NCAA Greed Knows No Bounds
Photo of Dead Man’s Gulch courtesy of The Mid-MajorityIn an effort to cram more dollars, er fans into NCAA Tournament sites, the NCAA, in it’s infinite wisdom is raising the floor 3 feet off the ground in both the Midwest Regional in Detroit and the South Regional in Houston in addition to moving the court to the center of the stadiums.
I could care less about whether they place the court in the end or center of a stadium, just as long as it’s on the freaking ground.
Seriously, am I the only one who hates elevated courts? It’s not just the potential injuries it’s the fact players are less aggressive going for loose balls and I’m not sure I like having the coaches either stand or watch the game at knee level while sitting 10-15 feet from the sideline.
Even if you did agree with me it wouldn’t matter because the NCAA is hell bent on selling as many tickets as possible - be damned a player breaking his neck going for an errant pass or loose ball that could decide whether or not his team advances to the Final Four. NCAA Committee member Laing Kennedy (and Kent State AD) makes it clear what matters most:
“It really opens up the whole stadium and makes it so much better for the fans. Having the court elevated like that just makes for a terrific view from the upper level.”
Hallelujah. I’m sure those extra 3 feet make the view from the rafters of 72k seat Reliant Stadium unbeatable. Give me a break.
If nothing else, it sounds as if most of the players would agree with my grumpy rant. Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts certainly isn’t a fan:
“I’m definitely not jumping in the stands. I’m not even going to act like it. If it’s going out of bounds and I can’t get it, hey I’m not going to fake hustle and act like I’m diving for it.”
Perfect. Doesn’t sound like Scottie Reynolds is excited about giving his best effort near the edges either:
“What if we go for the loose ball and dive off the court? I mean, that’s the thing I was scared about.”
In their defense, the NCAA has placed a 10 foot border of carpet at the ends of the court and a five foot strip down the sidelines. Not sure that’s enough but if they made it any wider the coaches and players would need binoculars to keep an eye on the action.
Okay. I’m out of breath now. Carry on.
16 Responses
First they get the giant circular NCAA logo in midcourt removed because players were slipping on them, now they do this.
I’m just waiting for the day they crack down on Notre Dame for their racist mascot.
NittanyWhiteOut.com - March 27th, 2008 at 11:09 pm - #
This is troublesome. Having been to the Final Four at the Metrodome, I think moving the court to the middle of the football field is a good idea; the current Final Four setup makes for bizarre seating arrangements. But I don’t understand why they need to raise the floor to do it.
On the positive side, maybe this gives Big Ten teams an advantage since we have to play at Williams Arena every year . . .
kj (spartans weblog) - March 27th, 2008 at 11:16 pm - #
Look how far the actual court is from the cliff. It’s not nearly as harrowing as the Barn. Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal except for the coaches/benches.
John M - March 28th, 2008 at 12:30 am - #
Tennessee just got hosed by 19 against the Cardinals. Where you at, SEC? If Wisky and Sparty take care of business, do you think there’s any chance of some kind of acknowledgment of intellectual negligence on ESPN’s part for failing to understand how a ‘weak’ conference with a ‘down year’ gets two teams into the Elite 8?
vico - March 28th, 2008 at 12:35 am - #
John - I agree that there’s a pretty good amount of room before the dropoff but the bottom line is how the players perceive it and from the comments, they seem a little nervous about it.
Chris - March 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am - #
There are enough raised floors that some data should be available as to whether it effects injury rates. I doubt it makes a difference given the liability in placing one of these future NBA stars at risk.
As for changing the players motivation to go after balls near the line, maybe so. Only thing I know is that I played on raised floors in high school and college and I wasn’t really aware of it.
Never a big fan of greed. But I like the idea of coaches being a little more removed from the game. Vanderbilt puts the coaches down at the end of the floor. Kent State used to. It sometimes makes interesting drama watching the coaches waving wildly to try and get control of their teams. I like it better when the game is left to the players on the floor. Some interesting things can happen. And in the end, its the players I want to see perform - not some clock managing coach.
And don’t get me started on clock management. How much more interesting woudl the game be if there were no time-outs called in the last two minutes?
Arkansas Buckeye - March 28th, 2008 at 9:23 am - #
AB - I understand your viewpoint I don’t think you can measure tentative plays that didn’t lead to an injury. As for your opinion on the coaches, I totally disagree. I believe they should be able to be involved at the level they are today and I consider clock management a key strategy not a hinderance. Sure, the games can sometimes drag on when a coach goes overboard with timeouts but I prefer that to having the players just ‘wing it’…Just my $.02.
Just curious - do you hate baseball for the same reason (ie. all the downtime) because I love baseball for all the intricacies and strategy occuring on every pitch but I think I’m in th minority in that regard.
Chris - March 28th, 2008 at 9:53 am - #
Great buckeye football 2008 preview:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0md6Flcrd0s
randomOSUfan - March 28th, 2008 at 10:03 am - #
Some people couldn’t even see the players they were so far back at the championship game. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.
Matthew - March 28th, 2008 at 10:24 am - #
I love baseball because I’m a statistics whore.
Dan Isaacs (most of these were typed as lowercase letters.) - March 28th, 2008 at 11:14 am - #
Speaking of injuries, Oden got into some trouble with the Blazers for playing in som pick up games:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3316689
Mark - March 28th, 2008 at 11:14 am - #
NCAA and greed in the same sentence? Come now.
This is such a good idea that as of yesterday there were 11,000 availible tickets for Houston. I don’t think you should have to watch a bball game with binoculars or the Hubble telescope.
Kyle - March 28th, 2008 at 12:42 pm - #
The NCAA is greedy, but remember it’s all about the education of scholar athletes.
Oh well, at least they have a means of settling it on the field (court).
Boeckman Fett - March 28th, 2008 at 1:56 pm - #
Chris
Love baseball for the same reason you do. My complaint about coaches and time mangaement isn’s a major one. I just know that when a team runs out fo timeouts, I more excited about watching how the players on the court manage the time.
I was a point guard and the son of a coach so this probably explains it.
“Geez dad, I can run the offense on my own, ya know?”
Arkansas Buckeye - March 29th, 2008 at 12:36 pm - #
Do I have anything to say…… Oh! Yes I do! We is athletes, Boss. We is knowing where the floor ends, boss.
I Disagree - March 31st, 2008 at 2:18 am - #
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