Players Era

[cyclones500]

That one. And the UNC MBB team getting college credit for a class with no coursework that had no attendance requirement. It was "okay" because there were one or two non-athlete-scholarship students who also took the course, so it wasn't like it was JUST for the athletes.

Good example.

For the most part I don't mind that there was "legitimate" loophole re: athlete+non-athlete. Things that annoyed me about it (1) seemed like it languished for-ever to make a decision (2) UNC got no punishment AT ALL (if I remember correctly).

It isn't something worth the death penalty or anything like that, but it's almost like there was an approach of "if we wait long enough, everyone will forget about it and we just slide by unnoticed."

 

[Pope]

That one. And the UNC MBB team getting college credit for a class with no coursework that had no attendance requirement. It was "okay" because there were one or two non-athlete-scholarship students who also took the course, so it wasn't like it was JUST for the athletes.

Otherwise known as the largest academic scandal in the history of collegiate athletics. And blueblood UNC got away with no sanctions whatsoever.

The NCAA, in it's infinite wisdom, declared they could not punish UNC because a few non-athletes were among the 100+ UNC athletes who were given academic credits for fictitious courses in order to gain or maintain eligibility OVER A 10 YEAR PERIOD.

In other words, the NCAA said it's okay for athletes to receive academic credits through fictitious courses in order to maintain their athletic eligibility as long as at least one non-athlete also receives academic credit for the fictitious courses.

That's when I told Chuck Smrt, former NCAA enforcement director, that I lost all respect for NCAA rules enforcement.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Buffets?

Not any more...

 

[CycloneT]

Varsity Blues was a worse academic scandal

 

[twincyties]

Am I the only one tired of people crying about us getting screwed by Players Era?

There was objective criteria and we were short by two points. It could have very easily gone the other way and it would be another 2-0 team with a similar gripe.

Is the set up kind of stupid? Yes. Is it subject to this kind of griping? Yes. But let’s stop acting like this is some kind of conspiracy.

 

[Clone95]

Am I the only one tired of people crying about us getting screwed by Players Era?

There was objective criteria and we were short by two points. It could have very easily gone the other way and it would be another 2-0 team with a similar gripe.

Is the set up kind of stupid? Yes. Is it subject to this kind of griping? Yes. But let’s stop acting like this is some kind of conspiracy.

Exactly. TJ said he knew the criteria and ISU had the chance for 2 more points at the end of the Creighton game but chose not to take them. I think it’s a little dumb since McDermott would have known it’s part of the tourney and not disrespect. Might be covering up for Milan not taking the shot but who knows.

 

[bluestarcyclone]

Am I the only one tired of people crying about us getting screwed by Players Era?

There was objective criteria and we were short by two points. It could have very easily gone the other way and it would be another 2-0 team with a similar gripe.

Is the set up kind of stupid? Yes. Is it subject to this kind of griping? Yes. But let’s stop acting like this is some kind of conspiracy.

"Objective criteria" that was unclear to most people going into the second night of the event and seemed to even change from prior announcements doesn't seem very objective.

But even then, it's a stupid way of doing things. They should have just included all 3-0 teams in the bonus pot

 

[twincyties]

"Objective criteria" that was unclear to most people going into the second night of the event and seemed to even change from prior announcements doesn't seem very objective.

But even then, it's a stupid way of doing things. They should have just included all 3-0 teams in the bonus pot

I don’t disagree with you at all about the confusion. That lack of transparency is unacceptable.

But the way they picked the final 4 was clearly based on record and point differential. The TV crew was clearly operating under this assumption from the first day. People here are acting like it was some committee picking teams subjectively and I just don’t understand that.

 

[NorthCyd]

I don’t disagree with you at all about the confusion. That lack of transparency is unacceptable.

But the way they picked the final 4 was clearly based on record and point differential. The TV crew was clearly operating under this assumption from the first day. People here are acting like it was some committee picking teams subjectively and I just don’t understand that.

Speaking for myself, I don't care as much about the rules as I do that they gave KU a cakewalk into the top 4. It wasn't hard to see pre-season that was an incredibly easy path based on the criteria. We got put in the worst freaking "pod" or whatever. Pre-season all of those teams were ranked or close to ranked. Fix the rules or the matchup selection to make it more equitable, because it was far from that this year.

 

[Cyched]

Speaking for myself, I don't care as much about the rules as I do that they gave KU a cakewalk into the top 4. It wasn't hard to see pre-season that was an incredibly easy path based on the criteria. We got put in the worst freaking "pod" or whatever. Pre-season all of those teams were ranked or close to ranked. Fix the rules or the matchup selection to make it more equitable, because it was far from that this year.

College sports? Equitable? Good one.

 

[bluestarcyclone]

Speaking for myself, I don't care as much about the rules as I do that they gave KU a cakewalk into the top 4. It wasn't hard to see pre-season that was an incredibly easy path based on the criteria. We got put in the worst freaking "pod" or whatever. Pre-season all of those teams were ranked or close to ranked. Fix the rules or the matchup selection to make it more equitable, because it was far from that this year.

For sure. You can look back on places like reddit when the schedule was announced and see people calling it out before the games even happened

 

[NorthCyd]

College sports? Equitable? Good one.

I mean, at least the classic tournament format is equitable in that you keep winning you get to play for a championship.

 

[Cyched]

I mean, at least the classic tournament format is equitable in that you keep winning you get to play for a championship.

Agreed. It's clear with the current PE format they toyed with things as much as they could.

 

[NoCreativity]

Am I the only one tired of people crying about us getting screwed by Players Era?

There was objective criteria and we were short by two points. It could have very easily gone the other way and it would be another 2-0 team with a similar gripe.

Is the set up kind of stupid? Yes. Is it subject to this kind of griping? Yes. But let’s stop acting like this is some kind of conspiracy.

Who cares, its Alcorn State time.

Not sure why people would still be complaining at this point, and not sure why people are still whining about those people over 30 hours later.

 

[NENick]

Exactly. TJ said he knew the criteria and ISU had the chance for 2 more points at the end of the Creighton game but chose not to take them. I think it’s a little dumb since McDermott would have known it’s part of the tourney and not disrespect. Might be covering up for Milan not taking the shot but who knows.

Every game all season, if you have the ball as time runs out and the outcome has been decided, you hold the ball until the buzzer. Expecting Milan to realize he's supposed to chuck up a 3 in that situation is unreasonable.

 

[AllInForISU]

Every game all season, if you have the ball as time runs out and the outcome has been decided, you hold the ball until the buzzer. Expecting Milan to realize he's supposed to chuck up a 3 in that situation is unreasonable.

No it’s not. I’m not saying TJ didn’t tell him to hold it, he may have, but the entire bench knew the situation. If Milan didn’t, that’s bad awareness on his part

 

[twincyties]

Every game all season, if you have the ball as time runs out and the outcome has been decided, you hold the ball until the buzzer. Expecting Milan to realize he's supposed to chuck up a 3 in that situation is unreasonable.

I get what you’re saying but this can be coached ahead of time and during the game. There were deadballs in the last several minutes where this could have been reinforced. TJ also had the starters on the floor at the end which you would not normally do up that much with a game less than 24 hours later.

 

[clonedude]

I haven’t read through this entire thread, but the ONLY argument that could be made in any way that ISU got screwed would be if you thought they had given us the two toughest matchups in the first 2 games. Which in hindsight does not really appear to be the case.

Other than that, the only reason we got “screwed” was because TJ chose to screw us in order to be a gentleman.

I think what TJ decided to do can be debated amongst all of us, in fact, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I give him credit for not being a jerk, but if we came to this thing to make money, then do that and don’t F around. The rules were known going in and we accepted the million and showed up knowing those rules…. no whining!

 

[twincyties]

I haven’t read through this entire thread, but the ONLY argument that could be made in any way that ISU got screwed would be if you thought they had given us the two toughest matchups in the first 2 games. Which in hindsight does not really appear to be the case.

Other than that, the only reason we got “screwed” was because TJ chose to screw us in order to be a gentleman.

I think what TJ decided to do can be debated amongst all of us, in fact, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I give him credit for not being a jerk, but if we came to this thing to make money, then do that and don’t F around. The rules were known going in and we accepted the million and showed up knowing those rules…. no whining!

I agree. The whole sportsmanship premise of not running up the score rests largely on it not mattering whether you win by a small margin or a large margin. When you’re playing in a tourney where point differential matters that whole premise collapses and you’re no longer being strategic about winning if you don’t max out the score.

 

[SCISUFAN]

I was at the game. The bench was screaming to score. TJ 100% told Milan not to shoot. After the game he also stated he told them. Don't understand why there is speculation otherwise.