Cronin: Sales determine seeding
Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin has a bone to pick with how teams get seeded for the NCAA tournament.
Speaking Wednesday before his 18th-ranked Bearcats beat Houston 6547 at home, Cronin said ticket sales — not wins or losses — go a long way in deciding how teams get seeded.
“I’m a firm believer in that the NCAA tournament committee and everything is so financially driven that no matter what is said on that (Selection) Sunday, they’re trying to sell tickets,” Cronin told local reporters.
“You may get moved on a seed line. And it may not be us, but teams could get moved around from 4 to a 5 or an 8-9 to a 7-10 to get that pod to sell more tickets. Now nobody will admit that, because it’s all about the student-athletes — supposedly. But it’s a business. If it wasn’t a business we’d be able to have a bus trip in the conference we played in.”
ESPN reported the bulk of revenue from the tournament comes from television contracts, not ticket sales. The deal brings in an average of $785 million per year through 2024, ESPN reported.
Still, Cronin was adamant outside influences impact tournament seeding.
“Anybody who doesn’t think this is a business is wrong, living in a fantasy land,” he said. “That’s why I tell you, you can sit there and think, ‘Well, we won this game, we’ll move up.’ You can move up, but then you can end up playing a tougher team (because) the seedings were wrong. You really just have to worry about coaching your team. The rest is a waste of time.”
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Loos retiring: Dave Loos is retiring from Austin Peay after 27 years coaching the Governors, the school announced. He notched his 500th career win last month but missed four games in January while continuing chemotherapy for a cancerous lymph node.