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Topic: SEC Basketball - No Divisions

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First Street Forever

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First Street Forever

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Posted: 6/3/2011 5:40 PM

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On ESPN, I read:

"The SEC also voted Friday to eliminate divisions in men's basketball.

The teams now will be seeded one through 12 in the postseason tournament, with the top four teams receiving first-round byes. The SEC will keep a 16-game league slate for 2011-12, but will increase the number of conference games the following season."

What do you MACophiles think of that?

I personally have no allegiance to the MAC divisions. Winning the tourney is the only prize.

Pataskala

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Posted: 6/3/2011 8:45 PM

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Definitely for it, especially now that UMass is joining for football. Divisions are good for helping rivalries, but they can get in the way of rivalries, too. BG and Toledo would rather do a home-and-home each year, but can't because of the divisions. I think Fiami and Ball State might like to, as well. Schools could still do home & home with teams they wanted, but may have more flexibility in scheduling. Plus, it's really unfair that a division champ gets the #2 seed in the tourney, even though they may be sitting at 9-7 or even 8-8. Also, now that UMass is in for football, BG will likely move to the West for football, but stay in the East for b-ball, just like when the Terd and UCF were both in the MAC. Of the 1A football conferences, only the MAC and the Sun Belt (maybe the PAC 12) still have divisions for basketball. There's really no need for the MAC to keep divisions for basketball.

DXer

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Posted: 6/4/2011 12:02 AM

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I agree 100%. The only reason the MAC went to divisions was under the thought that giving the #2 seed in the tournament to a division winner would increase interest in a division race. However, I see no such surge in interest. It isn't like we are packing our arenas late in the season to root for oor teams to win the #2 seed.

And most importantly, the huge negative about divisions is that we no longer crown a league champion. Thus the drop in interest in the league that we have seen from 10 to 15 years ago. Some will try to say that the tournament champion is the league champion, but that just isn't true. This isn't the NBA. The tournament champion is just that - the tournament champion - the best team over a 4-day period.

The league champion is supposed to be the team that wins the regular season crown. If we had a championship game matching the two division winners, then having divisions would have a purpose. But we don't do that, so having divisions are are a negative for the MAC.

The SEC is right on point.

bigtillyoopsupsideurhead

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Posted: 6/4/2011 11:04 AM

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SEC basketball is just like the MAC in the fact that all of the good teams were in East division (Florida, Vandy, Tennessee, Kentucky)

*Edit: typo (thanks Jeff McKinney)

Last Edited: 6/4/2011 10:40:47 PM by bigtillyoopsupsideurhead

Jeff McKinney

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Posted: 6/4/2011 1:21 PM

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Yep, people in Kentucky definitely think they're a god team.

OhioCatFan

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Posted: 6/4/2011 11:02 PM

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Hey Jeff, Didn't God personally direct the construction of the UK Basketball Arena with specific directives as to building materials to be used and seating capacity? I think it's somewhere in Exodus.

Athens

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Posted: 6/6/2011 1:29 AM

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OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more

Hey Jeff, Didn't God personally direct the construction of the UK Basketball Arena with specific directives as to building materials to be used and seating capacity? I think it's somewhere in Exodus.

Rick Pitino was the Moses which led the Wildcat exodus from obscurity. Tubby Smith was King David with an up and down tenure in Kentucky (Judea) fighting, winning and losing recruiting battles against the tribe of Louisville which had stolen the author (coach Pitino) of the ten commandments of recruiting. Calipari has decended as a basketball god to save the tribe of Wildcat from peril.

OUVan

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Posted: 6/6/2011 9:14 AM

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As much as everybody hates giving the #2 seed to the second division winner I think eliminating divisions creates even bigger advantages (or disadvantages) for teams. Right now each team in a division plays exactly the same schedule as everybody else in their division. Without divisions you end up getting certain teams that play ridiculously easy schedules compared to other teams. Every year in the Big East you see a team that got two games against the bottom feeders and one game against the top notch teams and most of those games at home. As for rivalries I think the best thing to do would be to move BG to the West and Ball State to the East.

But there is no perfect system with this many teams that doesn't include a true round-robin set up. Personally I like the division set up compared to no divisions.

OhioCatFan

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Posted: 6/8/2011 5:15 PM

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I agreed with OU Van on this matter.