quote:
Perhaps. One upset against Alabama doesn’t make you elite in my mind. For example, the rest of SD St matchups were:

Charleston
Furman
Creighton

That makes you elite? I guess they can prove it by beating FAU??

That is not what he said, he said to get there, these teams had to beat elite teams. Since you brought up SDSU, yes, they beat the overall number one. Miami beat a No. 1. FAU didn't get the opportunity, but beat the team that beat the No. 1. And UConn is UConn.

The issue with your line of logic is that it means a couple of things.

One being that teams can only be judged on "the elite" teams being around in their bracket. But what is "elite" in a snapshot? UNC was worse than Creighton this year, but their name means more than on-court reality? Because UVA got taken out by a team SDSU went through, no credit goes to them for going through them?

And two, does this mean that "elite" teams get auto-passes for having an easy path? Let's hold your logic another way. What about Kansas last year? One of the easiest paths, ever, to a title, period. Their road to the final four was absolutely pathetic, and when they got there, they faced a short-handed Nova, and a Carolina team that got hot but was an 8 seed. So their road will likely be an easier road than any team in the FF this year if they win a title. But that is fine, because they themselves are "elite"? It's a weird double standard and shows bias for legacy programs.

Now, will there be lower viewership because very large basketball fanbases won't be tuning in to watch their teams? Sure. But the teams in this Final Four earned their way in, it is just a fact.

This post was edited on 3/27/23 at 10:57 am