I agree all the autobids deserve a spot in the 64.
Weāll find a way to make it bad for us. Trust me Iāve seen it too many times.
Weāre the worlds worst for making excuses and playing the poor poor pitiful me card. I honestly see why other people call us the Forty Whiners
Iāve never seen an organization survive that makes as many excuses as we do. Itās probably because our fans lap it up and are just as apologetic as the people in charge.
You cannot win with this fan base. If you criticize youāre called negative and a hater. If you donāt, youāre an apologist. There is no middle ground, apparently.
Completely agree about Niner fandom. Society in general seems to be the same way.
I donāt have the trust some have here that an expanded NCAAT will mean more slots for those outside the P5. I suspect weāll initially see 72. This past season that would have gotten a deserving Indiana State into the field, along with Oklahoma, Pitt, and Seton Hall. Taking it out to 76 would have included K-State, Providence, St. Johnās, and Villanova. So one additional non-P5 out of either 4 or 8.
Iām sure these extra bids are intended to go to power conference schools with losing records propped up by a strong SOS of teams they couldnāt beat. No illusions there.
But can we at least get all the autobids into the proper field of 64? Thatās a tradeoff Iād take.
Yep, I have no illusion about who those extra 4-8 teams will be. And while I agree all autobids should be in the traditional 64, that wonāt happen either. The goal of Sankey et al is to get as many P5 in as possible - no matter how bad some league records will be - and then quickly eliminate non-P5 teams from the outset of the NCAAT.
Yep and if Sankey does that, I am ready for all of the other leagues to pull out of the tournament and start their own.
Seriously. I am over this P2 crap. They can go. Right now.
I have no issue with people demanding the better. I do have an issue with people who arenāt contributing anything at all but expecting the best while the rest of us have been carrying the water trying to help make things happen.
I also take issue with saying everything is equal of an excuse. Mike has no excuse not to have landed more corporate sponsorship. He has a seat at the table with them. He just hasnāt closed. Extending Ron was just stupid - no excuse.
The Chancellor telling the AD to stop fundraising during the pandemic isnāt just an excuse.
To bring this back on topic we have no excuse for having sucked at basketball this long. Sadly with the field as it is now not sure we can ever climb out and if we do we canāt sustain it. That isnāt an excuse it is acknowledging how disadvantaged we are in this era.
I have to remind myself that Sankey isnāt worried about menās basketball beyond the football driven P2. Afterall, an expanded field this past season would have greatly benefited the Big East, not the SEC.
Itās just their next step towards removing all of the mid majors entirely. First get every HM team into the field, next setup all the MMs to fail / eliminate each other, then use that to fuel the narrative that they cannot compete and use that as justification for removing them entirely. SUCCESS!
Even if our basketball had tournaments teams lay 10 years , it would not have mattered in the current landscape. The conferences were are/were in are not part of the āPower Conferencesā. Our position would not have changed.
Sad but true.
Marquette will have a students only game on campus game vs George Mason.
Baylor bails out on 2025 Maui 
for Sin City and NIL 
!