The Gap

[BillikensWin]

Which gap are you talking about Edrick?

Is it the gap between the Big East and the BCS schools, or the gap between the A-10/MWCs of the world?

Got it. I think the bigger question is how do you close the gap with the top leagues?

[cm5yz6]

Wins are nice, but I'd rather compare total units. Though it's a good list nonetheless.

[yorost]

While it is interesting and good for thought i just think a comparison of the BE should be made with the ACC, B10, B12, SEC, PAC, and AAC rather than those further down. The A-10, Mountain, and WCC could be included as well but no real reason to go much further down.

Definitely agreed.

[BillEsq]

Which gap are you talking about Edrick?

Is it the gap between the Big East and the BCS schools, or the gap between the A-10/MWCs of the world?

Got it. I think the bigger question is how do you close the gap with the top leagues?

Thats the one I would take. Even if the SLU doesn't leave the A-10 I think we would want to compare ourselves to the next league up not the next league down.

I know when i talk Bball down here i point out the the A-10 has been generally ranked higher than the SEC and PAC. I don't argue that it is better than the Colonial. Which brings me to the problem with NCAA wins... a easy argument made by SEC fans. The SEC sucks sucks sucks yet has Florida and Kentucky who crank out tourney wins. Does that mean that there is a gap in the level of play between the SEC and the average midmajor no... your average midmajor team will beat a SEC team. Its just that year in and year out Florida and Kentucky will usually beat everyone else. The funny thing is that the BE will compare in tourny wins to the SEC because of Florida and UK but it would be nuts to argue that the SEC is as good as the BE.

[yorost]

The B1G on the 2003 tourney through so far this year has 79 wins, I think. That's not counting anything Nebraska, Rutgers, or Maryland might have done.

[Jays26]

The B1G on the 2003 tourney through so far this year has 79 wins, I think. That's not counting anything Nebraska, Rutgers, or Maryland might have done.

Not sure about Rutgers or Maryland but I know Nebraska has none.

[yorost]

Maryland has 6, Rutgers has none, though Maryland won in 2002 so is one year shy of a nice boost to the number.

That puts B1G's 14 teams at 85, if I counted correctly, against our 69 from 10 teams. That's surprisingly a nice advantage for us on the per team average, 6.1 to 6.9. Of course, their three latest additions were overall a pretty bad downgrade so maybe it shouldn't be.

[Flyer01]

The biggest problem I see with this simple analysis is that while it shows what has happened in the past that has nothing to do with what may happen in the future. You are showing the tournament success for a new league where the teams that comprise that new league attained the success in 4 different leagues. While they may still be talented they may not have the same access to an NCAA bid in a 10 team league. While a 10 team league is great for the round robin schedule it's also a challenge in that it limits the number of realistic NCAA bids to 4-5 per season with an exception being 3 or 6. With a 10 team league you will have good teams losing games within the conference and with a typicaly big east scheduling style the non conference may not be enough to prop that team up for an NCAA bid with a sub .500 conference record. Going to a 12 team league probably gets an additional bid each season with a better chance of stretching to 6 or 7 on occasion. That doesn't necessarily help the money within the league a ton but it does help with prestige and respect when it comes to getting teams in the NCAA and providing best chance at success. That is where the Big East really excelled over the ACC with the huge league they were able to get volume in the NCAA tournament and with that volume the better chance for success and teams making a name for the conference.

[yorost]

You're right it is different with multiple conferences, but that's not that big of an issue. It may go down, but it is still representative of success. Putting 10 teams with 15 NCAA wins each will in all likelihood do better than 10 teams with 15 NCAA wins total. The idea is still the same, more wins is more quality.