For Iowa, Just Making NCAA Tourney Not Enough

[tm3308]

Major gripe with an old-timer like me. Same is coming with college football with the playoff.....the regular season is diluted. The edge in conference contests is reduced. Watching the 1985 Iowa vs Michigan football game reminded me of the time when each regular season game was huge, in both sports. Conference was everything....the rest was pure gravy. Now, many fans do not bother til March....it sucks.

Basketball's champion has always been determined by way of a tournament, which has had at least 48 teams since 1980. The season is only watered down if you allow it to be. But the tournament has always been what really counts. What does a conference championship get you in basketball? It's not like the Rose Bowl and football.

And it's not the playoff system that's watering/watered down the regular season in football. It's the other 800 bowl games that allow practically everybody and their dog into the postseason; winning the Big Ten doesn't mean nearly as much when the 7th or even 8th place team can get into a bowl. And it doesn't water down the national title hunt, either. Think about it; in many years under the pre-BCS system, there were often three or four teams that had a shot at the national title, depending on how the bowls played out. The new playoff just takes those teams and pits them directly against one another.

 

[deanvogs]

I don't have any expectations in the Tourney at all (which I totally expect to get there). In the tourney it is all about matchups. That is the goal is to get to the NCAA, and let the cards fall where they may from there.