In one of most absurd tone statement statements a conference commissioner has ever made SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey earlier in the week said –
“We are giving away highly competitive opportunities for automatic qualifiers (from small conferences), and I think that pressure is going to rise as we have more competitive basketball leagues at the top end,”
Actually, this isn’t the case to the general fan. We lamented all the season at the lack respect of for ACC Basketball and the national narrative that the league should receive in some circles 2 or 3 leagues.
We never once suggested that should result in fewer AQ bids for mid-majors.
By the way, the ACC went 4-1 with UNC, Duke, Clemson, and NC State winning by an average of nearly 20 points in the first round.
Greg Sankey is letting the mask slip off a little more. His quote from @PeteThamel’s well done story today on the future of the NCAA Tournament, tells you exactly what he wants to do with the tournament. He will destroy college athletics if they let him.https://t.co/BmiNRQ4UxO pic.twitter.com/xpDSe0G8Eq
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 14, 2024
Without the ability to game the system through manipulative marketing practices, Greg Sankey’s 8-bid league was forced to prove their worth on the basketball court.
Well as the saying goes “Karma is a B**tch”, and Greg Sankey is swimming in it.
His league was the only one in the NCAA Tournament to lose to 3 double-digit seeds in the first round on their way to an ugly 3-5 start. Two of the double digits were the type of teams Sankey suggests we should be seeing fewer of the NCAA Tournament.
Thursday 14 seed Oakland from 1 bid Horizon League beat the SEC Flagship basketball and 3 seed Kentucky 80-76.
On Friday 13 seed Yale from the 1 bid Ivy League beat SEC Champion 4 seed Auburn 78-76.
How does Sankey spin these results? Does he double down on his delusions? Possibly. Does he retract his statement in some way to save face? Well, he should, but it’s not likely.
It’s just good to see the small conference AQs respond to his statements in the only way they can. When given the opportunity they made Sankey look desperate and out of touch as he tries to build his league up through words rather than March results.
Thank you Oakland and Yale for shutting down his nonsense quickly and emphatically.
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