Whitlock: Why did Duke receive favorable seed? Because CBS needs a ratings boost.

[|Zach|]

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/14/260...favorable.html

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The experts on CBS and ESPN were not at liberty Sunday night to explain to you why the NCAA Tournament selection committee treated Duke like the No. 1 overall seed rather than Kansas, the nation's best basketball team.

The explanation is simple: Duke is television ratings gold, and the NCAA is in the process of negotiating a new TV contract for its prized tournament.

CBS, the current rights holder, and ESPN, America's 24-hour national sports network - along with several other networks - are currently participating in the contract negotiations. It's a high-stakes affair. CBS paid $6 billion to exclusively broadcast the event for the last 11 years.

In an effort to hoodwink a TV network into again overpaying for the Big Dance, the NCAA is considering expanding the tourney to 96 teams.

So it's only logical that the selection committee provided the Blue Devils - tournament-chokers for most of the last decade - a relative cakewalk to the Final Four. Duke, the alleged third No. 1 seed, is in the bracket with the weakest No. 2 (Villanova) and No. 3 (Baylor) and No. 4 (Purdue).

Meanwhile, the Jayhawks draw No. 2 seed Ohio State, the team many believe deserved a No. 1, and No. 3 Georgetown and No. 4 Maryland. Every expert I heard Sunday stated the obvious: Kansas is in the toughest bracket in the tournament, and Duke is in the easiest.

Why?

"Duke and (North) Carolina bring big built-in audiences to TV sets," CBS programmer Mike Aresco told a USA Today reporter last year in explaining CBS' 2009 tournament ratings bump.

The NCAA needs another bump.

During the last 15 years, the NBA has stripped the college game of name-brand, ratings-generating players to showcase. Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James skipped college ball altogether.

Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and Stephen Curry - to name just a few - could all conceivably still be looking for one last shining moment in front of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. Instead, they're NBA millionaires, leaving the NCAA to promote legendary coaches and tradition-rich programs.

No coach and no team move the needle better than Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils.
They're the Tiger Woods of hoops, a squeaky-clean fantasy that sports fans love and love to hate.

Short of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Coach K and his All-American Boys have been the NCAA's best box-office draw. Duke's 1992 victory over Michigan is the second-most-watched championship game after Magic-Bird. Duke's loss to Arkansas in 1994 is fourth.

I know. Around here, we're quite proud of Kansas' rich tradition. The Jayhawks produced Dr. Naismith, Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning. Kansas owns three NCAA titles. And just about everyone agrees Bill Self is as good a coach as there is.

Kansas fails the squeaky-clean charade.

Larry Brown hired Danny Manning's dad and left the program on probation. We still don't know for sure how Darrell Arthur passed 10th-grade algebra. And then there's that whole thing about Kansas being the favorite team of porn stars.

On a more serious note, Duke (and North Carolina to a lesser degree) score higher on the old "eyeball" test. Fewer tattoos and more white guys.

I just made many of you uncomfortable. Sorry. But it's a fact.

It's no different from Tiger Woods' brown skin in a traditionally white-skin sport sending golf ratings (and sponsorship dollars) skyrocketing. Coach K and his band of Boys Next Door are the Great White Hopes of Hoops. Three of Duke's five starters are white. Their top two scorers are white.

I'm not complaining. I'm not anti-Duke at all. I would love to have a son play for Coach K. It would mean that my son excelled athletically and academically. Plus, I respect Coach K.

But let's deal with the reality of why Duke was given a favorable draw. The NCAA is desperate for television ratings. The $6 billion CBS paid over 11 years financed a lot things the NCAA likes to do - stuff like propping up non-revenue sports.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the NCAA mandated that Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Shane Battier referee all of the Blue Devils' tournament games.

This is the price of television being in total control of the sports world. At contract time, the NCAA Tournament isn't much different from "American Idol."

[sedated]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

Sure, it's still widely considered to be the toughest bracket. I haven't seen anyone, but JWhit, complain about it, though.

I agree I haven't seen anyone complain about it before this article.

As for it being the hardest, depends on how its looked at. It might have the toughest teams overall, but thats on the side opposite of KU. I'd rather have a murderers row on the other side and have to play the winner, than have a team like Texas waiting for me in the 2nd round.

[HC_Chief]

Originally Posted by sedated

I agree I haven't seen anyone complain about it before this article.

As for it being the hardest, depends on how its looked at. It might have the toughest teams overall, but thats on the side opposite of KU. I'd rather have a murderers row on the other side and have to play the winner, than have a team like Texas waiting for me in the 2nd round.

Texas probably won't make it past the first game.

The Midwest bracket is definitely the toughest. It is absolutely loaded. JWhit was correct this time: duke was handed a gift. UK and KU have a legit beef if one were to be made.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by HC_Chief

Texas probably won't make it past the first game.

The Midwest bracket is definitely the toughest. It is absolutely loaded. JWhit was correct this time: duke was handed a gift. UK and KU have a legit beef if one were to be made.

Ditto on Purdue as well, considering they got hammered by Minnesota.

[HC_Chief]

Doesn't matter: duke will be out in the Sweet 16 again this year

[irishjayhawk]

It's sad, dj's left nut, because you had a couple points but you blew it on everything else. The 2008 team did get a favorable draw in the bracket. However, Davidson isn't one of the favorable draws. Moreover, KU had zero control on how the bottom half managed to get an opponent for KU in the elite eight. Self wasn't pulling strings, that's for sure.

No one has had to go thru all 2 #1s to win a NC. That certainly has some merit to it.

In all, dj, you can be summed up with this:

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by irishjayhawk

It's sad, dj's left nut, because you had a couple points but you blew it on everything else. The 2008 team did get a favorable draw in the bracket. However, Davidson isn't one of the favorable draws. Moreover, KU had zero control on how the bottom half managed to get an opponent for KU in the elite eight. Self wasn't pulling strings, that's for sure.

No one has had to go thru all 2 #1s to win a NC. That certainly has some merit to it.

In all, dj, you can be summed up with this:

Greatest tourney run ever.

It was all the about that regional. Those jerks in the NCAA Selection Committee had a lot of gall making Kansas face....Northern. Iowa.

Blow it out your asses, beakers. Stay the **** out of our game threads. Cry yourselves to sleep.

Or just drink a bowl of antifreeze you pack of smug dickheads.

Rock Chalk...whatever. See ya next season.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Greatest tourney run ever.

It was all the about that regional. Those jerks in the NCAA Selection Committee had a lot of gall making Kansas face....Northern. Iowa.

Blow it out your asses, beakers. Stay the **** out of our game threads. Cry yourselves to sleep.

Or just drink a bowl of antifreeze you pack of smug dickheads.

Rock Chalk...whatever. See ya next season.

So much fail in one post....

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

So much fail in one post....

Significantly less fail than PeeWee put up today.

Seriously, you guys probably oughta just shut up for a day. I know it's tough, but you spent 72 hours bitching about a half of a bracket that you were never going to face...only to lose to Northern Iowa.

.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Significantly less fail than PeeWee put up today.

Seriously, you guys probably oughta just shut up for a day. I know it's tough, but you spent 72 hours bitching about a half of a bracket that you were never going to face...only to lose to Northern Iowa.

.

Big ****ing deal... Why you so worried about it?

I didnt see you bitching or anything last year or the year before?

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

Big ****ing deal... Why you so worried about it?

I didnt see you bitching or anything last year or the year before?

Northern.

****ing.

Iowa?



SELFAIL!

And the baby Jesus cooed with happiness...