Comments on Leave the Man Alone: Cold Water on Your Tourney Fun! Racist Seedings?

Props to you for raising this issue....not sure I'...

2007-03-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

Props to you for raising this issue....not sure I've ever seen it elevated in print before...stay on it girl!

Please don't use the race card here. The SWAC...

2007-03-14T17:40:00.000-05:00

Please don't use the race card here. The SWAC & MEAC are historically 2 of the lowest rated leagues in the NCAA. You can throw the NEC into this mix, and guess what, the NEC representative usually gets a 16-seed as well, and I believe the NEC rep was in the play-in game last year. The MEAC & SWAC reps usually have the lowest RPIs of all the teams, and are rightfully relegated to a 16-seed or play-in game status.

The NCAA PR guy (the Princeton AD) was on Mike & Maddog and basically admitted that Niagara was in the play-in so to be politically correct. Which is lame, because shouldn't the play-in game be for the 2 lowest rated teams no matter what?

Plus, the exposure in the play-in game ain't so bad. You get a stand alone game on Tuesday night with all the national exposure on two teams that normally don't get that type of attention. While on the other hand, you could just be relegated to a 1-16 or 2-15 matchup that only select regions of the country see going against 3 other games, unless the 16-seed can make a game of it in the 2nd half forcing CBS to switch the game to more regions.

you can't really argue with the SWAC and MEAC team...

2007-03-14T16:07:00.000-05:00

you can't really argue with the SWAC and MEAC teams being seeded low, but the fact that they are in the play-in game every year is a joke. Reason #3,452 to do away with or atleast re-vamp the play-in game

I can't find the article, which makes me sound lik...

2007-03-14T10:57:00.000-05:00

I can't find the article, which makes me sound like a terrible liar, but I read on ESPN/CNNSI/etc. that Niagara was chosen just so that it wouldn't be two historically black colleges again in the play-in game. However, the article also said that looking back, it usually wasn't two historically black colleges in the play-in game, either.

Let's assume - just for fun - that this isn't raci...

2007-03-14T08:57:00.000-05:00

Let's assume - just for fun - that this isn't racism and instead it really is based on the quality of the teams. Haven't all our previous lessons related to segregation shown us drawing the best possible talent from a wide array of ethnic backgrounds produces the highest quality? Does anyone think that Major League Baseball had all the best talent when it was 100 percent white? If you want to pick on the NCAA for racism - and I'm not opposed to the concept - I think a better issue to focus on is the largely black population of collegiate athletes in massive revenue generating sports like football and basketball not being paid despite being the labor for a multi-million dollar industry.

Just do away witht the play-in game. Do they real...

2007-03-14T08:44:00.000-05:00

Just do away witht the play-in game. Do they really gain that much more revenue from an extra game? It doesn't enhance the tournament. The winner just ends up becoming lunch for a #1 seed anyway. What purpose does it serve? If there are going to be playin games, they should take the last four teams to get in and the last four cut and let them battle for the spots. THAT would be entertaining. Think Syracuse would come out fired up against Arkansas? Make it interesting/ functional, or get rid of it.

Ma'am-

One of the contributing factors to t...

2007-03-14T08:34:00.000-05:00

Ma'am-

One of the contributing factors to the continued low seeding of the HBCU's is scheduling. In an effort to gain revenue, HBCU's generally engage a highly ambitious early season schedule as cannon fodder on the home floors of big programs. This hurts their records and doesn't afford them the chance to gain victories against mid-majors from other conferences that might help them come seeding time. Many of the mid-major programs are able to schedule a marque game or two with the big boys, and then schedule home and home series against mid majors from other conferences. At this point in time, the revenue in the atheletic departments at the HBCUs doesn't allow for the home and home with the mid's. They need the pay days as punching bags for the biggies.

I think this is an interesting topic. To be hones...

2007-03-13T23:57:00.000-05:00

I think this is an interesting topic. To be honest, I hadn't heard or thought about racial seeding until reading this post. There could be some racial seeding going on, it is quite odd that these teams never receive a 15, 14, or 13 seed. It really makes you think.

Also, we at WBRS are going to be live-blogging the NCAA games all day and all night this Thursday! It would be sweet if you stopped by and check it out. The more the better.

Thanks, Mini Me