I do agree with the original thought that the ratings will be lower than average. However, 3 coaching legends will help.

So regardless of the reasons why it's going to be the least watched Final Four ever, it is going to be the least watched final four ever... Is that what you're saying, Scribe? :lol:

If it is the least watched ever, it has NOTHING to do with the teams in it. The trend has been headed downward in the past decade and it's one of the reasons why the NCAA is considering opting out of their TV deal wioth CBS to rebid it. This year will likely be the final year we see Jim Nantz calling the final four. Next year, you get Dick Vitale. Enjoy.

Suggestion:

 

Adopt a new team for this year's Final Four.

 

Mine will be Butler and Kentucky's own, former Bryan Station standout Shelvin Mack.

 

He is a very nice player and his team is fun to watch.

I have a bad feeling CBS is going to overdo it with the Butler/Hoosiers references.

As I said last week, the NCAA tournament is an inverted pyramid of excitement. Same story lines as every other year and no star power. The biggest names remaining are the coaches.

 

Does anyone think this flies back in the face of college football playoff guy?

Again, the key date is 1995 when the ratings began to nosedive. Is that when we started seeing high school players make immediate jumps to the pros and is this when we began to see more one-and-dones?

 

Or does it have anything to do with the rise in game systems. Tournament ratings were down 14% in the 18-34 demographic last year.

Again, the key date is 1995 when the ratings began to nosedive. Is that when we started seeing high school players make immediate jumps to the pros and is this when we began to see more one-and-dones?

 

Or does it have anything to do with the rise in game systems. Tournament ratings were down 14% in the 18-34 demographic last year.

 

The date does coincide with Kevin Garnett entering the NBA out of High School, I believe... He was the one that started that whole thing for this era.

Again, the key date is 1995 when the ratings began to nosedive. Is that when we started seeing high school players make immediate jumps to the pros and is this when we began to see more one-and-dones?

 

Or does it have anything to do with the rise in game systems. Tournament ratings were down 14% in the 18-34 demographic last year.

 

I will be watching, but I think several points noted here are the reason. Some fans-not just UK's- stop caring once their team is out. I do think there is an element of the one and done syndrome as well. I also think this event is so hyped up, it often fails to live up to the billing in the Final Four.

 

Most casual fans like the first two rounds the best when there are nice upsets. Even this year when there are two #5 seeds in the Final Four-that simply means the committee found them worthy of the Top 20 in the country coming in. Not really a huge stretch to see these teams in it. I picked none of them mind you, but if Murray State or someone like that made the Final Four then we would have news.

Again, the key date is 1995 when the ratings began to nosedive. Is that when we started seeing high school players make immediate jumps to the pros and is this when we began to see more one-and-dones?

 

Or does it have anything to do with the rise in game systems. Tournament ratings were down 14% in the 18-34 demographic last year.

Not only the high schoolers jumping to the NBA, but very rarely would you see early deflections to the NBA before a junior season. That increased a lot in the mid-90s. Overall the college basketball product is not near as good and without any stars.

 

Rise of AAU maybe being a problem?

Not only the high schoolers jumping to the NBA, but very rarely would you see early deflections to the NBA before a junior season. That increased a lot in the mid-90s. Overall the college basketball product is not near as good and without any stars.

 

Rise of AAU maybe being a problem?

I heard this discussed the other day on the radio. Kids are opting for the AAU academies instead of playing high school ball and it has pretty much ruined prep basketball in Florida.

 

The overall product for professional basketball is not near as good either. And that is not just my opinion. Ratings are down all over the place. The 2007 NBA Finals was the lowest rated in history and that broke the record set in 2003.

 

It's just my opinion, but I think the "one and doners" and the "high school jumpers" have driven away fans from basketball as a whole. I don't know why, though I have my guesses (that would make for a facinating new thread if somebody wants to start one on it), but the correlation of the numbers don't lie.

I would love to see the facts that back this argument up.

 

The Florida/UCLA title game in 2006 was the second lowest rated Final since 1975. UCONN's win over Georgia Tech in 2004 was the lowest rated title game ever (since ratings were kept in 1975).

 

UCLA and UCONN are two high profile programs that didn't bring home the ratings.

 

Between 30-35 million people watched the title game every year until 1995 (UCLA/Arkansas). It hasn't topped 29 million since then. Why? I don't know.

 

Last year (North Carolina/Michigan State) was the lowest title game rating EVER. 17 million people. Half the number that watched Magic/Bird in 1979. 11 million fewer that saw Arizona beat UK in 1998.

 

Ratings were going down with UNC and Michigan State in the title game. It's not because of the four teams in it this year.

 

I don't have any facts, it was just an opinion.

 

That said, you know that Calipari and Kentucky are media generators, and the point I was making is that without them and other pieces of the Big 5 or 6...

 

Yes, it could have nothing to do with the teams, but I would imagine the media hype and more coverage would be there if a team like Kentucky was there.

 

And last years Final Four was awful. Blow-out title games are ucky.

I think so.

 

So because UK didn't make it, it's going to be the least watched? It's rather the norm, heck, even the NCAA trophy has changed since UK last won some 12 years ago.

I have a bad feeling CBS is going to overdo it with the Butler/Hoosiers references.

 

Remaking "Hoosiers" again (and again)

Remaking "Hoosiers" again (and again)

Oh this is classic. They have to make this one...

 

"Mountaineers"

This movie is adapted from "Hoosiers" and set in small-town West Virginia instead of small-town Indiana. And instead of the new head coach being out-of-towner Norman Dale, it's a local boy who returned home, Bob Huggins. And Huggins' character is sort of a hybrid of Norman Dale and Shooter.

 

But just like Hickory, the Mountaineers are down on their luck and haven't been to a Final Four since 1959. Worse, the string of misfortune has put the town's lifeblood -- the old couch-burning factory -- on the brink of being shut down. Can Huggins lead the team to a championship? And, if so, does anyone have a light?

:thumb: :lol:

Oh this is classic. They have to make this one...

 

:thumb: :lol:

 

That's the one that leapt off the page at me. :lol: