More thoughts on BracketBusters

by **RoyalShock** » March 15th, 2011, 11:24 am

I posted this on ShockerNet and thought it might foster some discussion here.

These thoughts occurred to me after reading a recent blog post from Paul Suellentrop, WSU's beat writer for the Eagle:

http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/

He mentions that the root of the problem in the MVC is a lack of top-shelf players like those we had in 2006. Without them, scheduling up doesn't help much because it will be that much tougher to win. I largely agree with him.

Now, while Paul didn't really address the BracketBuster directly, an interesting correlation came to mind. The MVC was rising when the the BracketBuster was first unveiled (I think it was the 2003-04 season). And if you remember, the event only included the better "mid" teams, not the 100+ team conglomeration they have now. The better Valley players during that 2005-2007 stretch would have been recruited prior to the start of BracketBusters (with a few exceptions like Osiris).

Around that time the Mountain West, Atlantic 10 and to a lesser degree C-USA were struggling. In 2004-05, C-USA was #9, MWC was #11 and A10 was #18. The MVC was #8 that year and over the next two seasons would be #6. By the 2008-09 season (when those recruits prior to 2005 were gone), the MVC was #9, having been passed up by the MWC and A10. This season the top 3 non-BCS leagues are the MWC (#4), C-USA (#8) and A10 (#9). The MVC has fallen clear to #12, the worst in almost a decade.

I don't think the BracketBuster games themselves have been the problem. But there does seem to be a correlation between the timing of BracketBusters and how the recruiting in conferences that chose to particpate and those who didn't have fared.

If there is an argument for abandoning the BracketBusters it that the perception of our league is lower than that of the MWC, A10 and CUSA among recruits.

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by **havoc** » March 15th, 2011, 11:40 am

I don't think I'm buying it. The BracketBuster may not be perfect, but I don't see to many kids sitting down to decide between Creighton and Xavier, and picking Xavier because Creighton is in the MVC and the MVC participates in BracketBusters.

by **TylerDurden** » March 15th, 2011, 11:50 am

BB isn't the issue with recruiting.

Since 2005-06, there has been a new coach at every MVC school and several have new ADs.

Your answer to the question about why the MVC is "down" is right there.

by **RoyalShock** » March 15th, 2011, 12:02 pm

Were there not coaching changes from 2000-2005?

And I'm not saying some kid is sitting down and choosing between and MVC school and an A10 school. But they may drop an MVC school from their list or not even entertain them if they perceive the Valley is on the wrong side of their criteria for a school. Not having FBS football is already one thing putting MVC schools on the wrong side of the tracks. I think BracketBusters has become another one.

If a kid wants to play in what he perceives to be a major conference, I could see him including the MWC, A10 and CUSA, but excluding the MVC, CAA, Horizon, etc.

by **TylerDurden** » March 15th, 2011, 12:57 pm

RoyalShock wrote:Were there not coaching changes from 2000-2005?

And I'm not saying some kid is sitting down and choosing between and MVC school and an A10 school. But they may drop an MVC school from their list or not even entertain them if they perceive the Valley is on the wrong side of their criteria for a school. Not having FBS football is already one thing putting MVC schools on the wrong side of the tracks. I think BracketBusters has become another one.

If a kid wants to play in what he perceives to be a major conference, I could see him including the MWC, A10 and CUSA, but excluding the MVC, CAA, Horizon, etc.

It's not just the changes, it's the huge swing-and-misses.

There were changes from 2000-05, but those were largely because of poor performance and not coaches leaving for greener pastures.

We don't disagree about perception, for the most part.

Personally, I'm not sure HS kids are paying attention to the league very much.

by **BirdmanBB** » March 15th, 2011, 1:05 pm

RoyalShock wrote:Were there not coaching changes from 2000-2005?

And I'm not saying some kid is sitting down and choosing between and MVC school and an A10 school. But they may drop an MVC school from their list or not even entertain them if they perceive the Valley is on the wrong side of their criteria for a school. Not having FBS football is already one thing putting MVC schools on the wrong side of the tracks. I think BracketBusters has become another one.

If a kid wants to play in what he perceives to be a major conference, I could see him including the MWC, A10 and CUSA, but excluding the MVC, CAA, Horizon, etc.

How many teams did the MAC and Sun Belt get in this year? The A10 and CAA don't have FBS.......

It's a clear issue of coaching turnover. Back then, the MVC was seen as a coaches last stop before joining a BCS team. We had a ton of coaches leave and since then we have had a lot of failure among coaches in the MVC. The issue currently is that BCS teams are now looking at the A10, CUSA and even CAA for their next coach rather than the MVC. It's going to be a lot harder in the future to compete in this area. I do think we have some good coaches currently, but chances are that guys like Marshall and Martin will be gone and we will have to start the process all over again. The good news is that there are great coaches like Jacobson and McDermott who don't look like they will be going anywhere for a while. I am not sure if Jank is planning on moving on, but he has the potential to be one of those coaches too. (he still needs to prove himself in the next 2 seasons with his own recruits)