Dayton Basketball

There are a number of NCAA teams that are still in play for a spot in March Madness action, but the final field will be decided in these next couple of weeks.

Of the teams still in play for a berth, the Dayton Flyers come to mind as one of the most deserving teams in the country. They're riding a six-game win streak as February comes to a close and will look to make it seven in a row against Saint Joseph's on Tuesday night.

They only play one ranked team out of their four remaining opponents, meaning they have a solid chance to continue their recent string of success as we finish off the regular season.

The Flyers are one of many bubble teams that will have a chance to take part in March Madness, but they are of a select few when it comes to who will likely make it in. 

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Record: 17-11

Notable Wins: Ohio State, Wisconsin

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have had a rough schedule this season, but they have shown up big on occasion.

They pulled in big wins over the Ohio State Buckeyes and also dominated the ninth-ranked team in the nation in Wisconsin. Minnesota has lost two in a row heading into its Tuesday matchup with Iowa, but it could pull out a victory on its home court.

The Gophers' final two games will come against No. 16 Michigan and Penn State, two games that are certainly winnable. They've been far from consistent this season but will have the opportunity to finish strong and make it into the tournament.

The Gophers will need to win at least two of these games to make it in, and they will have a chance to put themselves in a great position come Tuesday night. 

Dayton Flyers

Record: 19-8

Notable Wins: George Washington, Ole Miss

Dayton has been an impressive team for the greater part of this season and is looking for a smooth finish to its regular season. Three of its final four opponents are unranked teams, setting the Flyers up for a chance to get even hotter before the tournaments starts.

They have gained much momentum throughout February, winning every game they've played so far. The final result of the season for Dayton is in the hands of junior guard Jordan Sibert, the team's leading scorer and a clutch three-point shooter, as we saw in the Flyers' game against IPWF.

If Sibert can keep his hot hand through these final four games, then we could very well see the Flyers earn a spot in the tournament.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Record: 18-10

Notable Wins: Memphis, Colorado

Oklahoma State snapped a seven-game losing streak last weekend, when they defeated the Kansas State Wildcats, and it followed that up with another victory on Monday night against TCU.

The Cowboys remained competitive during their losing streak and seem like they've been able to turn things around. They're very good at scoring (15th in the nation) and will rely on their ability to put points up in their final three games.

Especially now that Marcus Smart is back in the rotation, the Cowboys looks like they're back to form and could really play themselves into a March Madness berth. 

Smart had 10 assists in Oklahoma State's last game against Texas Tech and managed to keep the offense running smoothly. He will be key for the Cowboys in these final games and could be what pushes them over the top and into the tournament.

Following Xavier was the right path.

Certainly Cincinnati Catholic league athletics have been better than Dayton.

Look at the league formerly known (depending on the year) as the Greater Catholic League (the acronym is the same today—GCL) boasts Elder and St. Xavier out of Cincinnati but less than consistent performance nor NCAA Division I products out of the Dayton member in Chaminade Julienne, Alter, and Carroll out of Dayton.

This goes for all sports.  Dayton holds the principles of faith in Midwest, real America sports, out of the eastern most Midwest associated with sports, yet the end result is never quite what is expected for the disproportionate passion associated with Dayton athletics.

Enter Archie Miller.  

Miller has the stats and the pedigree that Dayton faithful crave.  Big brother Sean knows the religious fortitude that comes with small town (relative) Southern Ohio sports that little brother Archie has followed with similar conviction.

Balancing act.

The question is whether little Archie is seeking his own Veronica inside the Atlantic 10 or the seemingly more green (Scrooge McDuck speaking) pastures of the Big and Pac-10 (do not worry SEC and ACC—I am using the 10s for effect).

Vanity.

With the ever vain Juwan Staten leaving with the opinion of big daddy's over indulgent personality (Juwan, if you think Penn State has anything for you, I will give you a heads up on your future—McDonalds has an excellent management program you would be suited for), Dayton has reached the recruiting cross roads that could bring the Flyers back to the honesty that has defined Dayton prior to Brian Gregory's resume forming, disloyal dumping of the Flyers (he certainly never cared about the city—only his career).

Enter Archie Miller. Dayton may finally have found Don Donoher's replacement.

Alright Flyer fans, a few weeks ago, Dayton chose their guy to lead UD to the promised land. Or at least that’s what we’re hoping.

The selection: Archie Miller, Associate Head Coach, Arizona. Also known as the brother of the ex-Dark Side Coach (that’s Xavier for non-A-10 versed readers) Sean Miller. We hated Sean Miller. Flyer fans despise him, much like we did Thad Matta, and currently Chris Mack.

But you know what? We may not have liked him, but you’re crazy if you didn’t respect Sean Miller. The guy knows how to run a program and can recruit, as Arizona’s Elite Eight and top five 2011 recruiting class evidence. So as far as I’m concerned, taking Sean Miller’s right hand man is a great move.

As Flyer fans, we are looking for a coach to take us to the next level. Eight years ago, Oliver Purnell left for Clemson with a solid program that was steadily on the rise on the national scene. Brian Gregory took over, and expectations were that he would get us to the point of contending for A-10 championships and regular NCAA tourney appearances.

The result was as follows: consistent 20-win seasons, great out of conference victories (see wins over Louisville, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Marquette), lackluster A-10 conference finishes (2011, eighth; 2010, seventh; 2009, fourth; 2008, seventh), two NCAA tournament appearances (one with Oliver Purnell’s players), one NCAA victory (followed by a shellacking at the hands of Kansas) and one NIT Championship (whoopdy freaking doo).

Now, Flyer fans want a coach that can get us to where BG was supposed to take us. We’re not asking for much; just regular NCAA tourney appearances, consistent top four finishes in the A-10 and an ability to beat Xavier and Temple. I also would like to find a coach to finally go into the Cintas Center and beat Xavier, which hasn’t been done since before I was born (yikes). The A-10’s getting stronger every year, so we need Archie Miller to take the reins and run with them.

I'll admit I was a little surprised by the choice. I didn’t have Archie Miller on my initial list of candidates, which a few readers not-so subtly let me know. In response to those haters, I say my bad, but cut me some slack. I wrote that article three hours after BG left for Georgia Tech, and with eleventy billion coaching options out there, I was bound to not talk about a few options. And I’m sorry if I overlooked Archie, but I really didn’t think UD would pursue the brother and second hand man of an ex-Xavier coach. 

Having said that, I love this hire. I think it’s a great move, and it seems like most of Flyer Nation agrees. And I’ll give you four reasons why:

1. He’s a great recruiter with a wide base. If there’s one thing Flyer fans were happy with in the BG years, it was the fact that the guy could flat out recruit. Throughout the last eight years, here was the consensus on BG, a phrase that I probably repeated 1,000 times: “great recruiter, horrible coach.”

Archie was instrumental in obtaining a top five recruiting class for Arizona last year. He was instrumental in bringing future first round NBA pick Courtney Lee to Western Kentucky. That’s right; read that again: Western Kentucky and NBA first round pick in the same sentence. He helped out Thad Matta for a couple years at Ohio State. He has strong ties to the Midwest, knows people in North Carolina from his time at North Carolina State and built up ties to the West Coast talent base over the past two years in Arizona. I think the guy will start pulling in recruits on AT LEAST the level of BG. And if he does that, I think he’ll succeed. 

Archie was on the move right after he was hired. John Miller, his father, said: “I’ll tell you right now, you got yourself a pit bull for a coach. He’s one of the hardest working dudes in America. I know for a fact he’s already been recruiting for Dayton.”

That quote was published only 24 hours after the announcement of the hire. That’s what I want to hear; plus, if his son is referred do by his father as a "dude," it's gotta be a massive factor in his favor.

Some fans are a little bit frustrated that no recruits have signed yet, but it's only been a month, and I don't think the UD fanbase should overreact like it has been known to do in the past.

2. He has had great X and O mentors. The knock on BG was that he couldn’t coach. How an assistant coming from the Tom Izzo tree escapes learning about X’s and O’s is beyond me.

But something tells me that won’t be the situation with Archie. His father: legendary Blackhawk High School coach John Miller. The stats: four state titles, an 111 game winning streak. That’s a pretty good record.

His mentors: two years under Thad Matta (Butler, Xavier, and OSU), two years under Sean Miller (Xavier, Arizona) and three years under Herb Sendek (NC State and Arizona State). All of these people have had success and are known as great X & O coaches. Archie will coach the hell out of the Flyers but let them play their games, unlike BG, who required his players to play to his style at all costs (see the Juwan Staten transfer). 

3. He’s young, and was a player himself. Archie’s 32 years old. That’s young. But look at the recent success of younger coaches such as Brad Stevens at Butler, Shaka Smart at VCU, Mark Few at Gonzaga and Jeff Capel at Oklahoma (before the firing). Young coaches can relate to their players better. They understand where the kids are coming from, the know the things they like to do and are less removed from the stresses of being 19-22 years old. Archie already has the remaining UD players believing in his system and the future of the program. 

Additionally, coaches that are former players have a better ability to get their teams fired up. Look at Smart, who fired up the VCU squad by taking a charge in practice. Link. 

Only 10 years removed from his playing days, expect the coach to be VERY interactive with his players. Archie won two state titles as a point guard at high school and then played for four years as a point guard at NC State. He’s 5’9” and 165 pounds, but played in an ACC against some great Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest teams. And they were successful, making the NCAA second round with him as the starting point guard his senior year. That screams scrappy to me, and I want a scrappy head coach. 

4. He thinks Dayton is a GREAT opportunity, and genuinely seems to want to be here. Archie has looked to similarly situated programs and wonders why Dayton can’t be a Gonzaga, or a Butler. A few gems from Archie already. In the Dayton Daily News interview with Doug Harris: “It feels like home. Dayton as a community and the blue-collar (mentality) and what it represents, I think that’s why I’ll be able to communicate and do a good job here—because it really doesn’t matter who you are or what you can do for me. Just treat ’em right, and good things can happen.”

An article by Joe Kay, Associated Press: "I don't take lightly for one second the opportunity or responsibility in front of me," Archie said.

"Our program is one of the rare programs that stacks up with any in terms of the total package of athletics, academics and community support."

And most importantly, apparently Archie told his father, “I’m not signing this contract unless you burn the rest of your Xavier stuff. All of it.”

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Think about this situation.

You're the coach of a college basketball team. You enter halftime up 45-32, but your opponent only needs the first four minutes of the second half to claw to within three points.

Don't forget, you're competing for the NIT Championship, and your opponent, the defending NCAA champ, has fans all over the country—so of course they're well-represented in New York, the site of the game.

Fortunately for you, this is a hypothetical situation. But, for Dayton's Brian Gregory, it was reality Thursday night against North Carolina.

The Tar Heels had just cut the Flyers' lead to 49-46 when the under-16 TV timeout arrived. Dayton had struggled to find high percentage shots through the first four minutes of the second half and had also succumbed to UNC's uptempo style, enabling the Tar Heels to get out and run more frequently.

Presumably under Gregory's instruction, Dayton dumped the ball into Kurt Huelsman on the left block following the timeout. The 6'10" senior missed from close, but got his own rebound and scored. The idea was right—Dayton needed to quit chucking jumpers and find a high-percentage shot while slowing the game down.

Next possession, Luke Fabrizius was whistled for an illegal screen with 16 seconds left on the shot clock. The result was a turnover, but the Flyers were clearly trying to use more clock and slow down UNC.

Following that, another layup by Huelsman late in the shot clock.

North Carolina's momentum was officially neutralized, and the Flyers were once again playing with confidence.

Dayton continued to shoot from long range, as they had most of the game, but almost all of the three-pointers they took were wide open and many were mid to late in the shot clock.

Gregory had successfully set the pace to his advantage.

Eventually, Roy Williams set up a zone press to force turnovers. But, is it any surprise that Gregory countered with a press break that not only kept the ball in Dayton's possession but also led to layups on the other end?

You'd have to think that Roy Williams and the Tar Heels would have been favored with the combination of Williams' reputation, the team's second half momentum, and the predominantly blue and white crowd on their side.

However, Gregory outwitted the mastermind behind the team that routed Michigan State in the NCAA Championship last year.

Follow Ari Kramer on Twitter for more college basketball.

The Dayton Flyers are on the balance beam.  Any longtime Dayton fan knows this is where the Flyers have lived and breathed.  As a middle child team—neither a mid-major nor a BCS conference team—the Flyers have lived in respected anonymity.

2010 was to be different.  After a second round exit against a clearly superior Kansas team (which may win the national championship this year), Dayton fans were salivating with the thought that a 2010 team may bring the early '80s lore of teams long since forgotten.

Dayton fans know that, like the New Orleans Saints, the Flyers not only represent a university—but a city.  Dayton is a larger, more passionate version of the Hickory, Indiana high school made famous nationally by the movie Hoosiers.

Where does passion take you?  To be passionate and to believe that each player is part of your at-large family (ironic in that Dayton is looking at an at-large bid).  This makes the following statement even more difficult to state—it is time for Kurt Huelsman to graduate. 

Not the end of his senior year, not academically, but athletically.  The Dayton media would never say this but it is time to face the fact: Kurt has peaked and those behind him on the bench are passing him.

Devon Searcy has evolved from a lanky, uncoordinated prospect to a solid compliment to Chris Wright.  Searcy is pacing Kurt bucket for bucket since the St. Joseph's wake up call.

While Kurt is in his final year and has been a consistent contributor, it is time to not only think about a respectable 2010 post season but 2011 emergence where Searcy takes over for Huelsman.

Searcy is more agile, more skilled, and has made more progress in the past year and a half than Kurt.  While Kurt has generally been consistent since his started in Dayton, Devon Searcy has continued to grow.

Its time to think of the future.  Kurt—we love you, but be the senior and move forward.

For a conference in need of quality wins, Saturday's Atlantic 10 matchup between the Dayton Flyers and Xavier Musketeers could set the pace for the rest of the season. Neither team has lost a conference game so far and defeating an in-state rival will be a huge boost of momentum for the winner.

Xavier enters the game 11-5, including 3-0 in conference. Dayton is 13-3 and holds a 2-0 conference record. Both teams hold close victories over major conference teams (Cincinnati and Georgia Tech, respectively), but neither really screams quality win.

This game could be that quality win.

Looking at the numbers, the Musketeers are a much better shooting team. As a team this season, Xavier averages 45.4 percent from the field, 39.9 percent from downtown, and 71.2 percent from the free throw line. By comparison, Dayton averages 45 percent of their field goals, only 33.9 percent from three-point range, and a miserable 66.1 percent from the charity stripe.

Not only does Xavier shoot better than Dayton, they score about eight and a half more points per game.

It doesn't fare much better for the Flyers in other categories. Xavier commits fewer turnovers per game, pulls down more rebounds, steals the ball more, blocks more shots, and commits fewer personal fouls.

It's hard not to favor the Musketeers, but they lack something Dayton specializes in: depth of bench.

Don't get me wrong. Having eight players average more than 10 minutes per game shows a real dedication to teamwork. But the fact that Xavier has two starters that cross over into 30+ minutes per game is cause for concern in the fatigue department.

Dayton, on the other hand, sports 10 players that play double-digit minutes per game, the vast majority of whom play close to the 20-25 minute per game mark. In addition, they have another player that averages just over nine minutes per game and has appeared in all but two games for the Flyers.

Meaning Dayton coach Brian Gregory trusts his bench and is not only not afraid to use them, but frequently does so.

If Xavier gets into foul trouble early and has to dig further into an untested bench, it could give Dayton the opening they need to come away with a big win.

So in spite of the fact that they haven't performed as well as Xavier so far this season (in terms of statistics), they're winning games. More importantly, they're winning as a team, and the team mentality might be enough to overcome the tough Cincinnati crowd.

Nothing gets my embittered heart fluttering like speculating about next spring’s transfer possibilities.  Last season I correctly predicted that Lil’ Stevie Thomas, now a distant memory and the exclusive property of the IUPUI Panthers, would abscond with his pride and eligibility and leave for more obscure pastures.  Thomas, whose scholarship was reassigned to Drake's Josh Parker, headed back home to Indianapolis where playing time will flow like wine coolers at a UD soccer party. His transfer was easy to predict, with both Rob Lowery and London Warren in front of him on the depth chart his playing time would have been severely limited this upcoming season.  Throw in the fact that Brian Gregory owns the domain name juwanstaten.com, and it’s plain to see that not much would change for Thomas during his senior year. Stevie's decision shouldn’t have come as a surprise to many as there were rumors he considered leaving after his freshman season. As is the case with the vast majority of transfers, chances are it will be an equitable result for both parties.

Excluding his first season at the helm, Brian Gregory’s teams have experienced at least one defection each spring. Outside of Trent Meacham and Norm Plummer, not many were missed.  (Although you could make a convincing case, one that I would agree with, that Desmond Adedeji would have been a constant source of entertainment the likes of which this program is unlikely to ever see).  From a numbers standpoint, the odds dictate that someone will leave at the end of this season. That isn't to say that having players jump ship is necessarily a bad thing. It is simply a systematic result of spreading 200 minutes between athletes who were routinely given an abundance of court time prior to arriving at the U of D.  A Darwinian experiment more or less unfolds each season within the confines of the Donoher Center, only the strong survive.

Which brings us to the matter at hand: which current athlete-student is most likely to pack a bindle and head for parts unknown next season? For those of you who suffer from an incurable case of selective comprehension, please note that I am merely making a case for the most likely candidate.  I am not staunchly forwarding the idea that anyone is leaving the program at the close of business this spring.  Personally, I believe that Gregory has finally found the right mix of players, guys who wholeheartedly buy into his socialist system.  As Swampy mentioned earlier last week on the podcast, future recruits and current players are coming onto campus with eyes wide open.  No one, not even Staten, should anticipate logging 35 minutes a game.  Future players will either buy into what Gregory is selling or they simply won't sign with UD.

That being said, if there's something even remotely wrong with blind, irresponsible speculation I don't want to know about it. Let's quickly eliminate some of the contenders.

• Seniors  Marcus Johnson, Kurt Huelsman, Mickey Perry, London Warren, and Rob Lowery are in their last years of eligibility.  Obviously none of these players can transfer at the end of the year.  That doesn't mean Marcus Johnson won't be lining up as a wide receiver for Akron next fall.  Seriously, you are telling me that a MAC school couldn't use a 6'3" guy with a 40 inch vertical?  I think we are going to find that Greg Paulus has opened Pandora's box. I fully expect Kurt Huelsman to be penalized four times a game for false starts while suiting up as a tight-end for Eastern Michigan in 2010.
  
  
• Walk-ons  Foxxxy, Zestermann, Nourse and Hendrick.  Nice boys, but non-scholarship guys don't transfer.  Besides, they are enjoying the spoiled fruits of loose association with D1 college basketball players, unabashedly grabbing at sloppy thirds and fourths.  Peter Zestermann (who looks like he should spell his name 'Petr') and Logan Nourse are back for round two. How do we as a collective fanbase feel about this?  Don't you feel like they already had their chance to sit on the bench, shouldn't they step aside and allow some other starry-eyed kids to mop up games? Why not go out with class while at the top of your game like Brad Mac?
  
  
• Chris Wright  There's only two things I am certain of in this life.  One, I will end up penniless and buried in an unmarked grave near a highway.  Two, Chris Wright will be declaring for the NBA Draft after his junior season.  He obviously flirted with the idea last April, culminating in one of the most unnecessary press conferences ever held. Kountry Chris is permitted one opportunity to declare and subsequently pull his name out of the draft, so he is almost guaranteed to do so this spring. In some respects, not putting his name in the hat this spring would be a declaration of failure. Lastly, if Wright was ever considering a transfer, he would have likely done so last year. Considering Wright is chomping at the bit to collect his deserved millions, a transfer would only delay the world his talents. (Note to Chris: There are much better players in the NBA than Cole Alrdrich.)
  
  
• Chris Johnson  Quickly becoming a crowd favorite and the personification of Professor Gregory's roundball philosophy. CJ is UD's "glue" guy, a great athlete who has a bloodhound's nose for sniffing out balls. Considered to be the least heralded member of Dayton's 2008 recruiting class, Johnson is arguably UD's most versatile player. CJ's minutes increased over the course of last season, as his value became more apparent, and we can expect to see him playing around 25 minutes a game this season.  With Marcus Johnson out of the picture next season, and Kountry Chris' possible ill-advised entry into the draft, CJ could become not only the Flyers' best all-around player in 2010-11, but also the program's leader. With the stage set so attractively for Johnson, it's unlikely he would leave Dayton.
  
  
• Devin Searcy  Devin is just starting to develop a semblance of an offensive game.  There can be no doubt that Big Dog deserved to get more minutes after the train wreck of a season Kurt Huelsman had. Who among us isn't surprised that Searcy didn't turn UD's campus into Columbine last year? Nevertheless, Searcy appears to be upbeat about this season and intent on proving that he can contribute on this level. If he was considering leaving, last year's experience would have been more than enough to drive any sane man out of town. Chalk it up, Searcy's a Flyer for life.
  
  
• Matt Kavanaugh and Josh Benson  Benson and Kavanaugh are essentially in the same situation, as both players will have the opportunity to play significant minutes from day one. JB and Kav are not likely to put up gaudy numbers, so UD will presumably remain their best option at the close of the season.  However, the biggest factor keeping these two in the Gem City? The depth chart. With Huelsman finally graduating, the only other post player on the roster will be Big Dog Searcy. Additionally it appears that BG will not be bringing in a serviceable big man with the 2010 freshman class, which will open up a lot of PT for the two freshman next season.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Kav and Benson will be a dangerous tandem for years to come, reminiscent of the Joe Wolf/Michael Cage pairing that spearheaded the Los Angeles Clippers attack during the late 1980s. You fucking heard me, a man can dream.
  

That leaves us with two possibilities -- Paul Williams and Luke Fabrizius. 

No one could have been more surprised by the amount of playing time Luke Fab got last year than Luke himself. There aren't too many decent D1 programs that would have given a player of Fabrizius' caliber (a one-dimensional shooter that hit 37% of this three point attempts) ten minutes a game last season. Yet, that's approximately the amount of time Brian Gregory granted Luke during last year's campaign (Although to be fair, BG did hold Fab out of most of UD's critical games last season -- the first round matchup with West Virginia being the most prominent example). Put yourself in Luke's shoes for a moment. If you could play 10-15 minutes a game for a top 25 team, just stand around the three-point line waiting for a shot, not have to work for a rebound, all the while getting beat like a death row inmate's penis on defense, would you leave?

Unlike Fabrizius, there was a reasonable expectation that Paul Williams would be a more than capable college basketball player. Recruited by numerous big name programs, Michigan and Michigan State chief among them, Williams came into last season as UD's top ranked recruit. Beset by injuries for most of the year, it's difficult to make a qualified assesment of Williams' promise as a Flyer. Regardless, time waits for no man and Williams' performance this year will go a long way in dictating the direction of his UD future. Coming in with a reputation as a solid perimeter player, Williams struggled mightily with his shot (33% from the field, 26% from three, and 62% from the stripe). If his outside touch fails to improve this year and his playing time stagnates, Paul Willie becomes the most likely Flyer to leave next year. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we all know how unlikely that is.

If you are like me, you have already reached the stage in your life when you realize that life isn't fair.  You shit your pants in second grade and spent the rest of your adolescent life being called "Shit Slacks?" Tough, that's life.  The only school you got an acceptance letter from was your "safety" school, a private Catholic-Marianist school located in Dayton, Ohio?  Well kid, them's the breaks.  You shit your pants again, this time during your freshman English class?  You should go see a doctor. Seriously.

In a sense, this point of your existence is both the best and worst period of your life.  Possibilities have been eliminated, opportunities no longer knock, and your fate has more or less been sealed.  On the plus side, disappointments have less impact, expectations are tempered, and the sweet kiss of death is just around the corner. Simply put, you know your place in the world, or at least you should, and there is a sense of comfort in that. 

Such is the life of a mid-major basketball program.  Big wins get characterized as flukes.  Losses get overly scrutinized. A mid-major's resume gets examined like a ballot with dimpled chads come March.  (Yes, I just made a chad reference ten years past its expiration date.  That's what mid-major bloggers do.) For a Dayton fan, winning twenty-six games last season and barely sneaking into the NCAA tournament affirmed UD's status by absolution.  The experience cemented the U. of D.'s status in the college basketball world.  That is to say,  the University of Dayton basketball Flyers are as mid-major as it gets. 

Pushing aside fatalistic proclivities, is there a way to change course?  Is there a practical manner in which to level the playing field?  According to CBS Sports writer Gary Parrish, the answer is a resounding no. Parrish's recent article, "Money--lack of--Proving Root of all Evil for Mid-Majors," addressed the growing chasm between the David and Goliaths of college basketball.  He argues that the BCS system in college football has fiscally trickled down to college basketball, giving the Big Six conferences a revenue source that mid-majors can only dream of.  The result?  The competitive balance between the BCS conferences and the rest of the pack is almost non-existent.  As a concerned fan and alum of a mid-major program, I took the opportunity to ask Parrish about the current situation.  What, if anything, can be done to alleviate the growing separation between the haves and have-nots?

TB: You made the case that the disparity between the “Big Six” conferences and everybody else is expanding exponentially.  It is becoming increasingly apparent that the majority of programs outside the BCS conferences cannot compete in terms of resources, exposure, finances, etc.  As a fan of a mid-major program this obviously concerns me.  How do you see the situation developing over the next 5-10 years?

GP: It'll get worse. And then worse. And then worse. The gap in resources is getting wider, as is the gap in television exposure. And I'm afraid there's no way to fix it. So while there will always be a Memphis and a Gonzaga and a Xavier battling with the big boys, the majority of non-BCS schools, in most years, would finish last in pretty much every BCS-affiliated league.

TB: Building on the prior question, let’s look at the current circumstances from a free market point of view.  Programs like Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, etc. have put the financial backing into their basketball programs, and have seen a favorable return on their investments.  It would make sense that those that make significant economic commitments to their basketball program are successful as a result.  Where is the injustice in that?

GP: The problem is that it's not that simple. I'm sure VCU would love to commit the resources to keep Jeff Capel from going to Oklahoma and Anthony Grant from going to Alabama, but they simply don't have the resources to commit. And it's not like OU and UA have those resources because of basketball. They get the money to buy VCU's coaches from revenue produced thanks to football, and, more specifically, from being in a BCS league. So that's the problem. If VCU was in the Big 12 or SEC, it wouldn't lose its basketball coaches to the Big 12 and SEC. The conference affiliation makes it difficult to compete. For proof, consider that Memphis and Xavier (perhaps the two best non-BCS programs) both lost their coaches this season, and they replaced them with assistants. Memphis -- coming off four Sweet 16s and with a  $250 million arena that is sold out every game -- couldn't get Baylor's coach, Tennessee's coach, USC's coach or Florida State's coach to leave the BCS. That should tell you something.

TB: It seems that the controversy surrounding the BCS system in college football gets erroneously tied to college basketball as well.  Mid-major teams like Dayton have the opportunity to play major conference teams, albeit usually on the road.  As far as the post-season is concerned, there is a playoff system in place to determine the eventual champion. It is clear that college basketball fans have far less to complain about than their football counterparts.  With that being said, what are some steps that could level the playing field even more?

GP: I would argue that the BCS doesn't "erroneously" get tied to college basketball; it "correctly" gets tied to basketball. I hate it, but the BCS has a huge influence on college basketball, and that was the point of my column. Most SEC basketball schools will be on national television this season more than Xavier or Dayton even though Xavier and Dayton will likely be better than most SEC schools. Why do you think that is? It's because of the TV contracts that the BCS leagues get based on football. Again, just look at Memphis. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the country (and led by the future No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft) much of the season two years ago, but they weren't on national TV as much as a whole bunch of ACC and Big East programs. Again, that's very much because of the BCS. So it does play a huge role in basketball, and I'm not sure there's a way to fix it.

TB: One of the major problems facing successful mid-major programs is the attrition rate of their head coaches.  As you mentioned, mid-majors like Xavier, VCU, Nevada, and Memphis all lost their head coaches last spring.  Is the first step in gaining ground on the high-majors attempting to compensate coaches at a more competitive rate?

GP: Sure, but how? Look at the athletic budgets of BCS and non-BCS schools. It's stunningly divided. So the BCS schools, with few exceptions, have more money than the non-BCS schools, and that's always going to be the case. Beyond that, it's an exposure thing, and a facility thing. Remember, Nevada is a better basketball program than Georgia by most measuring sticks. But Mark Fox left Nevada for Georgia, and now he makes more money, has better facilities and will be on TV more often. How do you combat that?

TB: The argument can be made that the one advantage mid-majors have over the BCS conferences is stability.  Teams like Siena, George Mason, Butler, etc. have made inroads in the NCAA tournament with experienced squads that have been together for a few years.  You take a look at a program like Kentucky, which could lose as many as four underclassmen to next year’s draft, and the Wildcats could feasibly start at square one again next year (by reloading with another #1 class, but I digress).  Following this logic, could mid-majors catch up by simply staying the course and hoping the BCS conferences suffer a negative impact from underclassmen jumping ship?

GP: If that was going to happen, wouldn't it have happened by now? You show me a senior-laden team, and I'll show you a team that's not very talented, a team that'll get run off the court by John Calipari's freshmen. The Butlers and Sienas and George Masons can have good records, upset some people and maybe -- once every 20 years -- get to a Final Four. But it's rare. And I can't imagine one of them ever winning a national title again. Sadly, that's the truth. I don't like it. But that's the truth.

TB: What will happen first, a mid-major wins the National Championship or John Calipari reaches the Final Four and actually has it officially recognized by the NCAA?

GP: Calipari reaches the Final Four and it stays in the record books ... if only because it's hard to keep getting caught cheating. I mean, you don't get caught every time you run a stop sign or drive drunk because the odds of getting caught are slim. Same theory applies here. Plus, he's got that third-times-a-charm stuff working for him now, doesn't he?

TB: Take your best guess, how many mid-majors can realistically compete for at-large bids this season?

GP: Oh, I'm sure it'll be like most years. Maybe one from C-USA, two from the A-10, one from the MVC, two from the MWC, etc. I think Butler can get in and advance, and Siena clearly can too. But the numbers will be similar, I'd guess.

I agree with much of what Parrish maintains, as the majority of his article is irrefutably correct and factually accurate.  The BCS system has indirectly provided an obscene influx of cash into the coffers of "Big Six" basketball programs.  However, I would argue two points:

1. The system has had a greater effect on the lower-tier BCS basketball programs (ones that do not place a premium on college basketball), such as the Georgias, Texas Techs, and Oregon States of the world, than the big conference power-houses.  Case in point, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas were major players before the BCS existed and would have remained so even without its current college football affiliation. 
   
   As this off-season has demonstrated, football money permits schools like Georgia, Alabama and Virginia the advantage to align itself with top-notch coaching talent regardless of how well its basketball team is supported.  This is where the real separation has occurred.  Although throwing money at the problem doesn't necessarily translate into immediate success, it certainly provides for an opportunity to make a faster turnaround.  Therefore, it would appear that the most significant consequence of the BCS would be the further financial separation from the lower-tiered majors and the better mid-major programs.
   
   
2. The primary reason mid-majors basketball programs will not catch-up financially is the fact that they have less money to spend as a result of the financial support they must throw to other athletic programs.  A school like Alabama or Georgia can afford to pay their basketball coaches millions of dollars because their football programs make more than enough money to comfortably fund soccer, tennis, cross-country and softball teams.  Dayton's basketball team generated $8.7 million during the 2006-07 season, representing a little over 90% of the total amount the entire athletic program produced that year.  However, they were only able to reinvest a fraction of that amount back into basketball considering that the expenses of the other athletic programs had to be paid as well--and the basketball Flyers footed the bill.
   
   One proposal would be to simply allow for that $8.7 million, less expenses, to be earmarked for  direct investment back into the basketball program.  Whatever an athletic team generates after expenses, that is essentially it's operating budget for the subsequent year.  Therefore, schools like Alabama and Virginia couldn't use football money to pay the salaries and recruiting expenses of its college basketball coaches.  If each institution, regardless of conference membership, was limited to the money that each sport generated the playing field would be somewhat leveled.  Of course, this would mean that many of the athletic programs would cease to exist since their expenses would far outweigh their revenues (and I'm sure supporters of Title IX might have something to say about it).
   
   But hey, tough shit, that's life.