(02-03-2018 12:59 PM)Volkmar Wrote:  

(02-03-2018 12:29 PM)Hilltop75 Wrote:  They were playing a game with the hosts. Kind of like the old "Lets make a deal quiz show. So they would pull a card out that said something like Auburn to the sweet 16, or Texas A&M to the NIT. Then the host would have to agree or disagree and receive a gift behind the curtain.

They must have had a dozen cards and in every case it was a team from a so called "Power 5 " conference. Not one school from any other conference. A good question would have been: "Will the CUSA Champion win a first round game for the 4th consecutive year"

Man it is so universal the way that damn network just promotes the same freaking teams even in a goofy game they were playing.

You know what most people don't remember is in the early 80's ESPN had no college basketball games on air. All the games were only on CBS,NBC & ABC and it was the Sun Belt that had the first Basketball game of the week to air on ESPN.

Back then the Sun Belt had WKU, UAB, ODU VCU, USF ,USA, Charlotte and Jacksonville. (one year that group of teams sent 4 teams to March Maddness)

So many teams that are in CUSA today gave ESPN their start when they were a start up network.

That's the natural course of things though. Fledgling networks (ESPN back then) will carry relatively insignificant games, while the flag-bearers televise the big boys. Over time, as ESPN gained credibility, proved their mettle, increased their revenue, and expanded, they consequently started carrying the bigger games.

This is crying over spilled milk, and has been discussed ad nauseam. Of course they're gonna promote the same teams if those are mainly the teams they're carrying on their networks. It's about ratings, and the more recognizable schools are gonna bring home that bacon. C-USA just needs to do a better job at promoting our brand, and our programs likewise need to step up because air-time isn't about handouts, and networks don't operate on socialistic principles. But that's also been discussed many times over.

If you are talking about games between top 20 SBC teams as relatively insignificant games. Then you are correct. But the networks carried regional games and maybe 1 national game of the week.

Back then over 50% of these P5 conferences were the bottom of the barrel and not household names. ESPN made those schools what they are today by investing billions of dollars and then promoting those conferences.

Called protecting your investment. ESPN has billions of dollars tied up in P5 conferences and they have a bag of peanuts and a 12oz double cola invested in CUSA

ESPN is the worse thing to happen to college sports for those of us that started watching before they existed