So the Big 12 could still fall apart. I acknowledge that, but I would like to dream of what could happen if it doesn't. If the league can get its act together and everyone can get along, I love the possibility of what we could have here.
First off, let me say that I don't care about college football at all. Until college football championships have more integrity than WWE belts, I just won't get too wrapped up in it. I do, however, care about college basketball. And a great basketball league is what the Big 12 can become (and really a good football league as well).
All we need to do is add Louisville and Cincinnati or Memphis. If that happens, and Missouri stays, then all that really happened after all this turmoil is that we traded Nebraska, Colorado, and Texas A&M for Louisville, TCU, and Cincy/Memphis. In basketball terms, that is a huge upgrade. This makes us a much better basketball league. Average RPI from the last 5 years tells the story (thought to be fair playing in the Big East improves Louisville and CIncy's RPIs). Anyway, here they are:
Average RPIs over the past 5 years:
A&M - 27
Nebraska - 102
Colorado - 164
Memphis - 20
Louisville - 21
Cincy - 97
TCU - 188
Of course, averaging produces slightly skewed numbers since a 230 hurts you much more than a 4 helps you. So for comparison, over the same time period KU's average is 6 (despite two #1s) and MU's is 61. Looking at it another way here are the number of NCAA Tourney wins for each group over the past 5 years:
A&M - 5
Nebraska - 0
Colorado - 0
Memphis - 9
Louisville - 7
Cincy - 1
TCU - 0
There just really is no way around the fact that this league gets MUCH better with the addition of Louisville and either Memphis or Cincinnati. I, for one, would love the idea of a Big 12 tourney round of 8 with Kansas vs. Oklahoma, Louisville vs. Oklahoma State, Texas vs. Memphis, and Missouri vs. K-State. That is an incredible lineup of games!
Get it together Big 12. I live in KC, and I need good basketball to happen here. Now get out there and do it.
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1 comment:
I agree with you as far as it goes. But the simple fact is that basketball doesn't matter. It's football and the $$$ it generates that drives this trainwreck.
But your roundball roundup is a nice scenario.
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