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I'm being criticized for not buying into the "everyone-gets-a-trophy" mantra of collegiate sports these days. I'll clear up my stance as if it needs clearing up after all these years. Stop here if you don't want to read on.
* Should the MLB or NBA have 75 teams? Everyone gets a shot, right? No. It's called dilution of talent. On most D-1 teams, even some of the really bad ones, there's one guy who is good and perhaps half the team or more isn't D-1 quality. If there were 150 teams instead of 355, only the decent players are playing D-1 basketball. The other guys are not, making the division that much better and making D2 better, too. Think I'm wrong? The NCAA title game was a stinker, absolutely awful. At one point Gonzaga went 8 minutes without a field goal; UNC shot under 30% in the first half and 11% from the 3-point line. Jackson was 0 for 9 from 3-point line, and he's one of their best players. The UNC guard (player of the game) and GU's best player (Williams-Goss) were a combined 15 of 40 from the floor, or something like that. Add Jackson and it's like 18 of 52. Performance has gone down (IMO).
* Not everyone deserves to be D-1 and there needs to be standards on it. Half the Big Sky has done nothing to advance itself in d-1 and FCS football. They just collect taxpayer money, put out a bad product, draw horribly, and say, "Hey, we're D-1!" See Southern Utah, PSU, Northern Colorado, Sac State for more info, as well as my whipping boy Idaho State, an athletic dept., that's a complete tax drain. See the MEAC, a perennial 16 seed in the tourney that is awful in all sports, doesn't place in anything nationally, and just survives. Why be D-1 if that's the end result? "Hey, I'm going to open a business, but it will lose tons and tons of money and no one will go to it. But I'll keep it open. Why? Because it's a business!"
* Schools like Chicago State -- which can barely keep the doors open and whose women's hoop team was something like 0-25 -- should just play D2 or D3 in the city of Chicago, save zillions on travel. There are leagues in Chicago where they'd never have to take an overnight trip. Instead, they're playing Grand Canyon in the WAC and losing by 40, but hey, we're D-1!
* The reason I'm getting trashed for this is because no one -- and I mean no one -- questions 355 schools playing D-1 all so they can maybe one day lose in the first round of the NCAA tourney by 50 as a 16 seed. Congrats, you're the world's tallest midget.
* As for depriving these athletes some golden experience? Please. They don't deserve kudos. They're winning bad leagues. And besides, I've known some WOU and Linfield football players whose college playing experience was much greater than some guys I've known who have played at Washington State. Ask those Linfield guys if all that winning sucks? Or would they rather be at Idaho State, going 2-10 and beating their chest because they're FCS? I'd guess they'd rather be at Linfield.
* Move 'em down! Don't have money to go up, can't get 2K in hoops and 10K in football? Move em' down! Quit wasting money and diluting the real D-1 product.
* Should the MLB or NBA have 75 teams? Everyone gets a shot, right? No. It's called dilution of talent. On most D-1 teams, even some of the really bad ones, there's one guy who is good and perhaps half the team or more isn't D-1 quality. If there were 150 teams instead of 355, only the decent players are playing D-1 basketball. The other guys are not, making the division that much better and making D2 better, too. Think I'm wrong? The NCAA title game was a stinker, absolutely awful. At one point Gonzaga went 8 minutes without a field goal; UNC shot under 30% in the first half and 11% from the 3-point line. Jackson was 0 for 9 from 3-point line, and he's one of their best players. The UNC guard (player of the game) and GU's best player (Williams-Goss) were a combined 15 of 40 from the floor, or something like that. Add Jackson and it's like 18 of 52. Performance has gone down (IMO).
* Not everyone deserves to be D-1 and there needs to be standards on it. Half the Big Sky has done nothing to advance itself in d-1 and FCS football. They just collect taxpayer money, put out a bad product, draw horribly, and say, "Hey, we're D-1!" See Southern Utah, PSU, Northern Colorado, Sac State for more info, as well as my whipping boy Idaho State, an athletic dept., that's a complete tax drain. See the MEAC, a perennial 16 seed in the tourney that is awful in all sports, doesn't place in anything nationally, and just survives. Why be D-1 if that's the end result? "Hey, I'm going to open a business, but it will lose tons and tons of money and no one will go to it. But I'll keep it open. Why? Because it's a business!"
* Schools like Chicago State -- which can barely keep the doors open and whose women's hoop team was something like 0-25 -- should just play D2 or D3 in the city of Chicago, save zillions on travel. There are leagues in Chicago where they'd never have to take an overnight trip. Instead, they're playing Grand Canyon in the WAC and losing by 40, but hey, we're D-1!
* The reason I'm getting trashed for this is because no one -- and I mean no one -- questions 355 schools playing D-1 all so they can maybe one day lose in the first round of the NCAA tourney by 50 as a 16 seed. Congrats, you're the world's tallest midget.
* As for depriving these athletes some golden experience? Please. They don't deserve kudos. They're winning bad leagues. And besides, I've known some WOU and Linfield football players whose college playing experience was much greater than some guys I've known who have played at Washington State. Ask those Linfield guys if all that winning sucks? Or would they rather be at Idaho State, going 2-10 and beating their chest because they're FCS? I'd guess they'd rather be at Linfield.
* Move 'em down! Don't have money to go up, can't get 2K in hoops and 10K in football? Move em' down! Quit wasting money and diluting the real D-1 product.
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