Nova Patriot

@John_Fanta 5 big ten teams out their 30 team cross continental conference

So, 12 of 16 tickets to the second weekend have been punched. By conference: Big Ten - 5 SEC - 3 Big 12 - 2 ACC - 1 Big East - 1

@PaintTouches Coaching transition for the Jays? Is McDermott hanging it up?

Holtmann, Willard and Hodgson are tremendous improvements from their predecessors. Still have some funding Qs from Hall, X and Butler, with a probable coaching transition for the Jays. But I think we see a massive league-wide jump from the Big East next season.

@Charlotte49er97 @JonRothstein Casual

@JonRothstein Providence is a name, but is this really a promotion? South Florida seems to be willing to invest the resources to be a decent basketball program. Providence is more of a has been

Sources: South Florida's Bryan Hodgson is finalizing a deal to be the next head coach at Providence. Rhode Island is officially shark infested waters.

@CRS195610 @Firstand16_Pod They used to make runs because they had competitive rosters. Wichita St, Davidson, VCU etc. Now they can’t afford to keep their players and can’t compete.

@Firstand16_Pod Cinderellas rarely make a deep run. The less there are, the most competitive basketball we get over the course of the entire tournament. Not much different from college football playoff. Did we really need to see Tulane & JMU get their teeth kicked in during the 1st rd?

March Madness is like Black Friday. Used to be an amazing thing that had amazing deals and door-busters. Unfortunately big corporations decided to overdo it and it’s just become a normal event that we tell ourselves is still just as great as it’s ever been, but that’s just nostalgia.

@maxmerrima94645 @Firstand16_Pod Only casuals dont care about how NIL killed the sport

@Firstand16_Pod You clearly aren't a serious fan. And that is fine.

@Throat_VD @sdutzeigler Some mid majors have genuinely been better teams than power conference teams in the past. Now they cant compete and its the same teams every year

@sdutzeigler Makes for a better Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final 4

Unless Utah State upsets No. 1 seed Arizona on Sunday at Viejas Arena, we'll have no mid-majors in the Sweet 16 for a second straight year. That's not a coincidence.

Cinderella is dead and she was killed by Jay Bilas

@Coxby90 @bigcontentguy

@BeardNeptune @bigcontentguy Nova 🫵😂

gonzaga is such a joke of a program. mark few doesn’t scare anyone unless he’s behind the wheel of a car

@theblockspot Not a cinderella. What is their NIL? Probably higher than Miami Ohio and High Point combined

Texas is an 11-seed. Texas went 9-9 in the SEC. Texas played in the First Four. School size means nothing. Texas is absolutely a real Cinderella.

@Jonathan32200 @MattGrossenbach That was in the infancy of NIL halfwit

@BeardNeptune @MattGrossenbach And 2021,2022, and 2023 were the most upset Cinderella years of all time which were also during the NIL era. Put some fucking thoughts together dumbass

I keep seeing this stuff, explaining how Cinderella is still here, but it’s cope. Are we counting close games in years where we actually had a lot of Cinderella wins too? Coming up close means nothing in a single-elimination tournament. No one will remember “down 5 with 6 mins”

@albertina_53700 @ESPN_Schick VCU and High Point have some of the highest NIL budgets among mid majors. Maybe know what you’re talking about before you comment

@ESPN_Schick Day 1: Look at those mid-majors beating up on the P5 schools. See how they belong. Day 2: Those poor mid-majors don't have a chance in the NIL/portal era. Let's get our story straight...which is it.

With NIL/portal hurting the mid-majors, it’s even more detrimental for Cinderella when the regular season champion gets upset in the conference tournament. Liberty, Belmont, Navy all won their leagues by 3+ games. UNC Wilmington went 26-6. All failed to win their conference tournaments. If mid-majors are going to continue to send their conference tournament champions to the NCAA Tournament, they need to give the regular season champions byes to the semifinals.

@GamblingSheriff @Brett_Crawford Well you seem to prioritize talent over anything else. Might as well watch the NBA because they are professional players. Some of us want to root for the schools we went to and NIL is depriving us of that

@BeardNeptune @Brett_Crawford i don't understand this argument. are you insinuating that it'd be more enjoyable to watch high school or middle school or 8u basketball because there's more variance? where do you draw the line?

The only 'real' mid left in the tournament has a $3M+ roster. We've crossed the threshold and we're never going back.

@GamblingSheriff @Brett_Crawford Go watch the NBA then lol

@Brett_Crawford it's exciting, it's just that the excitement has moved. (theoretically) the excitement should consolidate into much better games in the E8, FF, etc. where the talent is compacted and there's better players on the court all at once

@MattB7_7 @EsotericCD Anyone who denies this is coping. Its over and the tournament sucks

@EsotericCD Nope. It's pure chalk now. NIL has ended the era of Cinderellas. If you're not a blue blood, you have no shot at winning a championship, let alone making the final 4. The only people who like this are fans of blue bloods and sports gamblers.

I'm not the only person who finds the current state of the NCAA Tournament mildly depressing, right?

@Icy7Trea @mhc_76 🤣 They lost by 2 to the runner up in the national championship. Also Butler, VCU, davidson.

@BeardNeptune @mhc_76 They also didn’t make the sweet 16

I think the college basketball fans should pivot to how the Sweet 16 and on is extremely high level basketball now and better in the NIL era than before instead of pretending that the last 3 days have been anywhere close to what March Madness was 5-10 years ago

@Icy7Trea @mhc_76 Yea and wichita st was a legit top 5 team that went undefeated. Too bad it will never happen again because of NIL

@mhc_76 I watched St. Peters, in person, get run out the gym before the under 8 in the first half in the Elite 8. Cinderella’s are cool until your 2nd weekend games stink

@mhc_76 And the mid majors get shafted. Awesome!

@NCAABuzzerBters Cope. Its over

We were all so spoiled with 3 straight years of 15+ seed teams going to the Sweet 16. Yes the upsets are down but that doesn’t mean there will be no Cinderella

@PoopCityBitches @KevinIsHere1919 @JackMac Yeah I mean without the college label they are amateurs.

@KevinIsHere1919 @BeardNeptune @JackMac It’s exactly what I’m saying. These players would have no value if they weren’t playing at a university. If the NBA said you had to go play in this “minor league” for a year before getting drafted nobody would buy tickets to see a team from Ames play a team from Tucson.

As you realize the college sports you grew up with doesn’t exist anymore, it hits you that it may have all been a facade. The reason these teams below existed was largely to players being exploited with no ability to make money & punished for transferring. NIL introduced….cream rises to the top. In 2012 a guy who fell through the cracks in recruiting would spend 4 years at a mid major and develop there…not anymore. 80% of those players trickle up to make the major conference teams that were losing in 2008 better in 2026. College sports was prob better in 2010 but it was due to a model that unequivocally ripped off athletes. I am open to being wrong here, but the game has changed forever and what we watched years ago was fake.