March 21, 2024

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Here’s your final reminder to set your brackets: We’re all things March Madness this morning ahead of the men’s NCAA tournament tipping off this afternoon. … The turmoil in college sports is making this Big Dance unlike any other. … Cinderellas are underdogs off the court, too. … Iowa’s AD previews life without Caitlin Clark. … The state of coaching in college hoops is getting trickier by the day. … And we look back on an influential championship for one marquee school.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

March Madness Just Doesn’t Relate to What’s Happening on the Court [[link removed]]

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

By Thursday afternoon, when the full slate of first-round March Madness games begin, the long-running and much-beloved tournament on the surface will look much like it always has.

But barely below that surface, a still-accumulating set of changes completely transforming college sports now are threatening to upend much of March Madness as we know it.

Among the major shifts now altering all of college sports, many of them emerging or accelerating just within the last month:

Dartmouth men’s basketball team moving to unionize, with the school refusing [[link removed]] to bargain Congress increasingly focusing [[link removed]] on the employment status of college athletes Clemson filing [[link removed]] a lawsuit against the ACC, following Florida State’s lead, in a move that could spur more conference realignment A federal judge granting [[link removed]] an injunction barring the NCAA from enforcing name, image, and likeness regulations The transfer portal rendering [[link removed]] a new level of chaos on team development with hundreds of players immediately flooding the system The NIT extending [[link removed]] its own seemingly inexorable decline amid a series of spurned invitations, adding to unrest [[link removed]] over the makeup of the 68-team March Madness field SEC commissioner Greg Sankey openly musing [[link removed]] that automatic-qualifier spots could ultimately leave March Madness in the wake of Power 5 conference expansion

So while plenty of people love March Madness, future iterations of the tournament will undoubtedly interact even more with existential questions of how team rosters will be built, how they will be compensated, how those college athletes will be classified legally, and which schools will be in which conferences. Adding to the complexity of the situation is that many of the large-scale changes in college sports are driven by football, with every other sport holding far less influence.

“So it’s a tough time in college basketball right now. And for us, you can’t really build programs and a culture because everybody leaves,” said St. John’s coach Rick Pitino last month. “It’s tough to build a program. You’ve got to really innovate, get creative, and understand these rules—or lack of rules.”

‘Revenue Records’

One piece of solid ground still in place regarding March Madness, however, is the tournament’s media profile. The event remains in the midst of a long-running TV rights deal with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery, with an eight-year, $8.8 billion extension kicking in next year and running to 2032. And while last year’s title game set [[link removed]] a new low for viewership, this year’s tournament is virtually sold out of ad inventory with both volume and pricing rising somewhat from last year.

“This will be the best revenue tournament we’ve ever had,” said Jon Diament, WBD executive vice president of advertising sales. “We’re setting revenue records.”

From Payrolls to Arenas, Cinderellas Are Often Underdogs Off the Court [[link removed]]

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Fans love March Madness for many reasons, whether it’s the chance to sneak in some basketball viewing at work or cash in on an office bracket pool contest. But perhaps one of the most universally endeared parts of the NCAA tournament is the inevitable David vs. Goliath upsets that bust said brackets and the ensuing Cinderella stories that follow.

Who will the shoe fit at this year’s dance? Well, we’re not bracketologists, but we do already notice a few schools that could make for some larger-than-life stories with an unforeseen win or two this month. While the Final Four may very well end up fairly chalk, it’s worth taking a closer look at some of the most interesting candidates that could produce this year’s feel-good stories.

Debut Ready

After decades without success, two 16-seeds have taken down the top team in their quadrants in the last five tournaments (UMBC over Virginia in 2018, Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue last year). This year’s ultimate underdog crew is highlighted by NCAA tournament newbie Stetson (above), which won the ASUN with an estimated men’s basketball budget of just $2.1 million (according to most recent figures from ’22).

Back for More

Returning this year is No. 15 Saint Peter’s, the bracket buster of 2022 that upset No. 2 Kentucky on its way to a historic Elite Eight run, which led to its coach, Shaheen Holloway, getting poached by Seton Hall. But not to be outdone is fellow 15-seed Long Beach State, which informed coach Dan Monson he would not return next season, only for his team to win the Big West tournament and their first NCAA bid since ’12.

Crowd Control

No. 14 Colgate is coming out of the Patriot League for the school’s seventh March Madness appearance, and the Raiders will be in unfamiliar territory for their matchup against No. 3 Baylor at the 19,000-seat FedExForum in Memphis. Colgate’s 1,750-seat Cotterell Court is the smallest home arena of any team in the tournament.

Despite not boasting anywhere near the largest campuses of teams in the bracket, 13-seeds Charleston (about 10,000 undergrads), Vermont (11,000), and Yale (6,500) are making at least their seventh tournament appearance, and all have one previous upset tournament victory on their résumé.

Coach ’Em Up

Perhaps the most interesting of the 12-seeds is McNeese State, the western Louisiana school led by former LSU coach Will Wade, who was fired in 2022 after several NCAA violation allegations. Wade, who took last season off, saw his salary drop [[link removed]] from $2.5 million in Baton Rouge to $200,000 this year. But he’s already earned a contract extension [[link removed].] that will pay him at least $700,000 annually, if he doesn’t get hired elsewhere. Meanwhile, No. 11 Duquesne, making its first tournament appearance since 1977, will be fighting hard for coach Keith Dambrot, who announced he will retire after March Madness, concluding a career that included coaching LeBron James in high school.

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FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Iowa’s AD on Life After Caitlin

Iowa City Press-Citizen

As her school prepares for the start of March Madness, Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz (above) joins the pod to talk about what a wild, wonderful ride the Caitlin Clark years have been, why she believes new fans aren’t going anywhere (Hannah Stuelke sure helps), and how she’s preparing for the potential end of amateurism in the name, image, and likeness era.

🎧 Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], and Spotify [[link removed]].

TIME CAPSULE March 21, 1970: The Genius of Wooden

Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

On this day 54 years ago: UCLA defeated Jacksonville to win its fourth straight national title in men’s basketball, and the sixth of the John Wooden (above) era. This particular Bruins team firmly established the coaching acumen of Wooden, as it was the first one after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) graduated and still a year before the arrival to campus of Bill Walton, both Basketball Hall of Fame centers and two of the true greats of the sport. The departure of Alcindor led many to speculate that competitive parity would at last return to college basketball, but, instead, Wooden’s Bruins blitzed through a 28–2 season and were scarcely challenged in the tournament.

Overall, Wooden won 10 national championships in 12 years and is regularly short-listed as one of the greatest coaches in any sport. His famous Pyramid of Success [[link removed]] has been widely applied by others across many facets of business and sports, and it even has been used as a pop culture reference [[link removed]].

To this day, the 1970 Final Four is also a big question of what-if for St. Bonaventure, currently operating as one of the NCAA’s smallest Division I schools with fewer than 1,900 undergraduates. Star center Bob Lanier, another future Hall of Famer and the top pick in the NBA draft later that year, sustained a knee injury in the regional final against Villanova and did not play in the team’s national semifinal loss against Jacksonville.

LOUD AND CLEAR Career Advice

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

“Anyone who gets into coaching right now is out of their mind.”

—A women’s college basketball head coach who was granted anonymity in an interview with The Athletic [[link removed]] to avoid retribution from their own programs or the NCAA. More than 35 coaches (from power conferences and smaller schools) were asked about the sport’s changing landscape, specifically the transfer portal and coaching in today’s climate.

Conversation Starters The Marlins are offering “All-You-Can-Eat Seats” for $52, which include unlimited access [[link removed]] to food and beverages until the seventh inning. The menu includes items like water, cookies, peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs, chili dogs, chili nachos, cheeseburgers, nachos with cheese, and non-alcoholic beverages, with a limit of four items per trip. FC Barcelona’s extensive $1.6 billion renovations to Spotify Camp Nou are set to finish by the close of 2024. Take a look [[link removed]]. MLB provided alternate replay angles during the Dodgers-Padres game in South Korea for viewers to explore. Check it out [[link removed]]. SPONSORED BY INVESCO QQQ

ESPN has secured a 12-year extension for the television rights to the College Football Playoff, reportedly worth $1.9 billion annually. This agreement ensures ESPN’s exclusive coverage through the 2035 season, maintaining its stronghold on one of the most popular events in college sports.

With this extension, ESPN continues its dominance in sports broadcasting and solidifies its commitment to college football coverage for the foreseeable future.

Check out [[link removed]] the Business of College Athletics hub to read the full article and stay up to date on all the action.

ESPN Locks Up New-Look College Football Playoff With $7.8B Extension [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Network chairman Jimmy Pitaro announced the six-year deal at a conference Tuesday Clemson Files Lawsuit Against the ACC, Following FSU’s Lead [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The ACC is fully embroiled in a legal battle for its own survival. Keep Your Invitation: The NIT Is Struggling to Stay Relevant [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]The tournament dealt with a number of declined invitations this year. ‘Everybody Was Under Suspicion’: The Day Selection Sunday Was Scooped [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]In 2016, the ‘Selection Show’ backfired when the bracket was leaked anonymously. DISCLAIMER

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NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletics Association. Invesco is not affiliated with the NCAA.

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