Despite success, HL can’t win with NCAA
Butler’s leaving the Horizon League for the Atlantic 10 seems to have much to do with what the NCAA thinks of the two conferences, which isn’t much if you’re in the Horizon and a lot more if you’re in the A-10.
Despite its success in the NCAA tournament, the HL has had trouble being taken seriously by the tournament selection committee as a multi-bid league, even with Butler making it to the national championship game two years straight. And that’s been frustrating. Sure, Butler has dominated the league, but other teams have won games in the big tournament, including WisconsinMilwaukee and Cleveland State. It’s been similar in the A-10, with Xavier dominating.
Over the last seven years, Horizon teams have won 17 NCAA tournament games, 13 by Butler. Over that same span, the A10 has won 21 games, 15 by Xavier.
The advantage for the A-10 has been a 14-team league (16 this year), so it’s easier to pick multiple teams for the tournament. The Horizon only recently expanded from nine teams to 10, and now is back to nine. It apparently didn’t matter that the league in each of the six years prior to this one was the only non-Big Six league to win at least one NCAA tournament game.
A suggestion would be to replace Butler with three schools, making it a 12-team league. Certainly the NCAA could find two teams a year to represent a league like that.
Then, maybe, the Horizon League will get some attention it already deserves.
Everyone has DUBLIN, OHIO — seen a golfer swivel and angrily stare at a news photographer who accidentally clicked a shutter during a swing.
Now imagine what it’s like when there are 10,000 or even 40,000 people on a golf course, all with cellphones that take pictures.
With a huge gallery following the marquee matchup of Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson in Thursday’s first round of the Memorial, the continual distraction of fans with cellphones may have played a role in Mickelson’s withdrawal from the tournament.
“It took Phil out of his game,” Watson said of the continual clicks and snaps of cellphonecamera shutters. “Phil’s a great player and a great champion
Couples