Sun Belt Should Be All About Hoops

[MeanGreen61]

Pogue: Sun Belt should be all about hoops

By GREG POGUE

pogue@dnj.com

Apparently, the Sun Belt Conference is finally getting it.

Or, at the least, league leaders are acting as if they do when it comes to men's basketball. Let's hope the declaration coming from last week's league meetings to emphasize the sport is more than just lip service.

The one sport that should always be the league's bell cow — and should have been, except for faulty emphasis — has slipped into pitiful status. And that's a shame, considering the league was founded three decades ago for the very reason of men's basketball.

But with a commissioner in Wright Waters whose affection for football is unabashed — and league members who continually chase a pipe dream called Division I-A football, where success at the highest level will most assuredly never come — the league that once received multiple bids to the NCAA men's basketball tournament has become a one-and-done affair.

There is plenty of blame to go around, starting at the top with Waters and drifting down to league presidents, athletic directors and the coaches. Somewhere along the line, a darn good men's basketball league became just like any other woeful mid-major.

But at one time, the Sun Belt rivaled today's Missouri Valley, a league considered the best mid-major. But football changed all that, along with the departure of league cornerstones like Alabama-Birmingham, UNC-Charlotte, South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion. In their place came schools that can't burst a grape in collegiate athletics, and even MTSU's entrance in all sports was predicated by a move up to Division I-A football.

Take MTSU's at-large bid to the Motor City Bowl last December. Beside becoming the poster team for too many bowl games, the Blue Raiders broke even on the proposition, but only after the benevolence of Bowl Championship Series revenue sharing.

And while the brief time in the spotlight might pay dividends for the program in the short term, did it cause a jump in revenues in overall athletic support? Early returns on the current membership drive of the Blue Raider Athletic Association, the official booster organization of MTSU athletics, would suggest not.

A Sun Belt school can go to an irrelevant football bowl game every year and still not have the impact of just one NCAA men's basketball tournament berth, something that hasn't happened at MTSU since 1989. And what if the Blue Raiders won a couple games in the NCAA tourney and made the Sweet 16? That exposure and money would blow the doors off what football could do in its best year.

While the South might be football country, it doesn't serve well to forget about men's basketball the way the Sun Belt did.

Just maybe, the league has finally gotten priorities straight.

ARTICLE

http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../702150334/1006

[NT80]

Pogue: Sun Belt should be all about hoops

By GREG POGUE

pogue@dnj.com

Apparently, the Sun Belt Conference is finally getting it.

Or, at the least, league leaders are acting as if they do when it comes to men's basketball. Let's hope the declaration coming from last week's league meetings to emphasize the sport is more than just lip service.

The one sport that should always be the league's bell cow — and should have been, except for faulty emphasis — has slipped into pitiful status. And that's a shame, considering the league was founded three decades ago for the very reason of men's basketball.

But with a commissioner in Wright Waters whose affection for football is unabashed — and league members who continually chase a pipe dream called Division I-A football, where success at the highest level will most assuredly never come — the league that once received multiple bids to the NCAA men's basketball tournament has become a one-and-done affair.

There is plenty of blame to go around, starting at the top with Waters and drifting down to league presidents, athletic directors and the coaches. Somewhere along the line, a darn good men's basketball league became just like any other woeful mid-major.

But at one time, the Sun Belt rivaled today's Missouri Valley, a league considered the best mid-major. But football changed all that, along with the departure of league cornerstones like Alabama-Birmingham, UNC-Charlotte, South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion. In their place came schools that can't burst a grape in collegiate athletics, and even MTSU's entrance in all sports was predicated by a move up to Division I-A football.

Take MTSU's at-large bid to the Motor City Bowl last December. Beside becoming the poster team for too many bowl games, the Blue Raiders broke even on the proposition, but only after the benevolence of Bowl Championship Series revenue sharing.

And while the brief time in the spotlight might pay dividends for the program in the short term, did it cause a jump in revenues in overall athletic support? Early returns on the current membership drive of the Blue Raider Athletic Association, the official booster organization of MTSU athletics, would suggest not.

A Sun Belt school can go to an irrelevant football bowl game every year and still not have the impact of just one NCAA men's basketball tournament berth, something that hasn't happened at MTSU since 1989. And what if the Blue Raiders won a couple games in the NCAA tourney and made the Sweet 16? That exposure and money would blow the doors off what football could do in its best year.

While the South might be football country, it doesn't serve well to forget about men's basketball the way the Sun Belt did.

Just maybe, the league has finally gotten priorities straight.

ARTICLE

http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../702150334/1006

What a whip. Hate to inform him, but conference invites are based on Football first; basketball is only a secondary consideration.

Edited June 3, 2007 by NT80

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

A whip is right. I believe that being the best that you can be in basketball is good but if concentrating on basketball gets you tournament spots then why aren't USA, UNO, UALR and Denver there every year? They have no need to pursue the Division 1-A dream.

They are doing the right thing by concentrating on the scheduling but unless you can get and give lucrative guarantees it's going to be hard to get many takers. Football makes a little money for all of the teams although too many have to play the body bag games to show a profit. Some play as many as three or four. We are getting away from that in football and it's time to do the same thing in basketball.

[CMJ]

What a whip. Hate to inform him, but conference invites are based on Football first; basketball is only a secondary consideration.

Not for the Big East. Other conferences try to balance the two pretty equally.

[Spaceraider]

What a whip. Hate to inform him, but conference invites are based on Football first; basketball is only a secondary consideration.

It may explain a little if I tell you Pogue is wku grad.

[NT80]

Not for the Big East. Other conferences try to balance the two pretty equally.

Yes even the Big East. You think they wanted Miami for their basketball? Or kicked out Temple because of their basketball? No, it was for football. Now there are some basketball-only schools in that league that want any new members (Louisville, Cincy) to also have good basketball teams, but football still drives the revenue there, like in all BCS conferences. That's why I think Memphis will be the next Big East invitee...good in both football and basketball and a natural rival for Louisville and Cincy.

Edited June 3, 2007 by NT80

[CMJ]

Then how did someone like Marquette or DePaul get into the BE on the last shuffle? Basketball.

[NT80]

Then how did someone like Marquette or DePaul get into the BE on the last shuffle? Basketball.

It was a compromise to the basketball-only schools in the B.E. (since they kicked out Temple) to add them along with Louisville, Cincy, et al.

BTW, expect to see the B.E. split off (kick out) the basketball-only schools in the future to become an all-sports league like the ACC. The SunBelt should do the same.

Edited June 4, 2007 by NT80

[CMJ]

It was a compromise to the basketball-only schools in the B.E. (since they kicked out Temple) to add them along with Louisville, Cincy, et al.

BTW, expect to see the B.E. split off (kick out) the basketball-only schools in the future to become an all-sports league like the ACC. The SunBelt should do the same.

You really expect the BE to to kick out Georgetown & Villanova? CHARTER MEMBERS. Not gonna happen.

[mwynn05]

You really expect the BE to to kick out Georgetown & Villanova? CHARTER MEMBERS. Not gonna happen.

Temple wasn't in the Big East in basketball they were in the Atlantic 10

[galojah]

I think basketball has taken a back seat since 2000. Football seems to be going strong now, so it seems fitting to revisit basketball. I don't propose doing anything that will hinder what we've done with football... but a little more attention to basketball and the benefits it can bring the conference is not a bad thing.

[galojah]

BTW, expect to see the B.E. split off (kick out) the basketball-only schools in the future to become an all-sports league like the ACC. The SunBelt should do the same.

I don't think UALR, USA, UNO and Denver are hurting us. Some of your better basketball teams are in that group. If you want to kick out the underperformers, I'd start looking at the state of Florida.

Seriously, I do think we need to trim down to 12 basketball. Denver knows they need a new home and hopefully they will find one. If that happens, I think we are really good with 12 basketball and 9 football. UALR, USA, UNO have been longstanding members of the conference that were here long before football was even thought of for the SBC. I don't think it is right to kick them out.

[Censored by Laurie]

CMJ...this is Texas...good luck convincing the masses that there is anything more important in this world than football. The strength of the Sun Belt has always been basketball...and that has taken a backseat in the past 6-7 years to football programs that are barely holding on to division 1 status. This is by no means to say that I think the Sun Belt shouldn't support football...nor that football should go back to D-1A, but SBC schools were once regarded with the same respect as the Missouri Valley Conference...but that has slipped considerably since football has become a priority...and that is most evident last year...when UNT was the only SBC school even considered for the tourney...and we were a F'ing 15 seed. It shows how much we have allowed the prestigue of SBC basketball to decline when the Ivy, Patriot and the America East conference qualifiers got better seeds and we were on par with the Big Sky and the Southland. I think best case for the SBC (if USA had won the tourney) we may have gotten a 14...but no higher.

The Big East is, and has been a basketball conference. Their top football programs; West Virginia and Louisville have only recently become nationally successful...and Louisville is still a basketball school no matter how successful they become in football. Miami settled for the Big East initially when the ACC didn't want to expand...and the school the Big East misses the most from re-alignment is Boston College b/c of the balance they brought to the conference

[UNTFan23]

Baseball is giving basketball a run for its money. How many Belt teams made the playoffs (or whatever they are called) compared to basketball?

[Spaceraider]

Baseball is giving basketball a run for its money. How many Belt teams made the playoffs (or whatever they are called) compared to basketball?

Baseball had three teams in the NCAA Regionals. The Sun Belt is the 6th or 7th conference, RPI - wise, in baseball, as opposed to men's basketball which was around the 21st ranked conference. Women's basketball is ranked about 7th or 8th as a conference and got two into NCAA tournament play. The issue is money. No matter how many teams the Sun Belt gets in or how many games are won in women's basketball or in baseball, there's not any real money seen out of those appearances, expenses are covered - that's about it, IIRC. Men's basketball is where the money is at and can have a great impact on conference revenue for years, especially if a team wins games or the conference gets more than one team in.

Excerpt from another DNJ article in this past Sunday's edition:

....The Sun Belt has not placed multiple teams in the NCAA tournament or won a tournament game in more than a decade, leaving money on the table for other leagues to claim.

Each conference is awarded units of revenue in the NCAA tournament based on performance, with one unit equaling one team's appearance in each round of the Big Dance. One team losing in the first round equals one unit. Two teams losing in the first round is two units. Two teams advancing to the second round is four units, and so on.

One unit's worth increases slightly each year based on the NCAA tournament's TV contract, and that same amount is paid annually for six years to each conference. Last year, one unit was worth around $190,000 and was divided between the conference office and member schools.

Sun Belt champion North Texas, the league's lone representative in last year's NCAA tournament, lost to Memphis in the first round. A North Texas win or an at-large bid to the tournament would have doubled the Sun Belt's revenue.

"Over the six-year period, that would mean bringing in more than $1 million just for winning one game or getting another team in," North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal said.

According to a revenue study introduced at last year's league meeting, the Sun Belt was awarded six units worth a total of $983,988 of NCAA tournament money from 2001-06.

During the same six-year period, the Mid-American Conference earned 11 units for $1.8 million and the Big 12 Conference raked in $14,430,355 from 88 units. Conference USA amassed 44 units, and the Western Athletic Conference had 20 units.....

Conference targets basketball's monetary gains

[MeanGreen61]

Baseball is giving basketball a run for its money. How many Belt teams made the playoffs (or whatever they are called) compared to basketball?

Baseball doesn't generate the BENJAMINS. Basketball does.

[GrandGreen]

Baseball doesn't generate the BENJAMINS. Basketball does.

Basketball has the potential to be a revenue sport but is far from it at NT. When your head coach's salary is more than your total home ticket sales for the year you have a problem.