck Lidell should have reviewed the fight tapes a little more closely. They think that he went with the least impressive and smallest fighters while Tito's team certainly looks better on paper. Its hard to say if this was as lopsided as they say, because a lot of the prelims were short bouts which barely showcased the fighters' full skill set.
Luckily for Chuck, he got to choose the first fight and he chose his first round selection Kyle Noke to fight the wild but impressive Clayton McKinney. Seemed like a questionable selection considering how important it is for Lidell to gain control of fight selection.
The fight starts and the guys seem understandably tentative. They trade kicks for a bit and then the fight moves to the ground about midway through the first. Its obvious that Noke is looking for a submission, and eventually he catches McKinney in what looked like a weak triangle. I am very surprised not that he lost, but that he lost without putting up much of a fight. Then Tito, being the egomaniac that he is, decides to teach McKinney how to get out of triangles 30 seconds after he loses his fight, in the gym, in front of everyone. Well done Tito, that couldn't have waited.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
It's Over. And This Time It's For Good.
Last night something happened that will effect the way I watch sports for the next couple of years. That seems like an overstatement, but let me tell you what happened.
I was at a bar with some people consuming a large number of microbrews and behind the bar there was a TV showing the Uconn/Stanford women's NCAA championship game. I wasn't paying any attention to it, until someone took notice to how low scoring the first half was. At that point, we all watched as UConn missed a shot as the first half clock expired, finishing with an unbelievably low 12 points for the half. The score at that point was 20-12, with Stanford leading.
Without knowing anything about women's NCAA hoops, we all agreed that had to be a record low for points in a half and we wondered what the second half over/under would be. I went on to my mobile sports betting application (which is the worst thing that could have ever happened to me as a better) and saw that the line was 65!!! That is more than double what was scored in the first half! How could that be? It was too easy, right? Even if UConn started playing close to the same form that has lead them to an astonishing 78 wins in a row, surely Stanford would collapse. Well myself and another guy decided to empty my account on that notion and of course in betting, there is no bet that is too easy.
UConn started the second half on a 17-2 run, which was actually a good thing for us. If Stanford stayed cold and was taken out of the game, we'd probably see UConn get into a maintenance mode. Instead, Stanford hit a couple of late threes, got back in the game, and was forced to start fouling late to extend the game. And there we were, with 18 seconds left, needing Stanford to miss a pair of free throws to save our bet. Swish. Swish. The bet was lost, in the end, by 3 points.
So what? I lost a bet. Big deal. Well, its more than that. I realized that no matter how hard I try, I don't have any discipline when it comes to betting. If I have money in my account, I will bet on anything. In fact, I placed a handball bet this year. True story. And I also realized that no matter how much I think I know about sports, the oddsmakers know better. UConn had averaged over 80 points in their previous 4 games, and the over was clearly the better bet.
So my account is empty, and I decided that I will take a hiatus from wagering for, wait for it.......the remainder of 2010 and 2011. I am leaving the door open for a return in 2012, but its not promising. If I cant stay away from the women's NCAA championship game while I'm out at a bar, how can I be trusted during major sports?
I was at a bar with some people consuming a large number of microbrews and behind the bar there was a TV showing the Uconn/Stanford women's NCAA championship game. I wasn't paying any attention to it, until someone took notice to how low scoring the first half was. At that point, we all watched as UConn missed a shot as the first half clock expired, finishing with an unbelievably low 12 points for the half. The score at that point was 20-12, with Stanford leading.
Without knowing anything about women's NCAA hoops, we all agreed that had to be a record low for points in a half and we wondered what the second half over/under would be. I went on to my mobile sports betting application (which is the worst thing that could have ever happened to me as a better) and saw that the line was 65!!! That is more than double what was scored in the first half! How could that be? It was too easy, right? Even if UConn started playing close to the same form that has lead them to an astonishing 78 wins in a row, surely Stanford would collapse. Well myself and another guy decided to empty my account on that notion and of course in betting, there is no bet that is too easy.
UConn started the second half on a 17-2 run, which was actually a good thing for us. If Stanford stayed cold and was taken out of the game, we'd probably see UConn get into a maintenance mode. Instead, Stanford hit a couple of late threes, got back in the game, and was forced to start fouling late to extend the game. And there we were, with 18 seconds left, needing Stanford to miss a pair of free throws to save our bet. Swish. Swish. The bet was lost, in the end, by 3 points.
So what? I lost a bet. Big deal. Well, its more than that. I realized that no matter how hard I try, I don't have any discipline when it comes to betting. If I have money in my account, I will bet on anything. In fact, I placed a handball bet this year. True story. And I also realized that no matter how much I think I know about sports, the oddsmakers know better. UConn had averaged over 80 points in their previous 4 games, and the over was clearly the better bet.So my account is empty, and I decided that I will take a hiatus from wagering for, wait for it.......the remainder of 2010 and 2011. I am leaving the door open for a return in 2012, but its not promising. If I cant stay away from the women's NCAA championship game while I'm out at a bar, how can I be trusted during major sports?
Monday, April 5, 2010
A Look at the MLB Over/Unders for 2010
Red = I think the team is going Under their Win number Green = I think the team is going Over their Win number
Arizona - When Brandon Webb comes back, the D'Backs have as good a 1-2 combo as there is. The being said, I definately do not see them finishing above Colorado and Los Angeles and it's debatable that they can finish above San Francisco in the NL West. I don't know if there is enough wins out there to get them above .500
Boston - I think the Yankees are a lock to win over 100 games again this year. Boston lost a lot of pop in their lineup and are still the favorite in my eyes for the Wild Card but with Tampa supposedly improved and even Baltimore picked to win a few more games, I'm not seeing the AL East with a team over 100 wins, a team over 95 wins and another over 90. The wins have to suffer somewhere so I'll go with the team that made the most changes to their roster.
Chicago Cubs - I'm thinking some addition by subtraction this year getting rid of Milton Bradley. Alfonso Soriano loves new hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo from his time in Texas and I'm hoping he can also get Geovanni Soto back on track. I think they'll challenge the Cardinals.
Colorado - Even though they lost 15 game winner Jason Marquis, they have 4 good arms in their rotation and maybe there is a chance that when Jeff Francis comes back from the DL he can get back to being a top of the rotation guy for them again. The winner of the NL West should be able to get more than 85 wins.
Minnesota - I'll take the over for the Twins every year until they do me wrong. Losing Nathan might cost them a few wins if nobody picks up the slack but I'll take my chances. They generally figure it out.
Oakland - I like the potential of their staff especially if Ben Sheets can pitch some innings and Justin Duchscherer can come back from injury but I don't see where any offense in coming from. Once again I think they bring up the rear of the AL West.
----------------------------------
Since I live in New York, I'll also go on record as saying I believe both New York teams will be Over their numbers this year.
Friday, April 2, 2010
If the tournament goes to 96 teams...and I was an economist.
I read Freakonomics a few months ago and there was a chapter showing statistical evidence that there is some cheating going on in Sumo Wrestling. The statistical analysis that Mark Duggan and Steven D. Levitt did which the chapter is based on is HERE but the gist of it is that in sumo wrestling tournament, the wrestlers each fight 15 times. There is greater prestige in finishing with an above .500 record than a below .500 record. Finishing with an above .500 ranking guarantees you'll move up the the rankings. What it basically shows is that a wrestler with 8 wins or more is going against a wrestler with 7 wins are fighting each other in the 15th match of the tournament, there is little motivation for the sumo wrestler who already won his eight matches to win the match or he is a prime candidate for someone who would throw the match (whether he got bribed or if the guy he was fighting was a friend). All the fascinating stats are in that paper to back it up so you should check it out above (and the book for that matter.) Some how this got me thinking about the NCAA Tournament.
While nothing is official yet, I've read and heard on TV that if the NCAA Tournament is expanded to 96 teams, automatic bids would be awarded to the conference's regular season and conference tournament winners. One-bid conferences are always looking at ways to potentially get a second team in the dance as well as trying to set it up so at least their best team goes to the NCAA Tournament and therefore has the best chance of winning games in the tournament and raising the profile of their conference. That's why you'll see the conference tournament championships for these one-bid conferences happening at the higher seed's gym instead of a neutral site like a lot of the other conferences.
Think about this year. If you look at the Ohio Valley conference, Murray State ran through the conference going 17-1 and also won the Conference tournament. No big deal. The Ohio Valley didn't have another team worthy of a bid. But what happens if the Ohio Valley now has the opportunity to get two bids? If Murray State had already clinched an automatic bid, what does that do to their motivation in the tournament? What's even stopping Murray State from resting their players during the conference tournament? If Murray State lost to Morehead State in the conference final and they both got in, would Murray State been penalized that much seed wise? That's not even taking in to account the money aspect for the conference. Based on this article, by Murray State even getting to the tournament, the OVC gets $222,206 and with each win you get another $222,206 which is generally split amongst other teams in the conference. So even Tennessee-Martin who only won one game in conference this season still probably got over $44,000 dollars (since Murray State won their first round game) .
Murray State doesn't go to the tournament every year. They collected money last year when Morehead State made it and the year before that when Austin Peay went. Why wouldn't a coach of a team in Murray State's position be amicable to having a second team in the tournament if they are already in? Another team in the tournament would have banked Murray State over $22,000 more just by being there and losing in the first round. Where is the downside for them?
If I was an economist, I'd start preparing my data.
While nothing is official yet, I've read and heard on TV that if the NCAA Tournament is expanded to 96 teams, automatic bids would be awarded to the conference's regular season and conference tournament winners. One-bid conferences are always looking at ways to potentially get a second team in the dance as well as trying to set it up so at least their best team goes to the NCAA Tournament and therefore has the best chance of winning games in the tournament and raising the profile of their conference. That's why you'll see the conference tournament championships for these one-bid conferences happening at the higher seed's gym instead of a neutral site like a lot of the other conferences.
Think about this year. If you look at the Ohio Valley conference, Murray State ran through the conference going 17-1 and also won the Conference tournament. No big deal. The Ohio Valley didn't have another team worthy of a bid. But what happens if the Ohio Valley now has the opportunity to get two bids? If Murray State had already clinched an automatic bid, what does that do to their motivation in the tournament? What's even stopping Murray State from resting their players during the conference tournament? If Murray State lost to Morehead State in the conference final and they both got in, would Murray State been penalized that much seed wise? That's not even taking in to account the money aspect for the conference. Based on this article, by Murray State even getting to the tournament, the OVC gets $222,206 and with each win you get another $222,206 which is generally split amongst other teams in the conference. So even Tennessee-Martin who only won one game in conference this season still probably got over $44,000 dollars (since Murray State won their first round game) .
Murray State doesn't go to the tournament every year. They collected money last year when Morehead State made it and the year before that when Austin Peay went. Why wouldn't a coach of a team in Murray State's position be amicable to having a second team in the tournament if they are already in? Another team in the tournament would have banked Murray State over $22,000 more just by being there and losing in the first round. Where is the downside for them?
If I was an economist, I'd start preparing my data.
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