Tweet
As the waning moments of the Southern Illinois vs. Virginia Tech game continued to pass, the chink of coins began to grow louder and louder. While some may say that the ‘chinking’ sound was the growing pay day that Chris Lowery may be receiving after this NCAA Tournament run, but that’s not the sound I’m referring to. After what was considered by many a shafting by the Selection Committee to the Missouri Valley Conference (and other non-BCS conferences in general) in the fact that SIU and Creighton were the only two MVC schools chosen for the NCAA Tournament, the MVC got at least what they were looking for.
Not only does this make the 4th trip to the Sweet Sixteen by an MVC school in 6 years, or the 3rd in 2 years, or a guarantee of at least a .500 record in the NCAA tournament by MVC teams in the past two years, but in the world of collegiate athletics where money rules, the MVC will be receiving a larger paycheck from the NCAA and CBS this upcoming year. The MVC has now received multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament for the last 9 years, and 12 of the last 15. Are we still ‘mid-major’? Probably. We don’t have several of the things that the ‘high majors’ have. However, that gap that people have been talking about since the NCAA leveled the playing field by restricting all Division 1 schools to 13 basketball scholarships continues to narrow. In many respects, the Missouri Valley is almost there…almost. There are several things that the MVC has to do to become ‘one of them’, which, when you think about it, is pretty amazing for a conference that doesn’t have the money maker known as BCS football.
So, back to the ‘chinking’ of coins…
The NCAA makes tons of money from it’s mega-buck contract with CBS to carry the Division 1 NCAA Tournament. What it does with that money is tri-fold. Some of it goes into the NCAA purses to enhance future events and other sports (i.e.- non-revenue sports). Some of it goes to funds that help support the student-athletes who are under-privileged, need financial assistance for things like winter clothing, or other special need-based grants for enhancing scholastic achievement. And the rest goes to the institutions’ conferences that play in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the ‘chinking’ of coins I’m talking about.
For the rest of this article: http://www.panthernation.com/showthread.php?t=10654
Not only does this make the 4th trip to the Sweet Sixteen by an MVC school in 6 years, or the 3rd in 2 years, or a guarantee of at least a .500 record in the NCAA tournament by MVC teams in the past two years, but in the world of collegiate athletics where money rules, the MVC will be receiving a larger paycheck from the NCAA and CBS this upcoming year. The MVC has now received multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament for the last 9 years, and 12 of the last 15. Are we still ‘mid-major’? Probably. We don’t have several of the things that the ‘high majors’ have. However, that gap that people have been talking about since the NCAA leveled the playing field by restricting all Division 1 schools to 13 basketball scholarships continues to narrow. In many respects, the Missouri Valley is almost there…almost. There are several things that the MVC has to do to become ‘one of them’, which, when you think about it, is pretty amazing for a conference that doesn’t have the money maker known as BCS football.
So, back to the ‘chinking’ of coins…
The NCAA makes tons of money from it’s mega-buck contract with CBS to carry the Division 1 NCAA Tournament. What it does with that money is tri-fold. Some of it goes into the NCAA purses to enhance future events and other sports (i.e.- non-revenue sports). Some of it goes to funds that help support the student-athletes who are under-privileged, need financial assistance for things like winter clothing, or other special need-based grants for enhancing scholastic achievement. And the rest goes to the institutions’ conferences that play in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the ‘chinking’ of coins I’m talking about.
For the rest of this article: http://www.panthernation.com/showthread.php?t=10654
Comment