March Madness Archives - Boardroom https://boardroom.tv/tag/march-madness/ Sports Business News Wed, 10 Apr 2024 17:33:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 UConn Secures Second Consecutive NCAA Title https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/04-09-2024-uconn-purdue-ncaa-tournament-march-madness/ Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:45:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=89401 The post UConn Secures Second Consecutive NCAA Title appeared first on Boardroom.

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]]> DJ Burns Jr. Shines as NIL Star with Huge NCAA Tournament Run https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/04-06-2024-dj-burns-jr-nil-star-ncaa-tournament/ Sat, 06 Apr 2024 12:45:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=89349 From DJ Burns Jr. & his NIL rise to the historic ticket prices at the women's Final Four, we've got it all in this March Madness HeadlineToGo.

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]]> DJ Burns Jr. Shines as NIL Star with Huge NCAA Tournament Run

DJ Burns Jr. will play in the Final Four on Saturday evening, but NC State’s breakout star has already been experiencing incredible NIL success off the hardwood during this incredible run. In the last three weeks alone since the NCAA Tournament began, Burns Jr. has made well over six figures in endorsement money but under $500,000, his agent Ken Caldwell told On3. Caldwell did not disclose a specific number. The South Carolina native boasts deals with Adidas, CVS, Raising Cane’s, Intuit TurboTax, and more. As for what’s next for him, Burns said “the plan” is to play in the NBA one day. Considering he has averaged 18.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while shooting an impressive 67.4% against some of the best teams in the country this tournament, he could be a useful addition to a pro franchise.

Marriott Makes March Madness Dreams Come True for UConn Fan

As the official hotel partner of the NCAA, this season, Marriott Bonvoy launched a campaign and contest where both fans and players could participate in game-day giveaways and personalized moments with coach Sydney Carter at the women’s Final Four. The “Score Big with Marriott Bonvoy Game Day Ritual” was a way for fans to post their most unusual game day ritual. One lucky UConn fan, whose ritual includes eating a plate of chicken parmesan and finishing his latte right at tip-off, won a grand prize for two, including flights and hotel accommodations to the contests in Cleveland. The opportunity to go behind the scenes of the biggest event in college basketball allowed fans to get a different perspective while banking stories to tell for a lifetime.

For more on Marriott’s dedication to making a sports fan’s dream come true, be sure to read my full story on how brands are creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences at big events. 

Travis Scott Takes Over LSU, Texas, USC for Cactus Jack-Fanatics Tour

Travis Scott and Cactus Jack sparked their own special type of March Madness this week in a partnership with Fanatics. Flacko and Michael Rubin fueled up the jet in support of the launch of their new collab, making three stops at LSU, University of Texas, and USC in just under 24 hours. The college tour is part of the launch of the new collegiate-inspired headwear and apparel collection – featuring 28 different Universities. At each stop, the local stars came out, as they were joined by the likes of Juju Watkins, the Texas football team, Angel Reese, and Flau’jae Johnson.

Ticket Prices for Women’s Final Four Seeing Historic Increases from 2023

Those heading to the men’s or women’s Final Four in Cleveland and Phoenix, respectively, likely paid big to watch the game live. On the women’s side, this is the most expensive Final Four on record, with an average purchase of $549, according to TickPick. This makes it 88% more expensive than last year’s Final Four ($291). Before the tournament tipped off last month, the average get-in price for the games in Cleveland was $205. However, that price spiked to $692 following Iowa‘s win over LSU, marking a 237% increase. As of Friday, the get-in price was sitting at $469, which is a 421% jump from last year’s Final Four. TickPick also revealed that the most expensive purchase for the women’s games were four tickets in Section 107, Row 14, for $4,227 per ticket ($16,908 total). For the men’s Final Four in Phoenix, the current get-in price (as of Friday) is $485, while the average purchase price is $521. The most expensive tickets purchased were a pair in Section 132, Row E, for $7,659 each ($15,318 total).

Anthony Edwards Gifts NC State Players with Adidas AE 1 Sneakers

Ahead of the NC State men’s and women’s basketball teams competing in their respective Final Four matchups, Anthony Edwards surprised both squads with pairs of his signature sneakers, the AE 1, in the “Best of Adi” colorway. He also gifted the players with a variety of other Adidas products. Indiana Fever guard Erica Wheeler was on-site with the women’s team in Cleveland to celebrate the historic run, and Ant himself recorded a video for both teams wishing them all good luck. Edwards is one of Adidas’ signature basketball athletes, while Three Stripes has been the apparel sponsor for NC State since 2012.

Reese, Clark, Cardoso, Edwards to WNBA; Van Lith Enters Transfer Portal

Some of college basketball’s most famous faces are making moves once the season ends. LSU star Angel Reese revealed in a Vogue exclusive this week that she will enter the WNBA Draft, while her teammate Hailey Van Lith has decided to stay in college and enter the transfer portal, per ESPN. Iowa star Caitlin Clark is also headed to the draft, where she is expected to be selected first overall by the Indiana Fever. Stanford small forward Cameron Brink, South Carolina‘s Kamilla Cardoso, and UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards will also all be taking their talents to the pros when the campaign concludes.

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]]> LSU’s Mikaylah Williams is Jordan Brand’s Newest Face of NIL  https://boardroom.tv/mikaylah-williams-jordan-brand-sneakers-lsu-nil/ Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:29:33 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=89213 Mikaylah Williams becomes just the second collegiate athlete to sign with Jordan Brand as LSU makes its latest run through March. 

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]]> The 18-year-old becomes just the second collegiate athlete to sign with Jordan Brand as LSU makes its latest run through March. 

As the defending national champions, LSU is led by some familiar faces in Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson. But as the Tigers look to get back to the Final Four and pull off a repeat, they’ll need freshman phenom Mikaylah Williams, who’s added to the team’s firepower all season long.

The 6-0 versatile forward emphatically announced her arrival early in her collegiate career by dropping 42 points in just her fourth game at LSU. Now, Williams is leaving her mark in the NIL space by becoming one of the youngest women’s players in all of college basketball to land a coveted shoe deal. 

Mikaylah Williams Jordan

Last week, Williams signed a multi-year sneaker deal with Jordan Brand, making her a mainstay in marketing campaigns and future footwear launches for the iconic namesake brand of Michael Jordan.

“Coming from a small town, where there’s not really a lot of recognition as big as this, I’m just blessed and excited to show a pathway for the girls that are coming up behind me,” Williams told Boardroom. 

It’s a pathway that’s led the top-touted player from Bossier, La., through the ranks of high school basketball, where she starred in the Jordan Brand Classic before making her way to campus in Baton Rouge, less than four hours away from her hometown.

As the advent of NIL came into play during her high school career, Williams and her family began to brainstorm around things like taglines and marketing concepts. It was “12 Island” that they rallied around, which Williams now has tattooed on her shooting wrist, along with 12 hash marks.

The tagline and graphic have even made their way to a collection of merch available for purchase. “Don’t get left on 12 Island!” reads an array of online mixtape titles of her mixing defenders on the wing for yet another bucket.

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“The biggest thing about my game is versatility. I’m able to do it all,” said Williams. “I can shoot from the 3 and the midrange, I can get to the basket, play defense and rebound. Versatility is the biggest thing of my game.”

Jordan Brand continues to expand its women’s category across the globe, with the brand soon inching towards the $7 billion annual revenue mark. Part of that growth plan includes a key focus on highlighting its three current NIL athletes, now including Williams, UCLA guard Kiki Rice and New Jersey high school star Kiyomi McMiller. 

Mikaylah Williams Jordan
(L to R) Kiki Rice, Kiyomi McMiller, and Mikaylah Williams make up the Jordan Brand NIL roster.

While several companies had reached out to pursue signing Williams well ahead of her potential path to the WNBA, being part of Jordan Brand’s select group most appealed to Williams and her team.

“We’re really happy that they saw a fit for Mikaylah to be one of the people that is going to lead the brand into the next generation,” said her agent Chris Gaston, CEO of Family First Sports Firm. “We want her to be the face of the brand one day and be a person that can have a signature shoe. We like that Jordan doesn’t go after any and everybody.” 

Mikaylah Williams Jordan

To date, the brand has added just two rising players to the creative NIL shoe deal format since NIL rules went into effect in 2021.

They first landed Rice ahead of her freshman season at Jordan-sponsored UCLA, and then signed McMiller and her oft-highlighted handles and creativity ahead of her senior season at Life Academy High School.

Williams represents yet another new step for the company as she continues her journey at LSU.

“She will be the first player that’s not at a Jordan school, men’s or women’s, to be getting a deal with Jordan at the college level,” Gaston added.

It’s a distinction that Williams doesn’t take lightly, as the NIL era still remains a new frontier for players as young as herself, who now balance basketball, school, and the marketing industry.

“I get to be the engineer for the people coming up behind me,” Williams says of the opportunity. “So everyone can see what to do and what not to do.”

Early on, Williams mentions liking Jayson Tatum’s signature series most on-court and lists the Air Jordan 11 as her all-time favorite Jumpman sneaker off the court.

“1s are always the classics, too,” she says of her everyday rotation. 

Mikaylah Williams Jordan
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Although Jordan Brand has yet to release a woman’s signature shoe during its 27-year history, Williams notes that the recent resurgence of female-led signature shoes in just the last two W seasons points to a shift in the marketing landscape and adds hope for the future.

“Being a little girl, you can know that today, the women’s game is growing,” she beamed. “Women didn’t have [signature] shoes, and now, the women’s game is growing. We have signature shoes, and the NBA players are wearing them and pushing the shoes too. It’s a good feeling, just knowing that I get to come up behind that and help expand the women’s game.”

With her career at the powerhouse platform of LSU just beginning, now in tandem with the marketing muscle of Jordan Brand, Williams finds herself placed in a different tier of elite athletes at the college level. Just 15 women in all of college basketball have a NIL shoe deal this season, with brands narrowing in on the most dynamic players as they look to highlight their stories and appeal to the next generation of players to come. 

“I’m just excited to finally be able to showcase my abilities and what I stand for on a bigger stage,” framed Williams. “I kept my head down, and I stayed humble, and all of these opportunities are starting to come.”

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]]> 379813523_1477451496372811_3847563727809219122_n Loading Jordan-NIL-Group 2000_2024_03_11_Jordan_Mikaylah_Williams0355-1 Colorado v LSU LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 06: Mikaylah Williams #12 of the LSU Lady Tigers is introduced before a game against the Colorado Buffaloes during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Buffaloes defeated the Lady Tigers 92-78. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) NCAA, ESPN Reach Massive College Sports Media Rights Deal https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-espn-new-media-rights-deal-womens-basketball/ Thu, 04 Jan 2024 18:25:21 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=85527 The NCAA & ESPN agreed to an eight-year deal worth $115 million annually to broadcast 40 championships, including women's March Madness.

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]]> The NCAA & ESPN agreed to an eight-year deal worth $115 million annually to broadcast 40 championships, including all women’s March Madness rounds.

With the College Football Playoff championship game just days away, the NCAA reached an eight-year deal with ESPN worth $115 million per year — $920 million total — to broadcast 21 men’s and 19 women’s collegiate sports championships each season, college sports’ governing body announced Thursday.

The deal, beginning on Sept. 1, encompasses every NCAA championship domestically aside from Division I football and men’s basketball.

The wild success of Division 1 women’s basketball of late, led by superstars like Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, A’ja Wilson, and Angel Reese, sparked speculation that the NCAA would spin off the sport’s rights. Reports suggested that if the sport was sold as its own entity, college women’s basketball could garner roughly $80 million in Year 1 of a new sports media deal.

However, despite drawing 9.9 million viewers in last year’s women’s title game, ESPN and the NCAA decided to keep the annual women’s basketball tournament within this new package deal valued at $65 million per year. Keeping the burgeoning, emerging product is a significant win for ESPN, with the NCAA saying selling women’s hoops on its own this time around wasn’t feasible.

“We said from the beginning that we wanted the best deal that we could get for all of our championships,” Baker told The Athletic. “There was a lot of informal conversation that took place with many other potential participants in this negotiation, but the one who constantly engaged and the one I would argue was the most enthusiastic in a significant way throughout the course of this was ESPN. The way they handled the negotiations demonstrated that this was really important to them, that it continued to be part of their portfolio. They will be a terrific partner, I think, going forward here.”

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The current rights deal that ends this year brought in just $34 million annually. The next deal expires in 2032, the same year the D-I men’s basketball contract with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery runs out, which pays the NCAA $900 million annually.

“ESPN and the NCAA have enjoyed a strong and collaborative relationship for more than four decades, and we are thrilled that it will continue as part of this new, long-term agreement,” Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN’s chairman, said. “The ESPN networks and platforms will exclusively present a record number of championships, including all rounds of several marquee events that, together with the NCAA, we have grown over time.

“This unprecedented deal also further strengthens The Walt Disney Company’s industry-leading commitment to women’s sports and will help fuel our continued growth, including in the critical streaming space.”

Biggest Women’s March Madness Ever? Volleyball Takeover?
Boardroom’s Shlomo Sprung gives his 10 sports business predictions for 2024, including why it could be a big year for women’s sports.
Read More

ESPN will broadcast all rounds of marquee events like women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, softball, baseball, volleyball, and FCS football. The deal reportedly guarantees the women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, and women’s volleyball title games are broadcast on ABC each year. In addition, men’s and women’s team tennis and men’s gymnastics are added to this package for the first time.

There will be more than 800 hours of NCAA championship programming per year now on ESPN linear channels, with the worldwide leader also receiving international rights for all championships.

“The NCAA has worked in earnest over the past year to ensure that this new broadcast agreement provides the best possible outcome for all NCAA championships, and in particular women’s championships,” Charlie Baker, NCAA president, said.

“Over the past several years, ESPN has demonstrated increased investment in NCAA championship coverage, and the Association is pleased to continue to provide a platform for student-athletes to shine. Having one, multi-platform home to showcase our championships provides additional growth potential along with a greater experience for the viewer and our student-athletes.”

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]]> Loading 10 Sports Business Predictions for 2024 https://boardroom.tv/10-sports-business-predictions-for-2024/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=85055 Laying out 10 predictions for the new year, including massive NBA media rights, MLB expansion, in-season tournaments, soccer, F1, and the Olympics.

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]]> Laying out 10 predictions for the new year, including massive NBA media rights, MLB expansion, in-season tournaments, soccer, F1, and the Olympics.

As the holiday season leads to the calendar turning from 2023 to 2024, there are certain tentpole events in the sports business world that we’re already greatly anticipating.

The NBA is expected to sign a new media contract that would begin in 2025 and be worth vastly more than the $2.67 billion it makes on its current deal. After the Finals in June, local TV contracts for 15 NBA teams under Bally Sports will expire, ushering in a summer of media-free agency we haven’t seen in a long time. That same month, soccer’s highly anticipated European championships in Germany will be followed shortly thereafter in late July by the Summer Olympics in Paris, where the US men’s basketball team will look to avenge a fourth-place finish at this year’s World Cup.

A college football national champion will be crowned in January, the last title in the four-team College Football Playoff era before it expands to 12 in 2025. In February, the Super Bowl comes to Las Vegas for the first time. It could make the final year Vegas doesn’t have an MLB team, with the Oakland A’s set to move when their Oakland Coliseum lease expires next October. It’s an exciting time for a city that hosted its first-ever Formula 1 race in 2023 and houses the two-time WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

Enough talk, let’s look into the Boardroom crystal ball and make 10 sports business predictions for 2024!

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Amazon, NBC, and Peacock will gain NBA media rights deals.

The NBA can’t afford to lose ESPN and Turner as television partners, and vice versa. While they’ll eventually come to an agreement to extend their respective rights deals, both deals will come with fewer games as the league’s price tag will be a limiting factor given the networks’ need to spend on other sports media rights.

A streaming partner will be a necessity for any league moving forward — Amazon will get games at least weekly in their newest breakthrough deal to complement the NFL in the US. There’s going to be a fierce battle for Thursday night, with TNT wanting to keep its traditional slot and Amazon wanting to make Thursdays its signature live sports night to go with football.

And finally, who doesn’t love the ’90s NBA on NBC nostalgia? NBC and Peacock will get a few games per month, primarily for streaming non-exclusive local games like the NHL with Hulu and MLB with ESPN+. Disney won’t be happy with ABC not being the only traditional broadcast network getting games, but times change, and having the NBA back on NBC 5-10 times a year will feel so right.

After the deal gets done, the league will get more serious about expanding from 30 to 32 teams. Las Vegas and Seattle are the overwhelming favorites to land the new franchises.

The 12-team CFP will lead to further conference realignment and turmoil.

Expanding the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams will make things more fair and equitable, right?

Wrong!

Just take a look at the top 12 in this year’s final CFP rankings. As of next season, Florida State will have been the only team outside the SEC and Big Ten in the top dozen. While each major conference champion will get automatic spots, the SEC and Big Ten will inevitably gobble up all the at-large bids. That will only lead to more big-time schools like Florida State and Clemson pressing to leave to the behemoths.

The big question is whether the Big 12 and ACC will stay competitive enough in a 12-team playoff era to sustain itself. I’m betting it won’t, leading to the two major conference models we’re seemingly destined to enter, with NIL further separating the haves and the have-nots.

Baseball expansion talks will gain some serious steam.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred‘s said for years that when the A’s and Rays get their stadium situations sorted, the league will start thinking about expansion. Late this year, the A’s got league ownership approval to move the team to Las Vegas, and the Rays reached an agreement to build a new stadium in St. Pete that will lead to decades more of dismally embarrassing attendance.

Cities like Nashville, Charlotte, Portland, Montreal, and Salt Lake are ready to ratchet up expansion discussions with MLB. For the first time in decades, the league will finally be open and receptive to expand for the first time since 1998.

Jude Bellingham will be regarded as the world’s best soccer player.

Maybe it’s the surreal brace I witnessed in Barcelona at El Clásico in October. Perhaps it’s the 17 goals in 20 games across all competitions for a 20-year-old in his first season at Real Madrid. But I believe 2024 is the year attacking midfielder Jude Bellingham becomes known as the best soccer player on the planet.

That designation will be sealed in June and July when Bellingham leads Madrid to the Champions League title over Erling Haaland and Manchester City, and Jude paces England to the Euro 2024 title over Kylian Mbappé and France. Mbappé will then star for the French at the Paris Olympics and turn around and spurn Paris Saint-Germain to join Bellingham at Real Madrid. But a year from now, we’ll be looking at Bellingham as the world’s top player, opening up a slew of marketing and portfolio-building opportunities for the youngster.

Barcelona & Real Madrid Need Each Other
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MLB and NHL will seriously consider in-season tournaments of their own.

After seeing the NBA’s In-Season Tournament spice up its early season and increase national and local TV ratings by 26 and 20%, respectively, baseball and hockey will get on the cup bandwagon for 2025.

For MLB, this is a no-brainer. Have one Tuesday or Thursday game per week for a month in April and May count as Selig Cup matches, with the top eight heading to a single-elimination tournament at a warm neutral site over Memorial Day weekend. The NHL can do something similar, with the semifinals and finals replacing or adding to the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.

It’s time we gave those sports some more early regular-season juice and conversational journey. All they need to do is simply follow the NBA’s lead. The NFL season is too short for a tournament, but we’ll soon see every team playing one neutral site, international game within the next 3-5 years.

The 2024 US men’s Olympic basketball team will rival the Redeem Team and the Dream Team as the best Team USA squads ever.

The last time a senior US men’s basketball team had a showing as poor as its fourth-place finish at the 202 World Cup, we got the legendary LeBron, Kobe, D-Wade, and Melo-led Redeem Team for the 2008 Olympics. I predict the projected roster for the 2024 team in Paris will end up being better than 2008, challenging the 1992 Dream Team for the best USA Basketball team ever.

LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, and Damian Lillard? Plus, other All-Stars waiting in the wings, such as potentially Kawhi Leonard, Jaylen Brown, Paul George, Bam Adebayo, Draymond Green, and many others? The 2024 US team will be out for revenge in Paris and could emerge as the best basketball team ever assembled.

Bonus Olympics predictions: Look for the US women’s soccer team to avenge its poor World Cup showing, with Sophia Smith emerging as a household name. Another name to watch out for? Give me Sha’Carri Richardson dominating on the track.

The biggest women’s NCAA tournament ever will lead to the best WNBA rookie class ever.

With record crowds and television ratings, women’s college basketball has never been more popular. The game’s biggest stars like Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese will not only lead women’s March Madness to outshine the men once again but will also bring with it the best WNBA draft class ever.

Clark teaming with Aaliyah Boston with the Indiana Fever? Brink or Bueckers bringing the LA Sparks back to greatness or leading the Phoenix Mercury or Seattle Storm into their next eras? Sign me up!

On that note, the WNBA Draft needs more shine. Let’s put it at an arena where fans can bring the live energy. Even better? Hold it the night of or the night after the Final Four in the host city — ratings and buzz bonanza.

Look out for a company like Amazon or Netflix to try to get into the RSN game.

With Sinclair’s Diamond Sports in bankruptcy proceedings, more and more teams will follow the lead of the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and others to put their games on free TV with an added direct-to-consumer subscription product. But the opportunity is wide open for a streamer like Amazon or Netflix to gobble up Diamond deals across the NBA, NHL, and MLB.

Amazon is reportedly already in talks with Diamond for an investment to do just that with a multi-year Prime Video streaming partnership. But if that fails, streamers should try to pick teams up a-la-carte to bring more premium sports content to their subscribers. The RSN model is clearly dead, and 2024 will be when seismic change occurs in how local fans watch their sports.

As F1 interest levels off stateside, the league will try to pursue a fourth US race … in NYC.

While Formula 1 remains incredibly popular in the US, its average television viewership of 1.11 million per race is down from 1.21 million in 2022. It’s the first major sign of F1 popularity peaking in the US despite three American races on the schedule in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas.

As 2024 progresses, noise will grow louder about moving the Austin race to New York City in the future, whether at Central Park, the Brooklyn waterfront, or a more remote location like Randall’s Island.

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“Racing in New York, in Manhattan, if that were ever to be possible, that would be great without discounting all the other venues,” Mercedes principal and part owner Toto Wolff told me earlier this year. “We’ll find a way around that’s spectacular. I don’t know where it would be, but racing on Fifth Avenue? It would be amazing.”

New York City would continue the sport’s momentum that may have finally leveled off in 2023.

Volleyball will separate itself as the next big women’s sport.

Women’s sports has never had more momentum. The WNBA is expanding and growing. The NWSL signed a record-breaking media deal, cementing its well-earned ascent. And after seeing the success of college volleyball, capped by Texas upsetting Nebraska in the national championship game, it’s clear to see that volleyball will emerge as the next big women’s sport.

Pro women’s volleyball leagues like League One Volleyball (LOVB) and Athletes Unlimited will take advantage of that in ways softball couldn’t, promoting the top college stars, combining them with the top global pros, and gaining more visibility. It’s a long, drawn-out process to gain relevance and popularity — look at pro women’s basketball and soccer— but volleyball is next.

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]]> Loading Leveling the March Madness Financial Playing Field https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-womens-tournament-basketball-performance-fund/ Wed, 05 Apr 2023 20:10:01 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65441 A deep run in the men's NCAA Tournament means a big payday for that team and its conference. For now, that's not the case in the women's tournament.

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]]> A deep run in the men’s NCAA Tournament means a big payday for that team and its conference. For now, that’s not the case in the women’s tournament.

It was a banner year for University of Miami basketball. Literally, if the Canes raise banners for Final Four appearances.

Its men’s basketball team advanced to the Final Four for the first time in school history this year, while its women’s team went all the way to the Elite Eight as a 9 seed. The result is a nice financial boost for the Miami athletic department. The men played in five tournament games, which earned them five distribution units from the NCAA’s Basketball Performance Fund. Each game played means one such unit for a school’s conference, awarded annually for six years.

Last year, each unit was worth $338,887, so expect 2023 units to be a touch higher. Multiply that by five (one for each Miami game) and then by six (one for each year it is paid out), and Miami men’s basketball made $10.1 million for the ACC this season. If the league distributes that equally, Miami can expect a total of $667,774 for its efforts — and that’s before taking into account other ACC teams’ success this year and others over a six-year period.

It’s a nice payday, even for a school in a so-called power conference that has a lucrative TV deal as well.

The Miami women appeared in four tournament games this year. For their efforts, the university will see $0 from the NCAA’s Basketball Performance Fund.

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That’s because the Basketball Performance Fund (which you’ll notice is not called the Men’s Basketball Performance Fund) only pays out based on performance in men’s basketball tournament games. It’s a significant amount, too. In 2023, the NCAA will distribute more than $638 million to its schools — 27% of that tied directly to a conference’s men’s NCAA Tournament performance.

No such fund exists for the women, which Knight Commission CEO Amy Privette Perko believes goes against the very principles on which the NCAA supposedly stands.

“It is inconsistent with the NCAA’s constitutional principle of operating in a gender-equitable way,” she told Boardroom. “The NCAA just needs to put its constitutional principles into practice.”

The Knight Commission is an independent group that focuses on leading transformational change in college athletics. Its mission is to prioritize student-athlete education, health, safety, and success. As a think tank with no formal partnership with the NCAA, the Knight Commission doesn’t have the authority to enact change. It is, however, made up of former university presidents, athletes, and other experts in their field.

To show the commission’s influence, Perko points to the academic component of the NCAA’s revenue distribution. On the commission’s recommendation, the NCAA has added an academic performance unit, coming directly from the money it makes in its men’s basketball TV deal with Turner. Schools can be eligible to receive this unit by meeting one of a series of benchmarks, meant to level the playing field so that the academic rigor or resources available at an institution do not create an unfair disadvantage.

NCAA Revenue Distribution Plan

It’s all to say that the Knight Commission can have a major impact on NCAA policy. Yet, here we are, more than 500 days since the NCAA’s External Gender Equity Review (otherwise known as the Kaplan Report) recommended the NCAA deliver distribution units based on women’s basketball postseason performance as well. The NCAA has made no visible progress on that front, and it’s a point of frustration for Perko.

“It didn’t take them long to make a lot of changes to bring the tournament experience up to par,” she said. “So it is discouraging that it has taken them this long.”

And while there hasn’t been much progress to date, there’s reason for hope. The NCAA’s deal with ESPN for its Division I championships is up in 2023-24. The NCAA, however, packages men’s basketball separately, selling tournament rights to Turner for more than a billion dollars a year. The ESPN deal, meanwhile, bundles the women’s tournament with the so-called “Olympic sports.” If sold separately, the Kaplan Report estimated the women’s tournament could be worth between $81 million and $112 million per year. And remember, that report is now two years old. Women’s March Madness has grown significantly since then, breaking ratings and attendance records while selling out ad inventory.

It’s going to be worth a lot more than $81 million.

With that new deal, there seems to be confidence that unit distribution will follow.

“I do think it’s coming,” said Megan Kahn, the VP of Women’s Basketball for the Big Ten. “We’re at a point in time where our game deserves this. I think it’s going to put a lot of pressure on the NCAA to look that direction.”

Until that happens, expect to hear the advocates grow even louder. It was a topic of discussion at the 2022 Women’s Final Four, where Dawn Staley (South Carolina), Tara VanDerveer (Stanford), and Jeff Walz (Louisville) all answered questions about it. This year, it was more of the same.

“The units are pretty big,” Staley told the media at her 2023 pre-Final Four press conference in Dallas. “That’s the thing that’s been weighing us down, meaning it costs a lot to bring all of these teams all around the country in the tournament, and if we can bring millions into our athletic departments, I think it would help on our campuses.”

Dawn Staley answers questions during a press conference at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four at American Airlines Center on March 30, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Jay LaPrete/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder agreed, saying revenue distribution units will incentives schools to invest in women’s basketball.

“Athletic directors are going to invest where they get something back from it,” she told the media. I think at Iowa with our fan base, we’ve gotten something back from women’s basketball. But if ADs knew, ‘Hey, if my team makes it to the NCAA Tournament and I get a little money from that,’ it would help some of them invest, if they’re not completely invested in women’s basketball now.”

There is, however, that part that few really want to acknowledge. For now, the women’s tournament is going to bring in less money than the men’s. While ratings are exploding and attendance is steadily increasing, it won’t compare with the billion-dollar monster that is men’s March Madness. At last year’s Final Four, Walz conceded that distribution units for women’s basketball may not be as big as they are for the men’s — at least not yet.

Perko, however, disagrees. She pointed out that the NCAA does not claim to be a business; it’s a non-profit. Because of that, it doesn’t matter where the money for women’s tournament distribution comes from — the NCAA claims in its constitution that it will treat men’s and women’s sports equally. How much the women bring in vs. the men should not matter.

She sees two possible solutions for the NCAA. The first would be to eliminate athletic performance incentives entirely and to find another way to distribute tournament revenue. The other would be to add a women’s component — and she’s open to options as to what that looks like. Maybe it is just men’s and women’s basketball. Maybe there’s a performance component to every NCAA championship. It doesn’t really matter how the NCAA decides to go about this, the fact remains that as it stands now, the organization is defying its own constitution and not treating the two sports equitably.

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‘It’s discouraging that two distribution cycles will have passed and $330 million will have been distributed, and the board has been told by its own commissioned law firm that it’s inequitable,” she said. “So the Knight Commission’s position is this is an issue that the, the NCAA Division I board of directors should address with much more urgency.”

When Perko says urgency, she is talking about moving even faster than the Kaplan Report recommends. The report suggests phasing in women’s distributions, beginning at 5% of the overall Basketball Performance Fund and increasing by 5% each year until the revenue is made of a 50/50 split.

“The Kaplan report phased it in because they didn’t want to create a budget crunch for people counting on money,” Perko said. “But the way that formula works is, as a school, you don’t know how many teams your conference is going to get in the men’s basketball tournament, so you can’t count on money that hasn’t been rewarded. So the impact of changing it is not that significant because they shouldn’t be counting on money that hasn’t been given to them anyway.”

Perko says this is actually a great opportunity for new NCAA President Charlie Baker. Baker’s new post is often a thankless one, but he can score an easy PR win by making this a priority. And now, with women’s basketball earning more buzz than ever, thanks to mammoth Final Four ratings and even bigger personalities in the sport, the timing is perfect.

Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark will both return to school next year. So will Elizabeth Kitley, Mackenzie Holmes, and Cameron Brink. Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers should enter the season healthy. Next year could, truly, be the most successful season in the history of the sport.

As of now, however, it appears the schools responsible for making that happen won’t see a dime for it. The pressure is on the NCAA to change that.

More March Madness:

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]]> Loading Screenshot-2023-04-05-at-1.30.41-PM NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament – Final Four – Practice DALLAS, TX - MARCH 30: Dawn Staley head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks answers questions during a press conference at the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four at American Airlines Center on March 30, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jay LaPrete/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Loading For Women’s Hoops, Angel Reese & Caitlin Clark’s Trash-talking Was Never the Problem https://boardroom.tv/angel-reese-caitlin-clark-trash-talk/ Tue, 04 Apr 2023 19:18:44 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65608 Since Angel Reese and LSU beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa for college basketball’s national title, the toxic national discourse has been about everything other than the game itself. Take a bow, Angel Reese. The

The post For Women’s Hoops, Angel Reese & Caitlin Clark’s Trash-talking Was Never the Problem appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Since Angel Reese and LSU beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa for college basketball’s national title, the toxic national discourse has been about everything other than the game itself.

Take a bow, Angel Reese. The LSU Tigers hoops star deserves as much after putting up yet another double-double with 15 points and 10 boards in her team’s 102-85 victory over Iowa in the finale of the Women’s NCAA Tournament en route to Most Outstanding Player honors.

In most cases in sports, the days following such a championship accomplishment are filled with praise and congratulations. Instead, a large part of the national discourse has been focused on players’ celebrations rather than celebrating the women themselves that put on literally record-breaking performances on both sides.

In the final moments of the game, cameras caught Reese doing the same “you can’t see me” celebration that Iowa star Caitlin Clark did in the Elite Eight against Louisville in the direction of her opponent. She added her own twist on the gesture popularized by G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo and wrestler/actor John Cena by pointing to her ring finger, alluding to the jewelry she just locked up by winning a natty.

My first thought? What a badass, the same thought I had when Clark did the same thing in the Elite Eight against Louisville. Both of these players have been phenomenal all season long and have helped elevate women’s basketball forward in very real ways.

But thanks to social media, the conversation surrounding this brief celebration turned vile.

As anyone who works in sports knows, keyboard warriors are nothing new, so perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised. When you have grown men with high-profile presences in media throwing out profanities at a young woman who isn’t even of legal drinking age as if she committed a crime on the court for their millions of Twitter followers to see, however, that’s where we have a problem:

It’s exhausting. It’s unnecessary.

Luckily, being the badass that she is, “Bayou Barbie” doesn’t care what the retrograde haters think. She also couldn’t care less what this author — or any other writer that feels the need to chime in on the matter — thinks of her, and rightfully so.

“I don’t fit the narrative. I don’t fit the box that y’all want me to be in. ‘I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto.’ Y’all told me that all year. When other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing. This was for the people that look like me,” Reese said to members of the media after the game.

She doubled down with the sentiment on ESPN the next day with host Malika Andrews.

Talk that talk, Angel.

Honestly, it’s refreshing to see. She has every right to feel the way she feels and say what she wants to say, and if anyone has a problem with it, well, that problem may lie within. Do you know who hasn’t had a problem with it? Caitlin Clark, who got the ESPN treatment with a specific segment discussing her trash-talking ahead of the title game — and that’s because she’s a competitor who understands that if you dish it out, you gotta be able to take it back in return.

“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all. No matter what way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I compete, she competed,” Clark said to the Worldwide Leader. “It was a super, super fun game. I think that’s what’s going to bring more people to our game.”

This is sports. It doesn’t need a clarifier ahead of it. Men or women, this is supposed to happen when the best of the best put it all on the line on the biggest stage.

Plenty of rabble-rousers out there are trying to turn this into an individual battle between Reese and Clark rather than encouraging healthy competition. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure some of it was personal; perhaps Reese’s postgame comment of “I don’t take disrespect lightly” was meant to refer directly to Clark’s waving-off of South Carolina’s Raven Johnson in the Final Four.

But even so, I refuse to give in to that notion and pit these two women against each other when they’re likely on the same page about it. Again, competitors compete, and I’m here for it.

So, all that said, let’s get into it.

I could talk about how there were clear-as-day racial biases here, with pundits and fans alike choosing sides instead of enjoying the two of the best players the sport of basketball has to offer at peak performance. Not to harp too much on two individual professional Twitter instigators, but simply take the words used to describe Angel’s actions above — “classless piece of shit” and “fucking idiot” — and compare them to those used for Clark while doing damn near the same celebration: “Queen of Clapbacks.”

Some observers have comparied the length of each respective celebration to bolster one’s “argument,” but talk about nitpicky. The sentiment is the same, but Reese’s was done amid much higher stakes.

Excuse her extending the championship moment for just a bit, putting one more personal stamp on it.

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This isn’t the first time words during this tournament have carried racial implications, either. When South Carolina, undefeated all season long and the top seed heading into the tournament, fell to the hands of Clark and Iowa in the Final Four, head coach Dawn Staley used her postgame remarks to defend her team.

“We’re not bar fighters. We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters,” she said. “This team exemplifies how you need to approach basketball on the court and off the court. And I do think that that’s sometimes brought into the game, and it hurts.”

The “bar fighters” reference may have been in response to Iowa’s coach Lisa Bluder likened offensive rebounding against the Gamecocks to a bar fight, but in reality, Staley may have simply been fed up with the narrative surrounding her team all season long.

I also could address the hypocritical takes out there — and there have been plenty — expecting female hoopers (or female athletes in general) to fall in line and behave like “ladies.” In the wide world of celebrations and taunts, this whole episode should have just been considered just another day on a basketball court; Reese’s clip would get played once on SportsCenter, dudes at the local bar would note how cool it was, and the world would move on. This doesn’t even come close to some of the worst or most egregious trash-talking during a basketball game when compared to male counterparts.

So, why all the hate toward Angel?

Take one of the most disrespectful taunts in basketball for example — the “too short”/”too small” gesture. It’s been done so often in the game that it has become accepted, especially by the men. The same can be said for a staredown after posterizing someone on a dunk, another taunt that occurs regularly. These things happen all the time in the men’s game without any of us batting an eye.

So circling back to my original point: Why are we even talking about this?

Instead of harping on the subject further, I’ll choose to speak on Angel Reese’s and her team’s accomplishments en route to winning a national championship. I choose to focus on the fact that she shows up to the court every single night as her true self, unapologetically so. Or how about we celebrate her breaking a single-season record for double-doubles with 34 on her way to unanimous First Team All-American honors?

Then, there’s Caitlin Clark, who was the best player in the country all season long, landing consensus National Player of the Year honors for her troubles. In case you forgot in all this hoopla, she broke an NCAA Tournament record with 193 total points while putting up Stephen Curry-like daggers on the regular.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Sunday’s championship game was a huge win for women’s college basketball, as LSU and Iowa made TV history by attracting 9.9 million viewers, peaking at 12.6 million. It was the most-watched college event — men’s or women’s — on the ESPN+ streaming platform on top of being the most-viewed women’s college basketball game ever. Oh, and the viewership was up 103% year over year.

For reference, this game boasted higher US viewership than the following events:

  • Any MLS game ever
  • Any Stanley Cup Finals game since 1973
  • The 2023 Orange Bowl and 2023 Sugar Bowl
  • Any 2021 NBA Finals game
  • The season finale of HBO’s The Last of Us
  • The most recent All-Star Games for the MLB, NBA, & NHL.

(Now, imagine if networks started to invest in women’s sports much sooner! But that’s a topic for another day.)

Here are a few more records that fell during Sunday’s title game:

  • LSU’s Jasmine Carson scored 16 second-quarter points, breaking the single-period scoring record in a women’s Final Four game. 
  • Clark broke the NCAA title game record for 3-pointers with eight.
  • The Tigers’ 102 points are the largest point total in any semifinal or national title in tournament history dating back to 1982. Throwing in Iowa’s 85 points, the 187 combined points were the highest-ever total for a national championship game. 
  • Iowa’s 14 3-pointers set a record for most team triples in a title game.

To be clear, that list is not exhaustive of all the records that were broken in this game, but it’s a fine place to start given the extent to which all this unhealthy discourse in recent days has distracted from the matter.

So, no more celebration talk from me, thanks — I’m handing out flowers.

Congratulations to Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers, who went through the gauntlet on their way to bringing home a national title to Baton Rouge. And congratulations to Caitlin Clark and Iowa, too, for making a run to the championship that included an upset victory over one of the best teams in recent memory in the previously undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks. While we’re at it, congratulations to Dawn Staley and Co. as well for also doing their part in pushing things forward with a 42-game winning streak that sure inspired challengers nationwide to go harder and do more.

With authentic personalities in Reese, Clark, and Staley leading the way, women’s basketball is in good hands and trending in the right direction.

Those who prefer to ignore even the most impressive sporting achievements in favor of harmful discourse, on the other hand, I’m not so sure about. Maybe it’s time for a different hobby.

More Women’s Sports:

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]]> Loading The Big Ten Women’s Basketball Revival Is Complete https://boardroom.tv/big-ten-womens-basketball-megan-kahn/ Sun, 02 Apr 2023 20:33:09 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65061 When Iowa knocked off the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four, it was the culmination of a conference’s years-long effort to re-emerge in women’s basketball. Megan Kahn is here to make sure

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]]> When Iowa knocked off the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four, it was the culmination of a conference’s years-long effort to re-emerge in women’s basketball. Megan Kahn is here to make sure the conference keeps growing.

As Iowa took the court against LSU on Sunday, it was the first active Big Ten team to play in the Division I women’s basketball championship game since 2005.

It comes amid a year of unprecedented success for the conference — on the court, on TV, and in the stands. Not coincidentally, it also comes just two years after now-former commissioner Kevin Warren created the first senior-level position in conference history dedicated to the growth of women’s basketball.

That position, Vice President of Women’s Basketball, belongs to Megan Kahn, formerly of WeCOACH, a 501c(3) non-profit that focuses on education and professional development of women’s basketball coaches. When Kahn took her new post, Warren tasked her with strengthening and enhancing women’s basketball in the Big Ten.

This was in the aftermath of the disastrous 2021 NCAA women’s tournament that brought gender inequity in college athletics to the forefront of the national conversation. With a new light on the sport, Warren, a massive basketball fan himself, wanted to do right by his schools and enable them to compete at the highest level.

“He walks the walk when it comes to women’s athletics and elevating Big Ten women’s basketball,” Kahn told Boardroom. “He wanted to make sure that we were giving our coaches, our student-athletes and our teams every opportunity to be successful.”

It’s a tad disingenuous to leave it at “the Big Ten hired a VP of women’s basketball and now the conference has a team in the title game.” Kahn has been on the job for less time than Caitlin Clark has been on campus, and Kahn didn’t make a shot for the Hawkeyes this year.

But if you’re talking about the overall success of the conference this year? That has Kahn’s fingerprints all over it.

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The Big Ten Tournament Resume

It was never a question that the Big Ten was the best conference in women’s college basketball this year. Indiana, the conference’s regular season champion, was a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Its conference tournament champion, Iowa, just knocked off the mighty South Carolina Gamecocks. Maryland and Ohio State both reached the Elite Eight. Michigan won a tournament game for the fifth consecutive year. And further down the bracket, Illinois made it for the first time in 20 years and Purdue snapped a four-tournament drought to return to the Big Dance.

“There’s no doubt this was the best year for Big Ten women’s basketball in a long, long time,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in the team’s pre-Final Four press conference. “We felt all year long that playing in the Big Ten has prepared us in this journey so far and whatever team that we play, if they try something different, well, one of the great coaches we have in the Big Ten has probably tried it against us already. Some of the unbelievable athletes that we have in the Big Ten has probably already done that to us.”

That helped Iowa stun the Gamecocks and a sold-out crowd in Dallas, 77-73, behind 41 points from Clark. And she did that in what may have been the most talked-about game in women’s basketball history.

Ray Katz, chief operating officer of Collegiate Sports Management Group and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, told Boardroom that he estimated around 4 million viewers would tune in for the game, which would break the previous record for a semifinal, set in 2013. The actual broadcast brought in 5.5 million viewers, making it the most viewed women’s hoops matchup since the 2004 battle between the University of Connecticut and Tennessee. To make that even more impressive, Katz notes, 25% fewer households have cable subscriptions compared to a decade ago.

Those are the numbers that Kahn wants to see as she continues to craft the most competitive league in the country.

Keys to the Megan Kahn Kingdom

Kahn took over her role in 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still wreaking havoc on college basketball. She was unable to travel for the first few months of her tenure, but once she was able to get on the road, she could start seeing games in person, meeting players, and earning the trust of her league’s head coaches.

That last part proved imperative. In order to maximize exposure, the conference has had to be innovative. This could be as simple as adjusting the playing schedule so that high-profile teams played high-profile games in exactly the right time slots. Or, it could be unorthodox, like launching a fashion collab with the league’s best players. It also could mean hosting a biweekly podcast with Sirius XM, dedicated to women’s basketball, which Kahn does.

No matter what she tries, though, it requires some buy-in from the coaches and trust from the league office.

“[Warren] gave me the keys to the kingdom. There was no blueprint or playbook that said, go execute these things,” Kahn said. “And so it allowed me to utilize my strengths to be innovative and to think outside the box and to think about, ‘okay, we have this unbelievable product on the floor. What can I do to help build it off the court?'”

The hope is that what Kahn does in the Big Ten today will inspire other conferences to try similar practices on their own. Together, it’ll raise the profile of the sport and eventually improve the overall product.

It’s similar to what Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has tried to do with men’s basketball, positioning his conference as a leader in the sport by expanding its presence in New York, turning its conference tournament into a cultural event, and making culinary waves along the way.

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There’s another side to this, though — one that doesn’t appear in the men’s game. Remember: Kahn took her position coming out of the debacle in the 2021 NCAA Tournament bubble. One of her main focuses, along with elevating the women’s basketball brand in the Big Ten, had to include highlighting and correcting the litany of inequities that existed before she arrived.

“There was somebody in a similar position to me on the men’s side,” Kahn said. “We didn’t even really have a budget. Nobody had served in this position so there wasn’t even a budget that existed.”

One concrete change that’s happened in the last few years: Basketball media days now feature the conference’s men’s and women’s teams, rather than holding separate events for each. It ensures that every media member who shows up to cover the men has the opportunity to do the same for the women. As a result, both sets of student-athletes have the same platform to tell their stories.

Tapping into the Potential

From media day in October to the NCAA Tournament in March, this has been a season of tangible successes for Kahn and the Big Ten. The conference has been, arguably, the most visible college basketball conference in the country.

Most notably, that’s meant putting two women’s basketball games on FOX this year, while the network is not contractually obligated to air any at all.

“They said ‘we want Caitlin Clark,'” Kahn said. “So we were able to plug and play some matchups for them that we thought would make great TV ratings.”

The excitement exists in-arena, too. It seemed like a week didn’t pass this conference season without a Big Ten team announcing record-breaking attendance numbers for a women’s basketball game. That includes Indiana selling out Assembly Hall for a women’s basketball game for the first time ever, and later, a record crowd watching Iowa defeat Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game in Minneapolis.

The potential for that sort of buzz always existed, according to ESPN analyst and former Purdue head coach Carolyn Peck. It was just a matter of tapping into it.

She used the example of going back to West Lafayette earlier this year and seeing billboards with Purdue women’s basketball players on them.

“You gotta remind them,” she said. “You’re not going to win every game, but to keep the fan loyalty and to give it the treatment that you have given the men for so many years. Now it’s not either/or; it’s both.”

Peck also said that it’s important for the conference — with Kahn at the helm — to delve deeper into what they could do to maximize revenue in the women’s game.

“You’ve gotten about as much out of football as you’re going to. Men’s basketball, you’ve gotten as much out of them as you’re going to,” she said. “Your next revenue stream is women’s basketball because they’re playing in the big arenas, so you sell those tickets, you have captivated audiences that you can advertise in, you have a strong audience that attracts TV to come into your place. It used to be a situation where they had to give away tickets to get people there. Tickets in Dallas this weekend are more expensive than Taylor Swift concert tickets. It is a valued product.”

Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes reacts after a 77-73 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game at American Airlines Center on March 31, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Sustaining Momentum

The next, natural question is how the Big Ten sustains its momentum beyond Final Four weekend.

If you ask the experts, it won’t be hard — at least in the near-term. Clark will likely be back at Iowa, along with a slew of budding stars around the league.

“Jaycee [Sheldon]’s coming back, Cotie McMahon is going to be a star,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. “Iowa’s going to be really good again. Maryland — and who knows what happens with the portal — but just the way those teams play is really, really fun.”

“Really, really fun” seems to be how Big Ten programs have defined themselves, sticking with a high-scoring, fast-paced style. Lobo added that Indiana and Iowa were the top two teams in the nation in field goal percentage this year. She perhaps stated the obvious, saying, “it’s fun to watch teams make shots.”

Basketball fans seem to agree. Iowa’s Elite Eight win over Louisville had higher ratings than any NBA game shown on ESPN all season, as Clark and Cardinal star Hailey Van Lith went at it. Though the 97-83 Hawkeye win wasn’t the nail-biter many may have wanted, the teams obliterated the over. They combined for 180 total points, while Clark and Van Lith combined for 68. And Clark? She had the first 40-point triple-double in tournament history (41 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds).

Eventually, however, Clark won’t be in college anymore and it’ll be up to the next generation of stars to keep it going. In addition to Sheldon and McMahon at Ohio State, the Big Ten is adding UCLA and USC in two years, meaning Juju Watkins will suit up routinely on Big Ten Network.

As for Kahn, that means a few additional headaches in trying to put a league schedule together to accommodate teams on both coasts, while looking out for the student-athletes’ well-being. But it’s a good problem to have.

“When I see the Big Ten brands somewhere in the women’s basketball space, I want it to be big and bold and innovative,” she said.

With a Big Ten team battling for the championship, it appears the league has bought in.

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]]> Loading Loading South Carolina v Iowa DALLAS, TEXAS - MARCH 31: Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes reacts after a 77-73 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks during the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game at American Airlines Center on March 31, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) The Sports Bra and Buick Set the Bar for Women’s Sports https://boardroom.tv/the-sports-bra-see-her-greatness/ Sat, 01 Apr 2023 16:00:11 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65313 With an elevated campaign carrying on last year's tagline, Buick partnered with the country's only bar dedicated to women's sports to bring together some of the game's biggest stars for a March Madness celebration unlike any other.

The post The Sports Bra and Buick Set the Bar for Women’s Sports appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> With an elevated campaign carrying on last year’s tagline, Buick partnered with the country’s only bar dedicated to women’s sports to bring together some of the game’s biggest stars for a March Madness celebration unlike any other.

Jenny Nguyen will never forget where she was exactly one year ago. 

The Portland, Oregon native was celebrating the grand opening of her new venture, The Sports Bra, a first-of-its-kind themed venue along busy Broadway that only shows women’s sports.

“I was watching the Final Four, and it went to commercial,” she recalled of the bar’s opening weekend. “It showed the [game sound of the] Arike Ogunbowale last second three-pointer of the 2018 championship game. That was a game that I watched at a sports bar, with no sound, that put this idea into my head.

“Standing in my place, on that day, watching that commercial, I got all the feelings.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUfjFsn7UH8

Her next reaction was simply: What commercial is this?

“The screen was dark,” she continued. “And then it said ‘See Her Greatness. Buick.’ I will never forget it. It was just one of those moments.”

This year, The Sports Bra, Buick, and the Togethxr platform have all teamed up throughout March Madness to bring the groundbreaking national campaign to the grassroots, with a series of watch parties at the sports bar that’s become a staple in the Pacific Northwest community, just one year in. 

“When they reached out and told me about See Her Greatness, I said, ‘I know exactly who you are and what you’ve done,’” smiled Nguyen. “They single handedly put the championship game on broadcast, and we just have a mission alignment when it comes to representation in sports.”

Boardroom caught up with Nguyen and representatives from the Detroit-based car company to understand the vision behind the “See Her Greatness” campaign, the importance of creating a space for women’s sports, and how they formed the perfect partnership.

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Driving Into Greatness

Based in Detroit, Buick has made a commitment to developing campaigns specifically for the women’s sports space in recent years. 

“We’ve been a decades-long partner of the NCAA, across all sports in men’s and women’s. We’ve been for two or three years now, the #1 car brand for women, as a percentage of sales,” Sam Russell, Buick’s Marketing Director, said of the campaign’s starting points. 

“Title IX was turning 50 last year, and we started really looking into the idea of celebrating equality,” he continued. “It led us to this critical insight from research by Dr. Cheryl Cooky, that 40% of the athletes across the spectrum are women, but they only receive about 10% of the media coverage. It’s truly an inequality that is out there.”

Photo via The Sports Bra

With a big picture issue at hand, the first chapter of Buick’s campaign looked to tackle viewership. 

“The biggest problem here, is people just aren’t aware. There’s an ignorance out there, and you need to educate people,” said Russell. “We wanted to talk to all sports fans and make sure that they’re aware that they’re missing almost 50% of everything that they like about sports, if they’re not watching women’s sports.”

The strong tagline not only celebrated the legacy of the women’s tournament, but it also aimed to urge people to simply tune in. In addition to the ad, Buick’s website landing page serves as a one-stop shop where fans can get details about upcoming game times for each round of the tournament. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2CSr4H5iQ

This year, the evolution of NIL allowed for individual players to be incorporated into the campaign. As a result, the company tapped some of the game’s biggest stars including Aliyah Boston, Azzi Fudd, Cameron Brink, Kiki Rice, and Caitlin Clark as part of the “Watch Me” commercial, while also receiving their own solo ads.

“It makes it more authentic to our audience, and it reaches their audience too,” said Russell. “Their followers are a whole new future generation of consumers, that maybe a 30-second ad on TV wouldn’t reach. It’s great marketing, and [social media] connects to an audience in a way that is much more personal.”

Events like the viewing party have only added to the on-the-ground frenzy that’s become a pillar of this year’s March Madness tournament, as stars like Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark have led their teams through each round with all-time performances. With an expectation of drawing a huge crowd for each game, Buick and The Sports Bra also added an additional viewing tent next door. 

“To have that kind of hype behind women’s basketball and a women’s sporting event, that’s what it’s about,” said Nguyen. “We’re finally getting the representation and the recognition that the athletes have deserved this entire time.”

Photo via The Sports Bra

Setting a New Bar

For Nguyen, the partnership brings to life exactly what she envisioned long before the Sports Bra opened its doors.

When she started to map out the concept for her memorabilia and jersey-laden specialty sports bar, Nguyen remembers being denied for a small business loan “by everybody.” She polished her pitch deck, scrounged together her life savings, and sought investments from family and friends. She also launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised $2,000 within the first couple days.

Nguyen thought it would take a few months to find a potential lease for the bar’s location, leaving her time to reach her goal of $48,700 – only to find exactly what she was looking for in a matter of weeks. 

“I fell in love with the space, and it’s exactly where I wanted it to be,” she said.

Taking a leap of faith, she signed a lease, and worked relentlessly to figure everything else out. 

“Three days into the Kickstarter, I get a phone call from a writer here in Portland,” said Nguyen. “She goes, ‘Hey, I got this form on my desk saying a place called The Sports Bra is applying for a liquor license. Is this going to be a bra shop that you’ll be serving cocktails at? What’s this about?’”

Jenny Nguyen, center, owner of The Sports Bra.

She explained her dream vision for what “The Bra,” as she often calls it for short, would become: The world’s only women’s sports bar. 

“Based on my Google research,” Nguyen said. “It was the only one of its kind, that I could tell.” 

The Oregonian article went live a few days later. It went viral immediately and now touts nearly 90,000 shares by readers.

“My mom texted me and goes, ‘Have you looked at your Kickstarter today?’” she continued. “It went to a straight up and down line.” 

The campaign generated $105,135.

“To look at what has happened over the first year is a little bit like whiplash. A part of me feels like it’s been 17 years,” she joked. 

“This is Our Space Now”

During the “See Her Greatness”-themed viewing parties for the tournament’s Sweet 16, a pristine Buick Encore GX could be seen cruising to the front entrance of The Sports Bra every 90 minutes. Each time the door opened, a basketball icon soon stepped out, surprising and greeting fans inside. 

Four former WNBA #1 picks in Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike, along with MVP Jonquel Jones and Didi Richards of the New York Liberty, each appeared throughout the weekend. Question and answer sessions were hosted by Togethxr’s Justine Brown, as players gave away trivia prizes to a crowd entirely up on their hoops knowledge. 

“It was such an amazing commercial last year,” said Taurasi. “If you didn’t know what the highlight was, you were sure as hell gonna go see what it was. This year, the campaign and what they’ve been able to do on a national level has been great, and then with events like this, where you give people that are really, really fans access to players that they’ve admired for a long time.”

As two of the W’s longest-standing ambassadors and faces of the league, both Bird and Taurasi beamed as they entered into an atmosphere that they’ve been personally looking for over the years. 

“We’ve all had that experience,” said Bird. “Where you go somewhere and you have to beg them to change the channel, and then guys complain.” 

“This is our space now,” added Taurasi. “Usually, you have to share it with people that aren’t like-minded. It’s nice to have a space where you’re like-minded and all pushing the same direction.” 

Bird, Taurasi and Nguyen at The Sports Bra.

As Buick looked to carry over the campaign yet again this season, the added NIL component allowed for even more specific storytelling. 

“Last year was focused entirely on generating awareness on an issue,” said Russell. “We wanted people to see her greatness and pay attention.” 

In highlighting Boston, Fudd, Brink, Rice and Clark, the company is also calling on fans to take an interest in the greatness of some of the game’s most exciting players of today. 

“Buick and Togethxr are really pushing to make sure that people know who the next generation is gonna be. They’re here now,” said Taurasi. “In general, just the change to [having the women’s tournament use the name] ‘March Madness,’ it symbolizes where women’s basketball and women’s sports is going.

“It’s only the beginning.”

At this important moment, Taurasi is noticing a critical shift in how the women’s game is being consumed and discussed.

“It’s a change in sentiment,” she said. “It’s less of a charity, and more of a, ‘Shit, they’re really good at basketball. And we should be watching them, how they play and how they interact.’ There’s a value to that.”

From Nguyen’s standpoint, as more and more corporate partners have connected with The Sports Bra since the launch a year ago to discuss potential partnerships, she’s observed a number of wins across the board.

“These big companies are putting their money where their mouth is,” she said. “They’re seeing ridiculous returns on investment, and that initial investment is going to get so many more people into the market.” 

By being purposeful in directing its ad dollars behind the See Her Greatness campaign, Buick is already noticing a rising of the tides across the landscape, with even more corporate sponsors also stepping up. 

“This year, we’re really proud to be a part of the fact that the Women’s Tournament sold out all of their ad units for the first time in the history of the tournament, while seeing record audiences,” said Russell. “We had a small part in that, and we’re happy to be a part of an evolution that’s seeing society move in the right direction.”

With new TV deal negotiations nearing for both the women’s March Madness tournament and the WNBA, Taurasi knows well what’s on the line. Record ratings and an ever-expanding audience size will drive up the final figures of each entity’s next broadcast agreement. 

“That’s a responsibility that media outlets, big sponsorship money, TV and cable all have,” continued Taurasi. “At the end of the day, they push what the people watch. A lot of times, you might think that the fans or the public dictates what’s on TV. It’s not. It’s the people putting it on, the people writing about it, and coming to events like this, that make the biggest difference.”

In February, The Sports Bra hosted WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and key stakeholders to discuss potential team expansion in Portland.

For Jenny Nguyen, celebrating the one-year mark of The Sports Bra has brought it all full circle. The launch of the “See Her Greatness” campaign last year coincided with the bar’s opening weekend. Since then, her establishment has served as a gathering point for the community of sports fans to come together to celebrate women’s sports. 

“I’ve had people come in that played college basketball, that are now in their 70s. They came in and just cried,” she said.  

While there are undoubtedly strides still to be made for the women’s sporting landscape ahead, Nguyen’s concept and vision has been fully realized through The Sports Bra.

“I feel like glass ceilings are being broken every single day,” said Nguyen. “Whether it’s attendance records, investment or NIL deals, everything is growing. I feel really fortunate that I opened The Sports Bra when I did, because there’s a turning point now. The momentum is shifting.” 

—

To see her greatness this weekend, tune in to LSU vs Iowa in the Women’s National Championship Game on Sunday at 3:30 PM EST on ABC.

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]]> %%title%% The Sport Bra is the only bar in the US dedicated to women's spots. This March, it's teamed up with Buick to help fans "See Her Greatness." Arike Ogunbowale,basketball,Buick,Diana Taurasi,Jonquel Jones,March Madness,Sue Bird,The Sports Bra,Women's Sports,The Sports Bra Loading 337144079_238714115262351_9176251753870143823_n-copy-1 338176972_221461583873524_2826644174318847384_n 337787175_3144336915865063_3711309893295666548_n 337183549_1360355361414282_4943977990462527419_n 338188138_889017085695242_6453081246868843442_n 337330639_771854734667440_2073086120295949711_n 329625317_215950467569966_6652257788994281366_n San Diego State vs. FAU: Who Are Sportsbooks Backing to Play for the National Title? https://boardroom.tv/sdsu-vs-fau-prediction-odds-final-four-2023/ Sat, 01 Apr 2023 07:59:51 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65276 It wasn't supposed to happen, but such is the Madness of March! Check out our big SDSU vs. FAU prediction and best bet, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

The post San Diego State vs. FAU: Who Are Sportsbooks Backing to Play for the National Title? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at FanDuel.

It wasn’t supposed to happen, but such is the Madness of March! Check out our big SDSU vs. FAU prediction and best bet, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

The 2023 NCAA Tournament’s men’s Final Four is set. The next round of March Madness features The San Diego State Aztecs going one-on-one with the Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday, April 1.

In what was a tight matchup, SDSU managed to make it out of the Elite Eight with a 57-56 victory over Creighton. Meanwhile, FAU’s shocking run continued with a 79-76 win against Kansas State, highlighted by Vladislav Goldin’s 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.

So, which side will go home while the other competes for a national title? Get set for Saturday’s game with our best SDSU vs. FAU prediction and the latest odds and insights from FanDuel Sportsbook.

Click here to read Boardroom’s full 2023 NCAA Men’s Final Four futures betting overview.

San Diego State vs. Florida Atlantic Game Info

2022-23 NCAA Tournament Final Four
No. 18 San Diego State Aztecs (31-6)
vs.
No. 25 Florida Atlantic Owls (35-3)
Date: Saturday, April 1, 2023
Time: 6:09 p.m. ET
Venue: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
US TV Coverage: CBS

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SDSU vs. FAU Odds & Spread: Final Four 2023

All college basketball betting lines, odds, and prop bets are from FanDuel Sportsbook.

  • Moneyline: SDSU: (-134) | FAU: (+112)
  • Spread: SDSU: -1.5 (-120) | FAU: +1.5 (-105)
  • Total: 131.5 — Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)

San Diego State enters this contest as a slim favorite on the moneyline and spread per FanDuel Sportsbook’s odds. This 6:09 p.m. ET clash also features an over/under of 131.5 points with both sides available at -110 odds.

San Diego State vs. FAU Betting Trends

  • San Diego State is 20-16-0 against the spread this year.
  • The Aztecs have a record of 17-14 against the spread as 1.5-point favorites or greater.
  • Out of 36 SDSU games so far this season, 14 have gone over the total.
  • Against the spread, FAU is 25-11-0 this season.
  • As 1.5-point underdogs or greater, the Owls are 6-2 against the spread.
  • Florida Atlantic has seen 19 of its 36 games go over the point total.
SDSU RankSDSU Avg.MetricFAU Avg.FAU Rank
182nd71.5Points Scored78.036th
24th62.9Points Allowed65.142nd
79th33.4Rebounds36.112th
95th9.4Off. Rebounds9.683rd
230th6.93pt Made9.614th
163rd13.2Assists14.670th
83rd10.9Turnovers11.4132nd

SDSU vs FAU Prediction & Pick: 2023 Final Four

All heartwarming stories must come to an end, and that’ll be the case for FAU this weekend. San Diego State’s defense can shut down most offenses, surrendering just 63.1 PPG (No. 23) on 40.5% shooting (No. 25).

A big reason why Florida Atlantic got by Creighton was by shooting 39.1% from the three-point line. Now, the Owls face the Aztecs, who’ve only given up an average of 3.7 three-pointers on 15.7% shooting over the last three games. They’ve also been averaging 42.0 rebounds and 11.0 takeaways over that stretch, indicating that FAU will be under pressure all night long.

FAU has shocked a lot of people thus far and I won’t be surprised if this is another close game. However, SDSU’s defense is as elite as it gets and won’t break. Look for the Aztecs to keep winning and advance to the National Championship.

FAU vs. SDSU FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: San Diego State 65, Florida Atlantic 63

San Diego State vs. Florida Atlantic Best Bet

San Diego State’s stellar defense means that its games tend to feature fewer points than projected. The under has struck in each of the Aztecs’ last 10 games as well as their nine previous outings as favorites. While not as frequent, Florida Atlantic has also experienced the under in five of its last seven games.

Considering how the under is a combined 13-5 in both teams’ games at neutral sites this season, it’s safe to say that a low-scoring affair is on the way.

SDSU vs. FAU BEST BET: Under 131.5 Points (-110)

— Devon Platana

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]]> Loading UConn vs. Miami: Are Oddsmakers Backing Another Upset? https://boardroom.tv/uconn-vs-miami-prediction-odds-2023-final-four/ Fri, 31 Mar 2023 09:30:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65351 This article originally appeared at FanDuel. The Madness rolls on! Check out our big Miami vs. UConn prediction and best bet, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook. The 2023 NCAA Tournament continues Saturday with a

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]]> This article originally appeared at FanDuel.

The Madness rolls on! Check out our big Miami vs. UConn prediction and best bet, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

The 2023 NCAA Tournament continues Saturday with a great Final Four matchup between the No. 5 Miami Hurricanes and No. 4 UConn Huskies. Miami men’s basketball is aiming to earn its first-ever NCAA championship game appearance, while a win gets UConn back to their first such matchup since 2014.

Miami pulled off an 88-81 upset win over Texas on Sunday behind Jordan Miller’s standout outing (27 points on 7-7 shooting). Meanwhile, Dan Hurley’s Connecticut squad crushed Gonzaga by a score of 82-54 on Saturday as Jordan Hawkins scored a team-high 20 points.

So, which team will advance with an unforgettable win? Check out our best UConn vs. Miami prediction below, as well as the latest odds and betting insights from

Click here to read Boardroom’s full 2023 NCAA Men’s Final Four futures betting overview.

Connecticut vs. Miami Game Info

2022-23 NCAA Tournament Final Four

No. 10 Connecticut Huskies (29-8)
vs.
No. 16 Miami (FL) Hurricanes (29-7)
Date: Saturday, April 1, 2023
Time: 8:49 p.m. ET
Venue: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
US TV Coverage: CBS

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UConn vs. Miami Odds & Spread

All college basketball betting lines, odds and prop bets are from FanDuel Sportsbook.

  • Moneyline: UCONN: (-240) | MIAMI: (+195)
  • Spread: UCONN: -5.5 (-114) | MIAMI: +5.5 (-106)
  • Total: 149.5 — Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)

UConn enters this contest as a moderate favorite on the moneyline and spread per FanDuel Sportsbook’s odds. This Final Four clash also features an over/under of 149.5 points, with both sides available at -110 odds.

Miami vs. Connecticut Betting Trends

  • UConn has 25 wins in 37 games against the spread this season.
  • As 5.5-point favorites or more, the Huskies are 16-9 against the spread.
  • Out of 37 Connecticut’s games so far this season, 20 have hit the over.
  • Miami has covered the spread 22 times in 36 games.
  • The Hurricanes have an ATS record of 3-0 as 5.5-point underdogs or greater.
  • Miami has seen 17 of its 36 games hit the over.
UConn RankUConn Avg.MetricMiami Avg.Miami Rank
27th78.8Points Scored79.621st
35th64.4Points Allowed71.9236th
10th36.3Rebounds32.2147th
7th11.5Off. Rebounds8.9140th
30th9.13pt Made7.5166th
4th17.6Assists14.670th
217th12.2Turnovers10.871st

UConn vs. Miami Prediction & Pick

It’s safe to say that both Miami and UConn deserve to battle it out for a spot in the championship. The Hurricanes have beaten three top-four seeds and have not been favored in a game since the first round. Meanwhile, the Huskies have taken down each of their four opponents by an average of 22.5 points.

What stands out for Miami is its ability to adjust. The Hurricanes took down a sizeable Indiana team by outrebounding the Hoosiers by 17. They then beat a defensively gifted Houston team by draining 11 three-pointers and slowed down a fast Texas team with 32 trips to the free-throw line.

UConn has few weaknesses to exploit, though. The Huskies allow an opponent three-point percentage of 29.7% (No. 13 in NCAA) and control the boards by averaging 39.3 rebounds per game (No. 10 in NCAA). They also shoot a reliable 76.0% from the free throw line (No. 37 in NCAA).

This one is going to be close, but I don’t expect UConn’s dominance to end on Saturday night.

MIAMI vs. UCONN FINAL SCORE Prediction: UConn 76, Miami 72

Miami vs. UConn Best Bet

UConn enters this one with the edge in a few statistical categories, but those advantages are not enough to warrant a 5.5-point spread. This is a Miami team that has been winning outright as an underdog all season long and knows how to both play with a considerable lead or fight back from a large deficit.

Miami is 4-1 against the spread (ATS) in its last five games overall, 5-1 ATS in its last six Saturday games away from home and 10-3 ATS in its last 13 games against UConn. Not only that, but five of the last 10 Final Four games have also been decided by fewer than six points. Don’t expect a blowout here.

MIAMI vs. CONNECTICUT BEST BET: Miami Hurricanes +5.5 (-106)

— Larry Rupp

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]]> Loading Dusty May Contract & Salary Details at Florida Atlantic https://boardroom.tv/dusty-may-contract-salary-florida-atlantic/ Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:29:06 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64999 Fifth-year FAU head coach Dusty May is due for a huge raise after leading the Owls to the Final Four. Boardroom dives into his contract as it stands now.

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]]> Fifth-year FAU head coach Dusty May is due for a huge raise after leading the Owls to the Final Four. Boardroom dives into his contract as it stands now.

UPDATE: After this story was published, Matt Norlander of CBS reported that May will sign a long-term deal with Florida Atlantic. The terms have not yet been disclosed.

A few weeks ago, Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May was a great candidate for several high-profile jobs in men’s college basketball. As an Indiana native, he would have made sense at Notre Dame, for example.

The only problem is his Owls kept winning, and as they advanced in the men’s NCAA Tournament, the top jobs began to fill. Now, if May is hoping to move on, he may have to wait a year. That gives the FAU administration some time to give the guy a well-deserved raise after he led the Owls to their first-ever NCAA Tournament win and now their first-ever appearance in the Final Four.

In comparison to the multi-million-dollar deals most high-major head coaches sign, May is making peanuts to lead the CUSA champs. Boardroom breaks down the current Dusty May contract before he inevitably leaves or the deal is restructured.

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Dusty May Contract & Salary Breakdown at FAU

Signed: March 20, 2021
Term: Through 2025-26 season
Base Salary: Started at $409,500 with a 5% annual increase, beginning in May 2021. That makes his current salary $451,473.75.

Unlike his power conference counterparts, May does not have a supplemental compensation clause that will pay him millions. His base salary, however, is relatively on par with his peers.

Dusty May Contract Bonuses

May has a series of bonuses built into his contract broken into four categories: postseason participation, coach of the year awards, postseason success, and academic success. The categories are not cumulative, meaning May will only earn the highest individual bonus that he achieves for each.

Postseason Participation

  • NIT invitation: $10,000
  • Conference regular season championship: $15,000
  • NCAA Tournament bid: $25,000

Coach of the Year:

  • Conference Coach of the Year: $10,000
  • National Coach of the Year: $25,000

Postseason Success:

  • NCAA Tournament game win: $30,000
  • Sweet 16 Appearance: $50,000
  • Elite Eight Appearance: $75,000
  • Final Four Appearance: $100,000
  • Championship Game Appearance: $150,000
  • National Championship: $250,000

Academic Success:

  • Single-season team APR equal to or greater than 950: $5,000
  • Single-season team APR equal to or greater than 960: $7,500
  • Top 10% NCAA APR recognition: $10,000

We don’t know what FAU’s team APR will be, but we know that May has earned a minimum of $135,000 in bonuses this year. That comes from the Owls making the NCAA Tournament, May winning CUSA Coach of the Year, and the team reaching the Final Four.

Dusty May Buyout Details

This is the part that is going to matter if another school tries to poach May. If he leaves for a bigger job, May (or his new employer) will have to pay the FAU administration the following:

  • $600,000 if the contract is terminated this season
  • $400,000 for next season
  • $200,000 the season after
  • $100,000 the season after that

Or, maybe this year is an aberration (very unlikely). If FAU fires May without cause, it will owe him a lump sum equalling the lesser of two values: whatever remains on his contract OR 20 weeks severance.

Additional Perks

In addition to his salary and bonus structure, May is entitled to the following, per his contract:

  • One university-provided automobile
  • 20 tickets to each FAU home men’s basketball game
  • FAU athletic apparel, as outlined in the university’s apparel agreement
  • Reimbursement for cell phone or a work-provided phone
  • Travel accommodations for coach’s spouse to attend conference and NCAA Tournament games

More Contracts & Salaries

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]]> Loading Women’s Hoops TV Ratings, Attendance Hit March Madness Milestones https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-womens-basketball-ratings-attendance-2023/ Wed, 29 Mar 2023 18:06:17 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64857 Setting new viewership and attendance records and at times outpacing the NBA, the best women’s hoopers in the land are another big step closer to getting their due. All eyes were on Caitlin Clark.

The post Women’s Hoops TV Ratings, Attendance Hit March Madness Milestones appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Setting new viewership and attendance records and at times outpacing the NBA, the best women’s hoopers in the land are another big step closer to getting their due.

All eyes were on Caitlin Clark.

The Iowa net-burner locked in Sunday night at March Madness, putting up a 42-point triple-double (!) against Louisville to put Iowa into the Final Four. The intense action set the tone for an exciting Elite Eight that boosted its fair share of storylines into the national spotlight.

If you want to judge all this through NCAA women’s basketball ratings, viewers ultimately tuned in to watch the matchup on ESPN in greater numbers than any NBA game the network has aired throughout the 2022-23 season to date.

2.7 million at its peak, to be exact.

The figure reflects a 43% bump over last year’s Elite Eight viewership and continues the steady rise in fanfare that the women’s NCAA Tournament has experienced on the Worldwide Leader in recent years.

While women’s sports still represent only 5% of all sports media coverage overall according to a 2021 study from the University of Southern California, its popular ascension is difficult to ignore.

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This year’s Women’s NCAA Tournament has already set new viewership markers as we head into its final weekend. Overall, the 56 games in the books brought in an average of 660,000 viewers, 42% more than last year’s event. As the action gets deeper, fans are locked in. ESPN reports that the Sweet Sixteen netted an average of 1.2 million viewers and over 3.5 billion minutes, a 73% year-over-year boost. UConn-Ohio State set the standard in that round, yielding 2.4 million viewers.

Women’s basketball attendance is experiencing a similar uptick. The four regional finals of the tournament brought in a total of 82,275 fans, eclipsing the 20-year-old record of 73,954 from 2003.

And, reflecting a basic principle of economics — remember those??? — as the demand increases, so too does the price. Tickets heading into this weekend’s women’s Final Four matchups are running three times higher ($323) than those for the men’s games ($99), according to Ticketmaster.

Major companies are keen to cash in on the profit potential of the priority product, too. ESPN announced in the weeks leading into the Final Four that it had fully sold out its television ad inventory. Earlier this year, brands like Ally Bank unveiled a multi-year, multi-million-dollar pledge to boost equal opportunity within women’s sports and its position as the first-ever title sponsor for the ACC women’s tournament, and Under Armour invested in the opportunity to take up its own space and capitalize on the popularity of the women’s tournament.

The growth of the women’s game is not isolated to traditional media, either. Stars like Miami’s Haley and Hanna Cavinder and LSU’s Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson boast some of the biggest social media followings (and the NIL earning potential that comes with it) across all of college athletics regardless of sport.

As we head into the final weekend of the competition, all eyes are on South Carolina, Iowa, LSU, and Virginia Tech.

Will Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks be able to sustain their perfect season? Will the Hokies convert their first shot at the title?

Off the court, still-more questions percolate, including when top beauty brands give the players who serve as their best unofficial spokeswomen their proper due, or when the women’s tournament’s TV rights will finally be spun out as a standalone product rather than lumped in with several other NCAA championships.

The former will take longer to answer than the latter, but I’ll be among the millions locked in to find out.

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]]> Loading 2023 Men’s Final Four TV Ratings May Be Lower Than Usual — Don’t Worry, and Here’s Why https://boardroom.tv/final-four-ratings-mens-march-madness/ Wed, 29 Mar 2023 16:17:12 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64738 An expected ratings dip at the 2023 men’s Final Four seems to be a leading narrative this week. But why? Let’s just enjoy the basketball. The NCAA technically isn’t a business — under the

The post 2023 Men’s Final Four TV Ratings May Be Lower Than Usual — Don’t Worry, and Here’s Why appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> An expected ratings dip at the 2023 men’s Final Four seems to be a leading narrative this week. But why? Let’s just enjoy the basketball.

The NCAA technically isn’t a business — under the law, it’s a non-profit — but for not-a-business, there are certainly a lot of business-y elements. The association’s massive media rights contract with CBS/Turner to televise its Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament is about as business-y as it gets.

And the NCAA makes over a billion dollars a year off of it — easily its biggest annual money-maker.

With that in mind, it’s reasonable to overreact to TV ratings (even preemptively) for one round in one year of one tournament. That’s why it’s not surprising to witness the #narrative that’s circulating this week about the 2023 men’s Final Four featuring UConn, Miami, San Diego State, and Florida Atlantic.

With only one traditional men’s basketball powerhouse out of the four — plus two teams from outside the major conferences — skeptics seem to expect a ratings disaster this weekend. After all, casual fans would rather watch Kansas or Duke or Kentucky than the Aztecs and Owls.

Maybe they’re right. Saturday night’s semifinal numbers may reflect only the true diehards, fans of the four teams, and a handful of gambling sickos, leading to much lower ratings than the NCAA has come to expect in the Final Four.

My only question is: Other than a handful of CBS PR folks, who cares?

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It is so painfully obvious that this year’s Final Four is an aberration compared to the usual semifinal field that no one in their right mind would think low ratings this weekend is indicative of anything to come. We are only a year removed from a Final Four that featured Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Villanova. UCLA, Gonzaga, and Baylor were in the Final Four the year before that. Some combination of those seven schools will likely be in the Final Four next year or the year after, no matter what happens this weekend.

The NCAA’s media deal with CBS and Turner is up in 2032, so this isn’t a so-called “contract year” or close to it. There’s no need for the NCAA to fear losing out on a few bucks when it gets back to the negotiating table because of potentially lower numbers this weekend. This also probably won’t affect how much Turner makes next year in ad revenue — or at least, not much.

All told, there are plenty of bigger factors to consider as Turner tries to go for three straight years of over a billion dollars made via advertising. To name a few:

  • The state of the economy at the time: Do ad partners have money to shell out?
  • The current crop of top teams: Are the most likely 2024 Final Four teams from programs that will draw eyeballs? The answer is almost always yes; 2023 is more likely to be the exception that proves the rule.
  • The talent in the sport: Are there individual players fans will want to tune in to watch regardless of which program they’re with? In this NIL era of ours that spurs more players to return to college, it’s likely. Throw in the possibility that a Bronny James might play in March Madness next year and the draw becomes that much stronger.

March Madness will be fine — it always has been and always will be, at least under its current structure. Zoom out a bit and, down the road, the 2023 Final Four may have ended up being a net positive for the sport.

Last year, it was the bluebloods. This year, it’s the mid-majors and the unexpecteds. It all adds to the unpredictability of the greatest postseason tournament in the world. There are so many more Final Four possibilities than even 15 years ago when a 2006 George Mason — led by current Miami coach Jim Larrañaga, no less — was seen as a historic oddity. There’s no 11-seed in this year’s Final Four, but we do have a 9, 6, and 5: three seed lines that have never won the whole thing.

Next year? Maybe it’ll be all bluebloods again. Maybe we’ll get a quartet of upstart surprises. More likely, we’ll see a combination of the two with plenty of intrigue to go around. The ratings will be there, too, even if this year ends up being an anomaly.

More March Madness:

The post 2023 Men’s Final Four TV Ratings May Be Lower Than Usual — Don’t Worry, and Here’s Why appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Loading Dan Hurley Builds His Own Legacy https://boardroom.tv/dan-hurley-uconn-huskies-final-four/ Wed, 29 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64543 Rooted in one of basketball’s best family trees, the younger Hurley is charting a course of his own at UConn.

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]]> Rooted in one of basketball’s best family trees, the younger Hurley is charting a course of his own at UConn.

Editor’s Note: Dan Hurley signed a new six-year, $32.1 million deal with the Huskies in June 2023.

It’s been 31 years since a Hurley has appeared in the Final Four.

Back in 1992, Duke dynamo Bobby Hurley had his way with Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers and Jalen Rose’s Fab 5 en route to winning his second straight National Championship under Coach K.

For his heroics, the eldest Hurley earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the 1992 Final Four.

photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

While it was Bobby’s World around Durham and on ESPN, another Hurley was finding his way over at Seton Hall.

Dan Hurley, younger brother to Bobby and son of famed St. Anthony head coach Bob Sr., had just finished his freshman season as a Pirate under P.J. Carlesimo.

Familiar with the weight of leadership, Dan spent five seasons in Newark, rising from backup point guard to standout starter. By his senior season, he was the team leader in assists.

As a player, Dan never made it past the Sweet 16. Once he graduated, Shaheen Holloway stole the show as Pirate point guard, leaving Dan’s dimes in the past.

Dan never played a minute in the NBA, nor did he enjoy the national fanfare associated with his lottery-pick older brother or E:60-profiled pops.

Not until now.

Heading into the 2023 Final Four as UConn Huskies head coach, Hurley has gone from supportive sibling to star of the Dance.

In profiling his rise in the ranks and potential earnings in Storrs, Boardroom breaks down the younger Hurley’s success.

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The Hurley Family Business

In high school hoops circles, few names garner as much respect as Bob Hurley.

Over 39 years coaching St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, Bob Sr. won 26 state and four national championships.

A living legend in his city, the original Coach Hurley won well over 1,000 games, placing the likes of Rodrick Rhodes, Tyshawn Taylor, and Kyle Anderson into the NBA.

photo by Elsa/Getty Images

While all those accolades impress, Bobby is the most famous figure to come out of St. Anthony.

Jersey City’s chosen son by the time he could drive a car, and nationally known by the age of 18, Bobby Hurley was among the most heralded point guards the tri-state area and ACC had ever seen.

The eldest Hurley son came into the national spotlight in 1989 when he won co-MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game with Shaquille O’Neal. He did so by beating out the likes of Kenny Anderson, Jim Jackson, and Allan Houston.

More than just a one-hit wonder, Bobby became a two-time national champion at Duke and the all-time NCAA assists leader. As a rookie for the Sacramento Kings, Bobby was a Day 1 starter, averaging just over seven points and six assists per game.

Tragically, an SUV accident just months after his NBA arrival derailed his pro career. Once he recovered, he played limited minutes and was out of the league five years later.

While Bobby’s playing days faded due to injury, Danny’s slipped away due to his own personal struggles. Though a solid starter at Seton Hall, an American playing career was not in the cards. Rather than travel overseas, Danny suited up next to his father as an assistant at St. Anthony immediately after graduating.

photo by Bob Stowell/Getty Images

He took to the family trade instantly. After a season supporting his pops in high school, Dan left for an assistant coaching job at Rutgers.

Working under Coach Kevin Bannon, Dan helped the program for four seasons before returning to high school.

Well, not just any high school.

From 2001 to 2010, Dan Hurley served as head coach of St. Benedict’s Preparatory School: a team that tangled for top squad in New Jersey with his famous father’s program.

Capable of leading on his own, Dan became the fastest high school coach in the area to reach 200 wins. You could say that coaching was in his blood.

In his time at St. Benedict’s, Dan went an impressive 223-21 and coached the likes of J.R. Smith, Lance Thomas, and Tyler Ennis.

It all set Dan up for the college coaching career he’s enjoying now — one that’s resulted in profitable family reunions.

Campus Climb

In 2010, Dan Hurley was named head coach at Wagner College on Staten Island.

Upon taking the job, he announced an assistant that would join him on the journey: his older brother, Bobby.

At the private liberal arts school, Dan made the sub-.500 bottom feeders into the toast of the Northeast Conference. After two seasons, Dan departed for the head coaching job at the University of Rhode Island.

photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

Though Wagner’s a private school, meaning its salary information is not public, Non-Profit Light lists his successor’s salary at $222,456 a season.

Conversely, Dan’s new gig at Rhode Island upped his profile in conferences and upped his pay to $4 million plus for a six-season deal.

Like Wagner, he brought Bobby along with him, this time as associate head coach. After an underwhelming debut, Bobby took the head coaching job at Buffalo while Dan turned the tide at URI.

photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images

By his third season, Dan had the Rams in the second round of the NIT.

That same year, Bobby took the head coaching job at Arizona State, adding even more esteem to the Hurley name.

Early on in Tempe, Bobby was making roughly $1.4 million a season which ranked among the bottom of the Pac-12. Today, Bobby’s salary at ASU is approaching $2.7 million a year.

If it sounds like the Hurley family was winning in both box scores and bank accounts, it’s because they were. The coach’s kids were both creating lucrative careers for themselves in the family field of choice.

While poppa Hurley called it quits in 2017 when St. Anthony shut down, his youngest son was in the midst of back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids at Rhode Island.

The winning ways caught the eyes of suitors in Storrs and at Pittsburgh, with UConn emerging as the best fit for the former Big East guard.

In 2018, Dan took the head coaching job at UConn with a starting salary of $2.75 million. While ESPN reports suggest that Pitt offered an even higher number, the prestige of the Huskies program proves top tier.

Like previous gigs, Dan’s ability to turn the team into winners and exceed expectations quickly paid off.

Like previous Husky head coaches, he has a chance to up the ante on his already sizable salary if he cuts the nets down next Monday.

Net Income

Coming into the Final Four, Dan Hurley leads a program pegged as the odds-on favorite given the current field.

While Dan certainly hopes a championship is in his immediate future, national titles are all over the team’s recent past.

photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In the last quarter century, UConn has a whopping four national championships — more than any other team in that span.

Two coaches have played a part in that net cutting: Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie.

For their efforts, the university cut major checks.

In 1999, Calhoun took home a title on the strength of passionate play from Rip Hamilton, Khalid El-Amin, and Ricky Moore. Months after winning his first title, Calhoun signed a new contract for five years, valued somewhere between $875,000 to $900,000 a season.

photo by Jack Dempsey/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Right on schedule, Calhoun won again in 2004 as that first title contract came to a close. He then re-upped for six more seasons in Storrs for a grand sum of $9.1 million, taking his annual salary to $1.51 million a season.

Years later in 2009, Calhoun proved perfect in timing again. The UConn coach signed a new five-year deal for $13 million total, taking his seasonal salary to $2.6 million as he enrolled a freshman class that would go on to appear in two Final Fours and win the 2011 title.

Amid health issues, Calhoun retired in 2012 with three rings and massive money made during his 26 seasons.

Upon his exit, former Husky point guard and then-assistant Kevin Ollie took the reins as head coach.

Shortly after, Ollie won his first and only national title in 2014, setting the stage for a contract renewal for five years ranging somewhere between $2.8 million and $3 million a season. In 2018, Ollie was let go as head coach, which is when Hurley entered the fold.

So, how much will Hurley make if he wins a title similar to his two predecessors?

Under his current contract, Dan Hurley makes $2.9 million per year. For reference, that’s slightly more than the salary of his big brother Bobby at Arizona State, and as CT Insider points out, second only to Huskies women’s coach Geno Auriemma where public employees in the state are concerned.

This season, Hurley has already secured an automatic two-year extension to his deal and a $200,000 bonus, both earned with UConn’s Elite Eight win over Gonzaga.

If UConn wins it all this season, Hurley will make an extra $750,000. If the Huskies cut down the nets, finish in the top ten in both major polls, and his players excel in the classroom, the maximum possible bonus Hurley can earn is an extra $1 million.

So, Hurley is already looking at a new salary of $3.35 million based on recent success, and up to $3.9 million if he hits every mark. Though inflation plays a part, that would be more annually than Calhoun or Ollie ever made in a season. It would also surpass that of Auriemma’s current contract, worth $3 million a season with annual upticks of $100,000.

For a college town that lives to cut nets, best believe the powers that be are ready to cut checks.

If Dan Hurley finds himself at the forefront of the Final Four much like his older brother 31 years prior, he won’t be handed the hardware in a uniform. However, his son Andrew, a junior walk-on at UConn, will.

For a basketball lifer like Dan, it could all serve as a fitting Final Four return for the Hurley family.

More March Madness:

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]]> Seton Hall v Georgetown LANDOVER, MD - JANUARY 27: Danny Hurley #15 of the Seton Hall Pirates looks on during a college basketball game against the Georgetown Hoyas at USAir Arena on January 27, 1993 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) Loading 2017 NJSIAA Boy’s Basketball North B Tournament – Quarterfinals JERSEY CITY, NJ - MARCH 03: Head coach Bob Hurley of the St. Anthony Friars talks with his players during a time out in the first half against the Monclair Immaculate Lions during the 2017 NJSIAA Boy's Basketball North B Tournament Quarterfinals at C.E.R.C. on March 3, 2017 in Jersey City, New Jersey.The St. Anthony Friars defeated the Monclair Immaculate Lions 66-52. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) Jeff Calhoun And Danny Hurley American basketball player Jeff Calhoun (left), of the University of Connecticut, listens to player Danny Hurley of Seton Hall as they both stand courtside, Hartford Connecticut, 1994. Calhoun is the son of University of Connecticut men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun, while Hurley is the son of Saint Anthony's high school coach Bob Hurley. (Photo by Bob Stowell/Getty Images) Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament – Second Round NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: Head coach Dan Hurley of the Rhode Island Rams celebrates a point against the Massachusetts Minutemen during the second round of the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at the Barclays Center on March 10, 2016 in New York, New York. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) NCAA BASKETBALL: MAR 14 MAC Championship – Buffalo v Central Michigan photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images NCAA BASKETBALL: MAR 24 Div I Men’s Championship – Arkansas vs UConn photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – West Regional photo by Jack Dempsey/NCAA Photos via Getty Images Women’s Final Four Odds: South Carolina Eyes a Repeat https://boardroom.tv/womens-final-four-odds-2023/ Tue, 28 Mar 2023 18:44:40 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64677 South Carolina steamrolled its way to the Final Four, but Caitlin Clark and Iowa await in Dallas. Boardroom has the latest women's Final Four odds.

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]]> South Carolina steamrolled its way to the Final Four, but Caitlin Clark and Iowa await in Dallas. Boardroom has the latest women’s Final Four odds.

This isn’t your typical women’s Final Four, but if you want to see the best of the best, you’ll want to tune in.

Undefeated, defending national champion South Carolina is back in the Final Four and the runaway favorite to repeat. But to get to the final, the Gamecocks will have to get through Iowa, the team with likely national player of the year Caitlin Clark. The Hawkeyes have the offensive firepower to win, but South Carolina defends as well as any team we’ve ever seen.

But don’t pencil in the winner of that game as the automatic national champion. Virginia Tech and LSU will go at it in the other national semifinal, and you shouldn’t take either lightly.

For starters, Angel Reese of LSU is one of the best players in college basketball. How good is she? She went just 3-15 from the field in the Tigers’ Elite Eight win over Miami…and still ended up with 13 points and 18 rebounds, notching her 400th double-double this season (estimated). In the Second Round against Michigan, SHE HAD 25 POINTS, 24 REBOUNDS, AND SIX BLOCKS. That does not happen. But it did.

Somehow, 1 seed Virginia Tech almost feels overlooked in this Final Four. Elizabeth Kitley might have something to say about that. Fresh off a 25-and-12 performance against Ohio State in the Elite Eight, Kitley has been the Hokies’ big star. But she wasn’t even the Most Outstanding Player in Virginia Tech’s region. That honor goes to Georgia Amoore, who is closing in on the all-time NCAA Tournament three-point record — she has 20 so far, two shy of the all-time best.

So there’s plenty to be excited about this week in Dallas. But who’s going to win the whole thing? We’ll leave it to our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook to fill you in on the odds.

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Final Four Odds 2023: Women’s NCAA Tournament

All betting odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

National Semifinals:

  • LSU -1.5 (-108)
  • Virginia Tech +1.5 (+112)
  • Iowa +11.5 (-110)
  • South Carolina -11.5 (-110)

To Win National Championship:

  • South Carolina: -310
  • LSU: +600
  • Iowa: +900
  • Virginia Tech: +1000

South Carolina vs. The Field:

  • South Carolina: -310
  • The Field: +230

More March Madness:

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]]> Loading Texas, Rodney Terry Agree to 5-year, $15.3 Million Contract https://boardroom.tv/rodney-terry-texas-longhorns-contract/ Mon, 27 Mar 2023 19:57:22 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64500 By the end, it seemed inevitable. Texas has offered Rodney Terry a contract to be its next head men's basketball coach.

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]]> By the end, it seemed inevitable. Texas has offered Rodney Terry a contract to be its next head men’s basketball coach.

As the Texas Longhorns‘ run through the 2023 men’s NCAA Tournament continued, it felt inevitable. Eventually, Texas had to offer Rodney Terry the full-time head coaching job.

It became official on Monday, the day after Miami knocked the Longhorns out of the tournament in an epic Elite Eight showdown. After reports surfaced late Sunday night, athletic director Chris Del Conte formally offered Terry the job, after he stepped in as interim head coach earlier this year.

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The deal is for five years and worth $15.3 million, a source told Boardroom.

Terry took over the program on Dec. 12, hours after then-head coach Chris Beard was arrested on a third-degree felony assault charge. That night, Rice took Texas to overtime, before the Longhorns prevailed, continuing a streak that grew to nine wins in 10 games.

The Big 12 schedule was less forgiving, though that’s to be expected from the highest-rated conference in the country. Still, Texas finished 12-6 in the conference regular season, punctuated by a double-digit win over Kansas on Senior Day. The Longhorns kept that momentum into the Big 12 Tournament, beating Oklahoma State and TCU before blowing out the Jayhawks in the conference title game and earning a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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Though Texas came up short of its ultimate goal of a Final Four, its tournament run included a dominating win over 3-seed Xavier and a gutsy performance against an under-seeded Penn State team.

Now, Terry must move Texas into the future. The Longhorns had six seniors on the roster who contributed serious minutes, and though the COVID year rule may mean some can return, there will be new faces leading the charge in 2023-24. Texas will enroll two top-40 recruits next year, including ESPN’s No. 5 overall, Ron Holland. Terry has also proven a master of the transfer portal and will look to reload from there as well.

It all means Terry heads into the offseason with job security and roster uncertainty. In 2023, that’s about the most a head coach could ask for.

More College Hoops:

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]]> Loading Athletes.org Men’s Final Four Odds: Is it UConn vs. the Field to Cut Down the Nets? https://boardroom.tv/mens-final-four-odds-2023-march-madness/ Mon, 27 Mar 2023 10:21:43 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64602 For the first time since 1970, the men’s Final Four will feature three teams that have never been there before. The fourth team is the odds-on favorite to go home a winner. Be honest:

The post Men’s Final Four Odds: Is it UConn vs. the Field to Cut Down the Nets? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> For the first time since 1970, the men’s Final Four will feature three teams that have never been there before. The fourth team is the odds-on favorite to go home a winner.

Be honest: How many men’s Final Four teams did you get right when you filled out your 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket on Selection Sunday?

I’ll buy that you had one. UConn was a trendy pick, Miami won the ACC, and San Diego State won a really good Mountain West Conference. You could have gotten one of them. But did you have more than one of those teams? No. No, you did not.

Yet, here we stand. On Saturday night, the Owls of Florida Atlantic (!) will play SDSU and UConn will face the Canes in the national semifinals in Houston. Between them, the four teams have a combined six Final Four appearances — all from Connecticut. Miami’s Jim Larrañaga is the only head coach left standing with Final Four experience, though he did so with unsung George Mason back in 2006.

So how does one possibly go about deciding odds in this wacky, wild Final Four? You don’t, of course. Instead, you turn to our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook — check out all the latest numbers below.

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Final Four Odds 2023: Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament

All betting odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of Monday, March 27, 2023.

National Semifinals

  • FAU +1.5 (-102)
  • San Diego State -1.5 (-120)
  • Miami +5.5 (-106)
  • UConn -5.5 (114)

To Win Championship:

  • UConn: -125
  • San Diego State: +360
  • Miami: +490
  • FAU: +600
@boardroom_ 90 TEAMS in the NCAA Tournament?!? 🤯#marchmadness #ncaabasketball #collegebasketball #collegesports #finalfour ♬ original sound – Boardroom

National Championship Exacta

  • UConn over San Diego State: +220
  • UConn over FAU: +260
  • San Diego State over UConn: +550
  • FAU over UConn: +750
  • Miami over San Diego State: +950
  • Miami over FAU: +1000
  • San Diego State over Miami: +1100
  • FAU over Miami: +1600

Final Four Most Outstanding Player Futures Betting Odds

  • Adama Sanogo (UConn): +270
  • Jordan Hawkins (UConn): +330
  • Isaiah Wong (Miami): +1200
  • Darrion Trammell (San Diego State):+1200
  • Johnell Davis (FAU): +1400
  • Matt Bradley (San Diego State): +1500
  • Andre Jackson Jr. (UConn): +1500
  • Lamont Butler (San Diego State): +1500
  • Jordan Miller (Miami): +1900
  • Alijah Martin (FAU): +2100
  • Nijel Pack (Miami): +2400
  • Vladislav Goldin (FAU): +2600
  • Jaedon LeDee (San Diego State): +3400
  • Nathan Mensah (San Diego State): +3400
  • Norchad Omier (Miami): +4200

More March Madness:

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]]> Loading College Hoops Stars Are the Real Beauty Influencers https://boardroom.tv/beauty-influencers-womens-college-basketball/ Sat, 25 Mar 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63581 In conversation with female college basketball players, beauty experts, and marketing executives, Boardroom explores the intersection of beauty and sports. Tarte, Bare Minerals, FENTY, M·A·C Cosmetics®, all household names in the beauty industry. If

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]]> In conversation with female college basketball players, beauty experts, and marketing executives, Boardroom explores the intersection of beauty and sports.

Tarte, Bare Minerals, FENTY, M·A·C Cosmetics®, all household names in the beauty industry. If you’re anything like myself or you identify as a Generation Z-er with close ties to BeautyTok — home of the beauty influencers on TikTok — you have at least one or two products from brands like these in your beauty bag.

But what happens when macro-level beauty influencers keep racking up products for free and handing them extra publicity and prestige, causing price hikes for formerly accessible mainstays and minimizing access for Black women and girls?

While young women like 22-year-old Alix Earle are earning upwards of $1.2 million per year, using their influence and notoriety to increase demand for Mielle Organics’ Rosemary Mint Scalp and Hair Strengthening Oil, girls of the same age minus the privilege, opportunities, and platforms are left to research, scour for, and purchase products they swear by without a monetary incentive behind it. And while BeautyTok girlies like Alexandra Pohl and Meredith Duxbury are flown out to Dubai on behalf of beauty brands, the girls who are doing the same work pro bono are rarely even offered an affiliate link for their support of such products in and out of their professional lives.

Are these enthusiasts not influencers all the same? According to Sheena Butler-Young, Senior Correspondent at The Business of Fashion (BoF), the definition of what it means to be an influencer, especially in the beauty, style, and fashion industry, has evolved over the course of several years from the aspiration of perfection and society’s standards of beauty to a more approachable, relatable aesthetic in an effort to connect with the brand’s audiences.

In doing so, larger beauty and fashion brands have opted to go the way of partnering with “microinfluencers” — rising stars with fewer than 100,000 followers — and favor social media personalities with a more realistic, wellness-driven, accessible appeal.

With the key pillars for a beauty influencer evolving into some combination of relatability, approachable personality, and an authentic appreciation for the products outside of monetary gain, who among us truly are the apex beauty influencers of today?

“As beauty brands look to grow their revenues and impact in this environment, it makes sense to partner with college students — the bulk of whom are part of the Gen Z cohort — and collegiate-level athletes, who in many ways epitomize the idea of health and wellness,” Butler-Young told Boardroom. “Let’s not forget that pro athletes have been doing beauty ads and sponsorships for some time now, [with] Sue Bird [and] Lexie Brown [as] examples, and even launching their own lines — remember A-Rod’s ‘Blur Stick’? So, this really feels like a natural extension.”

More specifically, the ideal influencer would be someone who tests their product better than any model, highly-paid celebrity endorser, or socialite could. Instead of someone who can test out an acne serum under a full face of makeup at a movie premiere, how about someone who already has a natural, youthful glow putting it to the test while sweating day in and day out across their daily lives? Rather than depicting a moisturizer as a primer for a red carpet debut, what if we turned our heads to someone who uses the same product as a lynchpin for achieving a camera-ready look when sprinting and flying in front of millions on ESPN?

Bottom line? Women’s college basketball players fit the bill.

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According to Gen Z-centric skincare brand Bubble’s CEO and founder Shai Eisenman, it would behoove beauty brands to partner with athletes, especially at the collegiate level, and include them in conversations about influencer marketing and product placement. “Athletes especially always have to put their best face forward, and we want to empower them to feel confident in their own skin – even off the field,” she told Boardroom.

In addition to brand ambassadors such as All American star Samantha Logan and Netflix’s On My Block actor Diego Tinoco, Bubble has previously partnered with track and field star Sam Hurley and Minnesota Vikings All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson, demonstrating that you don’t need to be considered a traditionally viral beauty influencer to appreciate self-care and hygiene.

“Athletes and fitness enthusiasts are another important consumer for Bubble. They are interested in products that can help them maintain the best skin. Our work clearly reflects how skincare is essential in everyone’s routine, no matter your profession,” Eisenman added. “We love working with talent that has a natural connection with skincare, but aren’t the typical influencer.”

In the midst of the highly-anticipated March Madness marker, it was time that we had the opportunity to get some one-on-one with some of the top college hoopers on the court about just how much their own routines match up with this evolving industry’s definition of being an influencer.

Boardroom spoke to UNC’s Deja Kelly, LSU’s Angel Reese, and South Carolina’s Breanna Beal about their personal relationships with their beauty routines, how they glow from the inside and out onto the court, and how we can continue to hold the beauty industry accountable as we look to the future of influencer marketing.

More Than a Game

For North Carolina Tar Heels hooper Deja Kelly, who prides herself in looking her best during every game, from laid edges to her nail colors poppin’ on the court, embracing femininity and showcasing a full face of glam on the hardwood is about more than just looking pretty — it serves as a boost of confidence while playing in front of thousands of people in arenas across the country and millions more on national television.

“I don’t really think you can go wrong with wearing makeup for games if it makes you feel good. If you think it makes you look good, which it does, then wear it,” Kelly said powerfully to Boardroom as she prepped her face with CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser and First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads. For her, the “look good, feel good” mantra when it comes to on-court makeup is as true as ever.

Styling her hair back into a sleek ponytail with full natural curls cascading from the back — to which she refers on-camera as a “D1 do” — Kelly noted how her signature hairstyle helps her to level up mentally while she’s playing. “I think that’s something that I really take pride in. When your hair looks good, you look like you play D1 basketball and you feel like it; you feel good. Your hair looks good. That’s what my mom used to call it when I was younger, so I stick with that,” she said.

Humbly but observantly, she also noted that she pays close attention to which of her games are nationally televised in an effort to optimize around her hair, skincare, nails, and beauty routine to the fullest.

“Collegiate-level athletes work hard, play harder, and capture it all via TikTok and Instagram, making them the perfect influencers,” Mielle Senior Brand Director Nicole Ray Robinson told Boardroom. “Beauty brands have a responsibility to be inclusive and reflective of all beauty standards, and can do so by incorporating athletes in beauty messaging.”

Much like Kelly, Reese, and Beal, Robinson suggested that athletes opt for protective styles such as braids, wigs, and weaves to allow for proper hair growth between juggling academics and games. Who better to test out top-tier Mielle Organics products, such as the brand’s Braid & Scalp Moisturizer, than these ladies?

As a player herself, Kelly enjoys seeing other women’s basketball players get glammed up for a game because it makes her feel not only seen, but proud that women in a male-dominated industry can demonstrate that they can be feminine and beautiful while also showing that this isn’t just a boys’ playground. Furthermore, Kelly is fully aware that opportunities like brand partnerships and NIL endorsements can arise from looking your best and standing out from the crowd chasing around a basketball surrounded by a sea of delirious fans.

“You never know what brands are watching to where I could possibly get a partnership just from that game, just from them seeing how I carry myself on the court,” Kelly said. “That’s where I think a lot of these beauty brands are dropping the ball, because there’s so many female hoopers [and] female athletes that really take pride in their appearance on the court. I feel like so many of these beauty brands can really take advantage of that and partner with these ladies, because why wouldn’t you wanna have them show you already see that they’re showcasing their beauty on the court? Why not have them represent your brand?”

As Boardroom staff writer Randall Williams added, “When college athletes wear beauty brand products, they’re serving as walking billboards — it’s that simple. They are proving whether or not the products are of value, because in a lot of cases, they are sprinting, jumping, swinging, sweating, dancing, and so much more. If a beauty product can stay consistent while they are competing and exerting tremendous energy into their craft, it will for sure be okay for a fun night out or a party.”

While Kelly deems one of her favorite beauty influencers, Monet McMichael, as a top personality to follow on TikTok thanks to her fun, bubbly personality as a college student who’s studying nursing, she’s saddened by the fact that of all the influencers that she does follow on the social media platform, none of them are athletes like her. “I’m really hoping that these beauty brands kind of flip the script on partnering with us collegiate athletes, because it would mean the world,” she said.

While there’s no specific brand that she would have in mind to boost her personal path to influencership, she is open to collaborating with companies that would be willing to give her a chance to “up my image” as a beauty enthusiast.

“I am an influencer in a way, just as a college athlete, ’cause people are watching. People are watching your games, people are watching what you wear, what you do on and off the court,” Kelly said.

“I would say I’m an influencer in that way, as well as a lot of other college hoopers across the board. I think it’s pretty cool to see people wanting to kind of mirror what you wear, what you do on the court. It’s super important to include college athletes [and] college basketball players in the conversations of influencer marketing strategies because you can physically see the impact we have. If you want to grow your brand, grow your followers, grow your business, including college basketball players or college athletes in that manner is definitely beneficial because people love to watch college athletics.”

I’m A [Bayou] Barbie Girl in a Basketball World

LSU Tigers basketball star Angel Reese prides herself on her beauty routine, and it shows. From her eyes fluttering with Fat Lashes to the moisture locked into her skin with Neutrogena Hydro Boost, Reese knows that her regimen has to be as top-performing as her game on the court — and she never falls short of stellar. Sporting bundles from WNBA superstar Te’a Cooper’s Hollywood Luxury Hair with edges laid by Loc N’s edge styling gel, Reese gave Boardroom the real on her personal relationship with beauty as a hooper.

“They call me the Bayou Barbie,” Reese said playfully during her GRWM-style (“Get Ready With Me”) interview with Boardroom. “The Barbie part comes from just being able to be cute and still get buckets. I feel like it’s just so slept-on that many brands don’t work with college athletes, and even just athletes in general.”

While Reese has partnered with some of the aforementioned brands in her beauty routine before, she aspires one day to be featured in a major campaign as a brand ambassador or a model.

“If they can spend thousands of dollars for extravagant trips, they can also spend just as much on events and trips for college students and athletes. They may not be able to travel far because they’re in school, but local getaways are very much a thing, too,” R29 Unbothered’s Style & Culture Specialist Venesa Coger explained to Boardroom, alluding to Tarte’s viral Dubai trip. When reflecting on the trip’s impact on influencer marketing, Coger noted that its only real outcome was shining a light on the lack of diversity in the influencer space and pushing the narrative that you have to have millions of followers to be invited into rooms you would only see on your “Explore” page.

So, how do these brands diversify? According to Coger, it means reaching back to those who are on the ground and listening to the ones who are actually buying, testing, and authentically championing beauty products without monetary incentive.

“I think this starts with the brands’ influencer marketing team doing a better job at having a mix of events that can cater to all types of influencers,” she said. “It’s important to include college students and collegiate-level athletes in the conversation of influencer marketing because they have a community closer to their fingertips by being on campus. It’s surprising that brands don’t come up with bigger initiatives to tap into working with more college students, especially when on-campus clubs and organizations could use the extra funds and even sponsorships to build their events out and garner more student participation and school spirit.”

While Reese’s routine doesn’t necessarily differ from when she’s off-camera versus when a game is televised, she does make sure to pack on the lashes whenever she can to bring more attention to her eyes. Before the COVID-19 pandemic first rocked the world to its core in 2020, Reese was spending nearly $100 per lash appointment, but she quickly realized that she could adopt the trade herself.

She has not looked back since.

Hello, can anyone say “lash ambassadorship pending?“

“My routine doesn’t really change when I’m going on TV because I just know every time it seems like the game is televised, lashes always seem to fly off,” Reese joked. Her teammates and coaches, she said, would always tease about her lashes falling out during games because of how hard she plays, which inspired her always to keep an extra set of falsies in her locker room. “[During] one of my games actually in SEC tournament, my lashes came off and I got hit so hard and [there] was a leak in the ceiling or whatever. That 30 minutes that we had down because we were waiting for everything to get fixed in the ceiling, I went to go fix those lashes.”

Unapologetically encouraging viewers to be themselves and be their own biggest fans at all times while chasing that bag, Reese also noted how brands are missing bag-securing potential themselves from a consumer base perspective by passing up young athletes such as herself for paid partnerships. “I just feel like the beauty brands, even the hair brands, they’re missing out on these opportunities, because I feel like we’re the girls that are wearing, the edge controls, the eyelashes — I would love for them to actually sponsor or work with us for NIL deals,” she said.

“It would be great, amazing on both ends. Like, on my side, of course since I always use the product so it’ll be authentic, but growing their brand as well.”

Shoot Your Shot, BeautyTok

Starting her skincare routine with La Roche-Posay’s Toleriane Purifying Foaming Facial Cleanser, South Carolina guard Brea Beal’s natural glow shines through as her braids are pulled into a messy bun at the crown of her head and her lashes are holding steady in place. As a basketball player, Beal swears by a good moisturizer to lock into her pores while she’s sweating throughout an intense game on the court, especially if it features a solid sunscreen.

“I think it’s cool that they’re able to play and wear makeup and really showcase who they are. For me personally, I like to go for [a] more natural look. I’ve tried, like, the concealer or a little makeup here and there, but when you’re at home and you’re wearing white jerseys and stuff, it gets everywhere for me so I haven’t really figured that out yet but I really am inspired by those who do wear makeup,” she said of athletes who achieve a full beat before a game. “I’m not really sure if people think I wear makeup or not, but they may be surprised if they find out that I don’t, ’cause when I don’t know how to put it on as good as other women who play basketball, they might be surprised that I don’t wear it.”

While she sings the praises of women like WNBA legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Tina Thompson for rocking her signature ruby red MAC Diva lipstick, Beal opts for a more natural look when she’s playing. In addition to wanting to look more glammed-down on the court, she admits that she doesn’t much know how to do her own makeup — as opposed to her natural skincare routine that she has locked and loaded with tons of products that she trusts and swears by.

The products that she would prefer to lean into more, especially the waterproof kind, tend to be on the more expensive end of the spectrum, which decreases her ability to indulge in them as a full-time college student and athlete.

Beauty and Style Expert Sha Ravine Spencer praises beauty brands for steering away from the standard of glass, porcelain skin types and inching more towards real folks with real skin issues like acne, hyperpigmentation, and other conditions — much like college students today.

“Many other beauty brands such as Topicals are showcasing influencers and models with stretchmarks, textured skin, etc. Interestingly enough, the campaign isn’t about how their product will change or fix the skin care ‘issue’ but instead it’s about loving your skin and wanting to nurture it instead of trying to ‘fix’ it, so including real skin in their campaigns via models and influencers who are not projecting or portraying conventional beauty standards,” she told Boardroom.

As it pertains to the relationship between these companies and female athletes, Beal believes that beauty brands are dropping the ball (no pun intended). Women’s college basketball players, as well as those superstars already in the WNBA or hooping overseas, would serve as ideal campaign fixtures and brand ambassadors, according to Beal, because they can show the true potential and results of beauty products while engaged in uncommonly demanding action.

“What better [way] than showing that your makeup can last on somebody who is playing 40 minutes a game or winning championships or the MVP of a tournament or stuff like that? I definitely think companies should take more of an advantage on it because I feel like it’ll showcase, their makeup, their products, whatever. It may be a lot better than just partnering with somebody who is just like a makeup [influencer] in a sense,” she said while preparing her face for an on-camera hit.

For Beal, ideal partnerships would include BareMinerals and La Roche-Posay because of their natural ingredients and glowy results that fit in perfectly with her skin goals and type. However, she notes that even though she is not on an official privileged mailing list or receiving PR packages to unbox in front of millions of followers, she still considers herself an influencer based on the leverage of social media alone.

“Nowadays, social media is so powerful that whether you feel like you’re not posting a lot or anything of that sort, you’re still like an influencer,” she said. “Whether you’re posting once every month, once every two months, people are still watching. So, I definitely consider myself an influencer even if I’m not targeting anything specifically.”

As a beauty influencer of the self-appointed variety, Beal notes that she prioritizes embracing her femininity and even sensuality as a basketball player and a woman, and encourages young women and girls who are looking at her to do the same as appropriate for their age — no matter how society wrestles with precisely defining influence in the social media era.

“I feel like my brand is embracing beauty as far as the lashes, when I have my nails done, [or] any type of hairstyles it may be. I feel like that is my brand — just to be able to let women, younger girls, teens, whatever it may be, know that it’s okay to go out there and feel pretty and play good. You feel good, you play good,” Beal said, echoing Angel Reese’s own sentiments.

“That’s really my motto. I think that is probably the point where I influence the most when it comes to my social media platform. I think [with] athletes, whether it’s basketball or whatever the case may be, I think it is pretty important to include them when it comes to the marketing strategies to boost a company’s reputation or their sales. Whether they have a big following or not, I feel like they can definitely influence a brand or change the culture of a brand more than, like, people think. Brands should connect with these collegiate athletes more and expand their palette in a sense, and just be open to new ideas. I think it definitely can help both parties,” she said.

Now, how can we hold these brands accountable and advocate for the next cohort of beauty influencers?

For Sha Ravine Spencer, it’s as simple as outreach.

“As much as diversifying the boardrooms of these companies would diversify their campaigns, partnerships, and overall marketing it also starts with brands taking the initiative to actually reach out to the unconventional influencer,” Spencer noted in referring to athletes like Kelly, Reese, and Beal.

“Brands need to lean into taking more risks and thinking outside of the box with their marketing campaigns because working with athletes would open them up to another consumer base. One product placement mentioned by an athlete during the game or pre- or post-game interviews can instantly turn into sales. Consumers can call for their favorite brands to partner with their favorite athletes and use social media to directly engage with these brands and voice their desires,” she said.

“Simply put, brands need to build relationships and research how these relationships with athletes can be mutually beneficial.”

MORE WOMEN EMPOWERMENT STORIES

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]]> Loading InfoGraphic_Deja InfoGraphic_Deja-1 InfoGraphic_Angel InfoGraphic_Angel-1 InfoGraphic_Brea InfoGraphic_Brea-1 How Markquis Nowell Became Mr. New York City https://boardroom.tv/markquis-nowell-madison-square-garden-march-madness/ Fri, 24 Mar 2023 22:41:02 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=64436 @MrNewYorkCityy is more than just his Twitter handle. Kansas State point guard Markquis Nowell proved that Thursday night at MSG.

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]]> @MrNewYorkCityy is more than just his Twitter handle. Kansas State point guard Markquis Nowell proved that Thursday night at MSG.

Markquis Nowell is so New York that he went to college halfway across the country and still couldn’t escape Manhattan.

In 2022-23, the 5-foot-8 short king took the Little Apple by storm, averaging 17.2 points and 8.1 assists per game for Kansas State. The transfer from Arkansas-Little Rock, whose Twitter handle is @MrNewYorkCityy, came to Manhattan, Kansas, to play for a different head coach. But he stuck with new leader Jerome Tang as he pieced a roster together to little fanfare.

It’s a good thing he did. At the end of his second season with the Wildcats, Nowell has his team in the Elite Eight, a game from the Final Four thanks to one of the greatest single-game performances in the history of the NCAA Tournament. At Madison Square Garden, no less — just a few miles from where he grew up in Harlem.

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“Being in this environment, you have to be tough,” Nowell said, reflecting on his early playing days on New York’s playgrounds. “You have to be tough as nails in order to get on the court. A lot of people doubt you coming out of New York City. They say New York City point guard can’t shoot or they have that stigma of not listening or stuff like that. I feel like me, Kemba [Walker], guys who made it to the NBA out of New York, we’re switching that and we’re showing the world that New York City point guards are really good.”

From the moment Nowell stepped onto the court in the Sweet 16 against Michigan State, you could tell he was at home. His 10 first-half assists spoke for themselves, but a New York City Point God doesn’t leave it at that.

His raw numbers in Kansas State’s 98-93 overtime win — 20 points, five steals, and a tournament record 19 assists — were staggering. His lob to Keyontae Johnson in the final minute of the extra session, however, may have been the most New York thing that MSG has seen in ages.

Dribbling between the circles, Nowell appeared to turn to Tang and begin yelling at him. At some point in the exchange, he caught Johnson’s eye, and that’s all it took. Johnson cut toward the basket and Nowell effortlessly threw the ball his way for Johnson to finish the alley-oop.

“It was eye contact,” Johnson said. “I raise my eyebrows sometimes or something like that. So he just threw it. I knew I was going to get there, just had to finish it.”

It was the perfect cap to a perfect night.

“This one was special,” Nowell said after the game. “In front of my hometown, in front of the city that loves me. I can’t even put into words how blessed and grateful I am.”

As one would expect after a historic performance, texts from friends, family, and other players came pouring in for Nowell. Actually, they had been for a while. Even before the Sweet 16 — before the literally hundreds of texts flooded his phone — Kemba Walker, who knows a thing or two about March runs through MSG, reached out to Nowell.

“He just told me to keep my foot on the gas,” Nowell said. “Keep applying pressure and don’t let up. So that gave me some added motivation because I looked up to him when he made that tournament run.”

Next up, Nowell and Kansas State will face upstart Florida Atlantic on Saturday evening in the Elite Eight. The winner heads to Houston and the Final Four.

Nowell told reporters that he never got butterflies the first time he stepped onto New York’s historic playgrounds — Dyckman, Rucker, West 4th, you name it — and he clearly was undaunted by the bright lights of MSG.

If the Wildcats win on Saturday, it’s hard to imagine the Final Four would be any different.

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]]> Loading Rodney Terry and the Opportunity Ahead at Texas https://boardroom.tv/rodney-terry-texas-longhorns-coach/ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 15:21:09 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63744 Rodney Terry took over the head coaching job at Texas under impossible circumstances. Now, he has the Longhorns two wins from the Final Four. Rodney Terry knows a thing or two about the University

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]]> Rodney Terry took over the head coaching job at Texas under impossible circumstances. Now, he has the Longhorns two wins from the Final Four.

Rodney Terry knows a thing or two about the University of Texas.

It runs deeper than just the nine years he spent there as an assistant under Rick Barnes. Or the season-plus he spent on Chris Beard’s staff, or the job he’s done this year as interim head coach.

“When you coach at Texas, you are here to try to win a national championship,” Terry told Boardroom. “Being a native Texan and a grad, a guy that grew up in the state of Texas, I have a lot of pride in being the flagship program of this state. I love Texas. I love Austin.”

By now, college basketball fans know Terry’s story — or at least the one that’s played out over the last five months. He was Beard’s assistant when the now-former head coach was arrested on a third-degree felony assault charge. Texas suspended Beard that day and thrust Terry into the role of interim head coach. That same night, Texas outlasted Rice in overtime.

From there, they caught fire.

The Longhorns ultimately went 12-6 in the Big 12, winning the conference tournament and earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With a hard-fought win over Penn State on March 18, Texas punched a ticket to the Sweet 16. and were installed as favorites for a March 24 date against Xavier.

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This is Texas’s first Sweet 16 since 2008, bringing the Longhorns within two wins of their first Final Four since 2003.

Terry was an assistant on both of those teams.

That means he was also on staff when Texas brought in Kevin Durant, the biggest name to come through the program to date. KD got to know Terry first on the recruiting trail, and then as one of his coaches. Now plying his trade in Phoenix, Durant is watching his alma mater from afar.

“[Terry] has led this team on and off the court as well as anyone could have expected,” Durant told us exclusively. “To see them in the Sweet 16 with as a good a shot to win the national championship as anyone is a testament to the amazing job he’s done. The program is in an amazing place.”

Mid-Major Lessons

Terry has experience as a head coach, though this is his first year leading a power conference team. He took over the Fresno State job in 2011, and after struggling at the start, built an NCAA Tournament squad in 2016. The Bulldogs won 20 or more games each of Terry’s last three seasons at the helm before he moved to UTEP to begin another rebuilding project in 2018.

“[I] had to really just come in and build a roster, build a culture, and, really just try to build the infrastructure of a program,” he said. “Through that process, I got a chance to really learn roster management, putting a team together in one year that has a chance to try to be successful.”

Though Terry was only in El Paso for three years, he was able to experience the drawbacks that can come with mid-major life in the modern era, losing his best players to the transfer portal and effectively having to re-recruit his team every season.

He was able to take the good and bad with him to Texas when Beard asked him to join his staff in 2021. The current Longhorn roster leans significantly on experienced transfers, including Marcus Carr (Minnesota), Timmy Allen (Utah), Sir’Jabari Rice (New Mexico State), Dylan Disu (Vanderbilt), and Tyrese Hunter (Iowa State).

While he was once a victim of the portal, Terry now embraces it, using his roster Tetris skills to find the pieces that mesh perfectly both on and off the court.

“This game’s only gonna give you what you put into it,” Terry said. “And I think a lot of our guys have made a lot of sacrifices for wanting to come here and be a part of a winning program. But I think in the same token, they’ve really embodied what we want from guys in terms of understanding.”

An Impossible Situation

Rodney Terry didn’t think he was coming to Austin to be a head coach, but that was the situation he was thrust into on Dec. 12 after Beard’s arrest.

Texas suspended him that day pending an investigation, and Terry was suddenly the interim head coach just hours before tip-off against Rice.

“The first message I had to our guys was [that] there’s always gonna be adversity in your life, whether it be basketball or personal,” Terry said. “We have very high goals for this season. They’re all right there in front of us. We control what happens the rest of the season in terms of our attitude, our approach every single day. And everything’s there for us.”

The team’s talent level didn’t change when Terry replaced Beard. This was still the same roster with the same on-paper potential, but few could have blamed the Longhorns if Dec. 12 had marked the beginning of their downfall. The media circus could have been too much. A coach they didn’t hire to lead them was suddenly in charge. The routines that players go through in-season was permanently altered.

It was Terry’s job to make sure that didn’t happen, and in doing so, he gained greater admiration from his peers.

“Rodney has done an unbelievable job,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “He inherited a tough situation. The league was super competitive — he wins the Big 12 Tournament, and a Sweet 16 appearance is impressive. Texas is playing as good of basketball as anybody in the tournament.”

Few isn’t alone. Rick Barnes, who might know the Texas job better than anyone, agreed.

“Rodney has done a tremendous job,” Barnes said Wednesday prior to his Tennessee Volunteers’ Sweet 16 game against Florida Atlantic. “For him to slide over and the way he’s handled it with an older group of guys, I’m not sure anyone else in the country could have done it any better.”

March and Beyond

Rodney Terry of the Texas Longhorns celebrates by cutting down the net after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Everyone can see the elephant in the room. As Texas advances in the tournament, the whispers will only grow louder.

We don’t know who the head men’s basketball coach at Texas is going to be next November.

Rodney Terry has made his case for the job simply by winning basketball games — the single most important thing a coach can do in the eyes of his athletic department and its boosters. There are also rumors that athletic director Chris Del Conte wants to conduct a national search, perhaps pulling a flashier name from a program few other schools could hope to poach from.

Kentucky’s John Calipari has long been a rumored candidate, though the logistics of working out a deal there seems difficult. Name any other successful high-major coach and you can probably find a message board expert somewhere who thinks they’d be a good pick.

One should expect Del Conte to do his due diligence, but the farther Texas goes in March the louder the calls will be to hire Terry full-time. The coach himself wants the job, unsurprisingly, but he has far bigger things to worry about here and now.

“I came back here to try to win a national championship,” he said, “and we don’t shy away from those expectations. It’s what we signed up for.”

The Longhorns’ road to the Final Four continues on Friday night against a Musketeers team that has won seven of its last eight games, and after staving off an upset bid from Kennesaw State in the First Round, controlled Pitt to reach the Sweet 16.

For now, Terry is game-planning for Xavier’s shooting ability, interior presence, and ability to score in transition.

As he told his players, everything is right there for them.

More College Hoops:

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]]> Loading Texas v Kansas KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 11: Interim head coach Rodney Terry of the Texas Longhorns celebrates by cutting down the net after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game at T-Mobile Center on March 11, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) March Madness Odds: Women’s Tournament Hits the Sweet 16 https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-march-madness-womens-odds-sweet/ Wed, 22 Mar 2023 20:17:47 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63972 South Carolina is still favored to cut down the nets in the NCAA women’s tournament, but who are the Gamecocks’ primary challengers? In true March Madness style, the first weekend of the women’s NCAA

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]]> South Carolina is still favored to cut down the nets in the NCAA women’s tournament, but who are the Gamecocks’ primary challengers?

In true March Madness style, the first weekend of the women’s NCAA Tournament played out in unexpected fashion. When the dust settled, yes, the No. 1 overall seed South Carolina reached the Sweet 16 rather easily. Caitlin Clark‘s Iowa Hawkeyes advanced as well, along with Final Four stalwart UConn.

But that’s about where the predictability ended. For the first time in more than two decades, two 1 seeds failed to reach the tournament’s second weekend, with Miami upending Indiana and Ole Miss defeating Stanford. Naturally, that’s changed the odds equation a bit as the remaining 16 teams inch closer to the Final Four in Dallas.

The action resumes on Friday in the women’s tournament with a quartet of games, taking you from 2:30 p.m. to midnight Eastern on ESPN. Before we get there, however, let’s take a look at where this year’s women’s March Madness odds stand, with an assist from our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Women’s March Madness Odds 2023

National Champion:

To Make Final Four:

  • South Carolina: -550
  • UConn: -165
  • Iowa: -140
  • LSU: -135
  • Louisville: +310
  • Villanova: +330
  • Virginia Tech: +420
  • Utah: +430
  • Tennessee: +440
  • Colorado: +480
  • Maryland: +500
  • Ole Miss: +550
  • Miami: +750
  • Ohio State: +850
  • Notre Dame: +2300
  • UCLA: +3500

South Carolina to Win Championship vs. The Field

  • South Carolina: -200
  • The Field: +150

More March Madness:

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]]> Loading Boardroom NIL Report Card: Miami’s Hanna & Haley Cavinder https://boardroom.tv/hanna-haley-cavinder-twins-nil-money-deals/ Wed, 22 Mar 2023 15:51:54 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63832 When it comes to the NIL space in women's college basketball, nobody does it better than the Cavinder twins. Boardroom breaks down their earnings thus far.

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]]> When it comes to the NIL space in women’s college basketball, nobody does it better than the Cavinder twins. Boardroom breaks down their earnings thus far.

Well before they helped lead the Miami Hurricanes to the Sweet 16 with an upset win over top-seeded Indiana, twin sisters Hanna and Haley Cavinder were already an NIL success story. Both stars at Fresno State prior to transferring down to Coral Gables, the Cavinder twins have built an impressive social media empire — and they do it biggest on TikTok, where they boast 4.4 million followers.

They’ve become so popular that during Miami’s NCAA Tournament win over the Hoosiers, fans were heckling at Haley, “stick to TikTok.”

And with what they’re raking in — it’s estimated the duo made $2 million in 2022 alone — perhaps one would blame them if they did. But it just so happens that Haley leads the Canes in scoring this season, while she and Hanna are No. 1 and No. 2 on the team respectively in free throw percentage. In the Big Dance, Haley led all scorers in the Round of 64 against Oklahoma State, with Hanna setting the pace for steals against Indiana.

The twins started their run of NIL dominance back on the left coast as Bulldogs, taking advantage of the legalization of name, image, and likeness monetization for amateur athletes from Day 1 back in July 2021 by locking up a deal with Boost Mobile that was reportedly worth five figures for both Hanna and Haley. From there, the two haven’t looked back, signing numerous endorsements and partnerships that have established them as prolific leaders in the space.

So, just how much NIL money are Hanna and Haley Cavinder making?

Boardroom breaks it down.

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Cavinder Twins NIL Market Value

All data via On3.com’s NIL rankings.

Haley Cavinder

Women’s College Basketball NIL rank: 1
Overall NIL 100 rank: 32
10-week high: $851,000
10-week low: $813,000
Total followers: 4.9 million

Hanna Cavinder

Women’s College Basketball NIL rank: 2
Overall NIL 100 rank: 33
10-week high: $851,000
10-week low: $818,000
Total followers: 4.9 million

The above monetary figures are via On3’s NIL Valuation, a proprietary algorithm that “establishes the overall NIL market and projected 12-month growth rate by measuring two categories, Brand Value Index and Roster Value Index.”

Before getting into the specific NIL deals below, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the impending infraction against the Miami women’s basketball team, specifically involving the Cavinder twins. The program was issued sanctions earlier this season when it became known that a Miami booster — John Ruiz — hosted Haley, Hanna, and their family for a dinner prior to them committing to the school, which is against NCAA rules.

(A separate conversation would be how much college sports’ generally archaic rules about what is and isn’t allowed needs to change.)

NIL deals were purportedly not discussed, but the promotion of the school in this context violated several NCAA recruiting rules, including “impermissible contact” and recruiting “inducement.” Further, Miami head coach Katie Meier was reportedly the one who facilitated the meeting between the Cavinder twins and Ruiz, which led to her three-game suspension at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign.

All told, it felt like a slap on the wrist, but the episode was notable as the first such NIL-based ruling to be handed down by the NCAA. The fact that it came at the expense of Haley and Hanna is somewhat laughable given some of the athlete endorsement shenanigans we’ve seen across the multibillion-dollar world of college football, but that’s a topic for another day.

Now, on to the deals!

The Cavinder Twins’ Notable NIL Deals

Boost Mobile

The Cavinder twins started off the NIL era with a bang by agreeing to a deal with Boost Mobile that included a massive billboard in Times Square. It was quite literally a first-of-its-kind partnership that led to Boost Mobile later partnering with hundreds of other NCAA athletes.

Hanna and Haley are authentically pioneers in the NIL space.

Champs Sports

Haley and Hanna signed this deal with Champs Sports when they were still playing for Fresno State, but it’s extended into their time at Miami. The two have been involved in multiple campaigns with the sports retail company, including the “We Know Game” and back-to-school campaigns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxE9KxdVYyc

Raising Cane’s

Cavinders x Cane’s. It just makes sense.

After the chicken chain opened a location in Miami Beach, Raising Cane’s enlisted the twins to be their newest NIL partners. While the terms of the deal have not been made public — though free chicken HAS to be a perk, right? — Cane’s certainly is already reaping the benefits, with the Cavinders documenting their experience on their TikTok for all their four million-plus followers to see.

@cavindertwins

we ❤ @raisingcanes !#caniacambassador #ad

♬ Funk Rave – Don´t Let Me Down 140 Bpm – kirtap

“It comes down to leveraging a domestic influence with a national brand via a hyper-local event,” the Cavinders’ agent, Jeff Hoffman, told On3. “The twins provide a varied audience with a triad of influence in sport, fashion, and health and wellness. This audience is seeking new places to eat, play and be well. The partnership allows Cane’s to lean into that audience in an authentic slice of life content where we get to see the new Raising Cane’s in the Hurricanes and twins’ backyard.”

Intuit TurboTax

It’s everyone’s favorite season, and Haley and Hanna are set with their NIL deal with Intuit TurboTax.

@cavindertwins

Twins taking on tax season with @TurboTax 🤝 Check out TurboTax Live Full Service at the link in bio! #TurboTaxPartner #LeaveItToTheExperts #studentathletetaxes

♬ Smiles & Sunsets – ultmt. & Hz.

It’s a smart move for the Cavinders, who are not only likely getting paid for this, but also will receive help from the company’s financial advisors during what will surely be a taxing season after all the deals they’ve signed in the past year.

“The twins’ taxes could seem somewhat complicated, given their business success and variety of income they need to report,” Jeff Hoffman, who serves as the twins’ agent and a partner at Everett Sports Management, told On3. “For ESM, our evaluation was simple. Does our story align to the brand campaign, and does it align to the twins’ real-life story? The confluence of these requisites made it an easy decision to partner.”

Other notable Cavinder twins NIL deals: Under Armour, Crocs, Core Hydration, WWE, PSD Underwear, Six Star Pro Nutrition, Caktus AI

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]]> Loading Men’s March Madness Odds: Who’s Hottest Entering the Sweet 16? https://boardroom.tv/march-madness-odds-2023-mens-ncaa-tournament/ Mon, 20 Mar 2023 21:50:38 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63736 EDITOR’S NOTE: Click here to read Boardroom’s overview of the latest March Madness betting odds entering the 2023 men’s Final Four After two rounds of win-or-go-home basketball, who’s the best bet to win the

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]]> EDITOR’S NOTE: Click here to read Boardroom’s overview of the latest March Madness betting odds entering the 2023 men’s Final Four

After two rounds of win-or-go-home basketball, who’s the best bet to win the men’s NCAA Tournament? Check out the latest March Madness odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Perhaps your bracket’s entire Final Four is still alive and kicking. Perhaps you picked Purdue or Kansas or Arizona to win the men’s NCAA Tournament, in which case… well, there’s never a bad time to suspend all knowledge that college basketball exists in order to optimize your self-care routine. Please pause your reading of this article to drink some kombucha while you watch an ASMR video.

Folks, not everyone can win. Even if your bracket is thoroughly busted, however, you can still shuffle the deck and lay a few safe, legal wagers as the most exciting showcase in amateur sports approaches its second weekend — and that’s exactly what we’re here to help with now that the first weekend of the men’s half of March Madness is in the books.

Entering the Sweet 16, check out the latest odds to win the NCAA Tournament and to make the Final Four courtesy of our friends at FanDuel SportsBook.

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March Madness Odds 2023: Men’s NCAA Tournament

Click here to read Boardroom’s overview of FanDuel Sportsbook’s pre-tournament odds for March Madness 2023.

To Win the National Championship

  • Alabama: +320 (pre-tournament odds: +800)
  • Houston: +400 (+490)
  • UCLA: +850 (+1200)
  • UConn: +900
  • Creighton: +950
  • Texas: +1000
  • Tennessee: +1100
  • Gonzaga: +1200
  • Michigan State: +2500
  • Kansas State: +3000
  • Arkansas: +4000
  • San Diego State: +4000
  • Xavier: +4500
  • Miami: +4800
  • FAU: +5000
  • Princeton: +15000
@boardroom_ 90 TEAMS in the NCAA Tournament?!? 🤯#marchmadness #ncaabasketball #collegebasketball #collegesports #finalfour ♬ original sound – Boardroom

To Win the West Region

  • UCLA: +185
  • UConn: +185
  • Gonzaga: +230
  • Arkansas: +600

To Win the South Region

  • Alabama: -145
  • Creighton: +800
  • San Diego State: +650
  • Princeton: +2500

To Win the Midwest Region

  • Houston: -115
  • Texas: +190
  • Xavier: +650
  • Miami: +700

To Win the East Region

  • Tennessee: +120
  • Michigan State: +270
  • Kansas State: +320
  • FAU: +470

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]]> Loading Loading UConn’s Caroline Ducharme Takes Her NIL Talents to March Madness https://boardroom.tv/caroline-ducharme-nil-great-clips-uconn/ Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:13:45 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63569 Between classes, athletics, and now NIL, the stars of March Madness are busier than ever — and UConn’s Caroline Ducharme is one of several dealing with a full plate. As the second March Madness

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]]> Between classes, athletics, and now NIL, the stars of March Madness are busier than ever — and UConn’s Caroline Ducharme is one of several dealing with a full plate.

As the second March Madness in the NIL era picks up, athletes and brands are still trying to strike a perfect balance. The NCAA Tournament provides the biggest stage for college basketball players, giving them more publicity than ever before and providing the perfect opportunity for a major brand activation. It’s also the most important time of year for athletes on the court, meaning their focus needs to be almost entirely dedicated to their craft.

Squaring the two isn’t easy.

Caroline Ducharme, a former No. 5 recruit in her class, is doing her best to figure it out. As a guard for the No. 2 seed UConn Huskies, she’s had more than her share of name, image, and likeness monetization opportunities. She’s inked endorsement deals already with Bumble, Moolah Kicks, and Degree, and recently signed on to Great Clips’ Mach Madness campaign.

“My focus in March is March Madness, and so is theirs right now,” Ducharme told Boardroom of working with the salon franchise. “I like when I can post stuff about things that matter to me and it’s not just what I was doing over the weekend.”

Ducharme’s Huskies captured the 2023 Big East Tournament title on March 6, giving the team a 12-day layoff before their NCAA Tournament opener against Vermont. It was a much-needed rest for an injury-riddled team.

It also gave Ducharme a chance to stay active in the NIL space.

“There’s a time and place for everything. Today is an off day, so it’s a great opportunity to do stuff like this,” she said of her Great Clips campaign. “But then once the tournament starts, that’s my complete focus, and I think people are understanding of that.”

She said that last Wednesday. Come Thursday afternoon, the Huskies entered tournament mode as the other three teams in their pod descended on Storrs. While UConn isn’t the favorite to win the national championship (that distinction belongs overwhelmingly to South Carolina), the Huskies might have more pressure on them than anyone else.

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Every rotation player for Geno Auriemma’s squad but two missed time to injury this year, including star Paige Bueckers and freshman Ice Brady, who both suffered season-ending injuries in the preseason. As a result, UConn had to postpone a game because it didn’t have enough active players to suit up. The team also dropped consecutive contests for the first time in 30 years and lost multiple conference games for the first time in a decade.

Today, however, the Huskies are as healthy as they’ll get as they put their 14-year Final Four streak on the line, with their latest test arriving March 20 in the form of a second-round meeting with seventh-seeded Baylor. To Ducharme, it all means this team is uniquely prepared for what’s to come.

“It does make it easier knowing that you’re not alone and there are four or five other people who are trying to do the same thing you’re doing,” she said. “Everyone’s staying mentally tough and locked in on what we’re doing, and knowing that everyone’s going through something, and everyone’s having a hard time and everyone’s dealing with something outside of basketball. Just [staying] focused on us and [helping] each other through it, I think has been huge.”

Ducharme herself missed six weeks in the heart of the season while in concussion protocol. The 2022-23 Huskies’ top star, Azzi Fudd, is working her way back from a right knee injury. As she leads UConn through the bracket, fans can catch her in a Buick commercial airing throughout the tournament — Fudd posted the ad to her Instagram on Thursday afternoon, around the same time Ducharme posted her Great Clips video.

Don’t expect much more from them on social in the coming days. The Huskies have games to win.

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]]> Loading Carlos Alcaraz Back on Top with Win at Indian Wells https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/mar-20-2023-carlos-alcaraz-indian-wells-win/ Mon, 20 Mar 2023 12:52:34 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=63577 The post Carlos Alcaraz Back on Top with Win at Indian Wells appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Carlos Alcaraz Back on Top with Win at Indian Wells appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Top Algorithms Reveal the Most Underrated Men’s March Madness Teams of 2023 https://boardroom.tv/most-underrated-march-madness-teams-2023/ Thu, 16 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63254 This article originally appeared at numberFire, powered by FanDuel. Using analytics from KenPom, BartTorvik, and numberFire’s nERD formula, let’s identify the most under-seeded teams in the men’s 2023 NCAA Tournament field. Given that we

The post Top Algorithms Reveal the Most Underrated Men’s March Madness Teams of 2023 appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at numberFire, powered by FanDuel.

Using analytics from KenPom, BartTorvik, and numberFire’s nERD formula, let’s identify the most under-seeded teams in the men’s 2023 NCAA Tournament field.

Given that we can be surprised over how certain teams are seeded on Selection Sunday, it’s no surprise that sometimes there are teams that are, perhaps, under-seeded based on how good they truly are.

We have an easy way to determine that here at numberFire: we can compare each team’s nERD score — a metric we use to represent an expected point differential over an average opponent on a neutral court — to the historical average of their given seed.

Simple.

Now, in order to enhance your bracket and betting picks with the most underrated March Madness teams of 2023, here are the 10 squads with the largest gaps between their nERD and the historical seed average for this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament.

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10. Auburn Tigers (9 Seed, Midwest)

  • nERD: 11.64
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.28

At 20-12, the Auburn Tigers drew a 9-seed in the Midwest region, but numberFire’s model sees them more as a No. 7 seed.

While you need to win games no matter what, the Tigers were just 4-7 in games decided by five points or fewer. That’s the sixth-worst winning percentage in close games among all 68 tournament teams.

Our model is leaning on them to be able to beat Iowa in their 8-9 matchup in the Midwest.

9. Creighton Bluejays (6 Seed, South)

  • nERD: 13.50
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.29

Another team with bad luck in close games is the Creighton Bluejays, who went 3-6 in close games, ranking them fifth by win percentage among tournament squads.

KenPom actually ranks the Bluejays 13th overall thanks to a top-30 offense and defense. They’re 329th in KenPom’s luck rating, and we could see a Sweet 16 run through the North Carolina State Wolfpack and Baylor Bears (or the California-Santa Barbara Gauchos).

8. Gonzaga Bulldogs (3 Seed, West)

  • nERD: 15.94
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.37

The Gonzaga Bulldogs rank sixth in numberFire’s power rankings and are eighth at KenPom and seventh at BartTorvik. Despite top-eight marks by the metrics, they’re not a 2 seed but rather a 3 seed.

The Zags are 6-4 against Quad 1 teams but have better underlying efficiency in those games than the record implies.

As a team that always has high hopes in March, the Bulldogs may finally surprise us this year after getting off to a slow start to the season.

7. UCLA Bruins (No. 2 Seed, West)

  • nERD: 17.81
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.45

The UCLA Bruins are third or better in the power rankings here at numberFire and over at BartTorvik and KenPom. However, they drew a 2 seed in the West.

The team has all the trends that eventual champions possess but are dealing with injuries to junior guard Jaylen Clark (out for the season) and freshman center Adem Bona (whose status for the tournament remains unclear).

It’s a super-talented squad that can’t be overlooked.

6. Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 8 Seed, West)

  • nERD: 12.71
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.51

Let’s go back to the close-game discussion. The Arkansas Razorbacks are 3-5 in five-point games. They’re 4-10 against Quad 1 opponents, too.

Overall, then, Arkansas’ season has been marred by injuries and underperformance. BartTorvik ranks them 11th in the nation in talent rating, which accounts for recruiting ratings and playing volume.

A dangerous team, Arkansas seems to have an edge over another team that isn’t exactly ripping off wins, the Illinois Fighting Illini, in the opening round.

5. Florida Atlantic Owls (No. 9 Seed, East)

  • nERD: 12.26
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.90

What’s that? A team that’s actually been good in close games? Yep. The FAU Owls are 9-1 in five-point games, but they’re also 31-3 overall, so it’s natural that they had some good luck in close matchups.

They’re 2-1 in three Quad 1 games, all three of which were on the road.

Ultimately, they’re a bit untested, as a result, but they rank 20th at numberFire, 30th at BartTorvik, and 26th at KenPom.

4. Connecticut Huskies (No. 4 Seed, West)

  • nERD: 16.01
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +1.93

Another team that has the makings of a future champion, the Connecticut Huskies have twice been the exception to all the rules when it comes to winning the Big Dance in recent years.

Of their eight losses, four of them were by five points or fewer, and they were actually 0-4 in five-point games. That makes them the only tournament team without a close win all season.

By and large, this is a great team, and it’s surprising to see them as a 4 seed. nERD thinks they should be a 2 seed.

3. Tennessee Volunteers (No. 4 Seed, East)

  • nERD: 16.19
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +2.11

Up next, we’ve got another No. 4 seed that’s close to a historical 2-seed. The reason for it is that the Tennessee Volunteers, behind the nation’s best defense, are coming in underrated from an overall efficiency standpoint.

Your offense has to be really bad to waste the country’s top defense, but I will point out that their offense ranks poorly enough that they may not be a great pick to win it all.

In total, they’re 7-7 in Quad 1 games with an adjusted offensive efficiency that would rank them 86th in such matchups. They’re a strong 4 seed but will need to answer questions offensively if they want to beat 67 other teams.

2. West Virginia Mountaineers (No. 9 Seed, South)

  • nERD: 12.50
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +2.14

Overall on the season, the West Virginia Mountaineers rate out as an underrated squad, but I will point out that they’re only 5-5 over their past 10 games.

Still, they rank 19th here at numberFire and at BartTorvik; KenPom has them even better (17th).

The record (19-14) doesn’t reflect the underlying data, which tells us this is a top-15 offense and a top-50 defense. nERD has them close to a historical 6 seed.

1. Utah State Aggies (No. 10 Seed, South)

  • nERD: 12.98
  • nERD vs. Seed Average: +2.51

No list of 2023’s most underrated March Madness teams is complete without the Aggies. The metrics really believe in Utah State, who boast a top-15 adjusted offense in the nation.

The numberFire model ranks them 16th in the nation. KenPom’s got the Aggies 18th overall, while BartTorvik ranks them 25th.

Their nERD score is close to a historical 5-seed (13.28) or 6-seed (12.21). That’s why our algorithm really likes their odds against the Missouri Tigers in the 7-10 matchup in the South region.

— Brandon Gdula

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]]> Loading Giants Target Darren Waller for Next Chapter with Daniel Jones https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/mar-15-2023-darren-waller-giants/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:14:02 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=63080 The post Giants Target Darren Waller for Next Chapter with Daniel Jones appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Giants Target Darren Waller for Next Chapter with Daniel Jones appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Pringles NIL Campaign Celebrates the Mustaches of March Madness https://boardroom.tv/pringles-nil-march-madness-mustaches-2023/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 11:59:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63025 From Drew Timme to Dariq Whitehead and beyond, learn more about the big Pringles NIL promotion coming to a store near you just in time for the NCAA Tournament. Julius Pringles, the mustachioed man

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]]> From Drew Timme to Dariq Whitehead and beyond, learn more about the big Pringles NIL promotion coming to a store near you just in time for the NCAA Tournament.

Julius Pringles, the mustachioed man on the iconic Pringles potato chip can better known as Mr. P, is getting some company on the iconic brand’s packaging this month as part of a limited-edition March Madness name, image, and likeness campaign.

The Pringles March Mustache Collection will see Mr. P joined on cans this month by three men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament participants with some dope ‘staches, Gonzaga‘s Drew Timme, Duke‘s Dariq Whitehead, and Virginia‘s Ben Vander Plas, the company announced Wednesday. The collection honors four different types of mustaches: the Pringle, the horseshoe, the pencil, and the caterpillar. Flavors included in the campaign will be original, cheddar cheese, BBQ, and sour cream and onion.

“My mustache has always been part of my identity and it’s amazing to see the facial fuzz trend catch the attention of one of the most beloved ‘stache’d sporting brands,” Timme said. “I’m pumped to be featured on these new cans with some of my favorite ‘stached opponents. Game on, fellas.” 

Ben Vander Plas
Dariq Whitehead
Drew Timme
Images courtesy of Pringles

Starting Wednesday, March 15 and running through the day after the men’s national championship game on April 4, fans can enter to win the Pringles March Mustache Collection prize by showing off their NCAA Tournament-inspired ‘state by using the #PringlesMarchMustacheEntry hashtag on Instagram. Timme, Whitehead, and Vander Plas will also be interacting with fans throughout March Madness on their own IG accounts as they hope their teams play as well on the court as they maintain their own facial hair.

“Pringles has a deep bench of ingenious flavors and ‘staches of all flavors are having a moment on college basketball courts,” Mauricio Jenkins, Pringles’ US marketing lead, said. “We’re thrilled to celebrate the sensational players whose unique ‘stache flavor has bewitched the hearts of fans everywhere and give fans nationwide a chance to join in the ‘stache fun.” 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gNDgqQ1xszQ

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]]> 9x16_Ben-Vander-Plas 9x16_Dariq-Whitehead 9x16_Drew-Timme Athletes.org Loading What Are the Most Likely 12 vs. 5 Upsets at the Men’s NCAA Tournament? https://boardroom.tv/5-12-upsets-march-madness-2023/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=63091 This article originally appeared at numberFire, powered by FanDuel. The annual tradition returns! Let’s predict the tastiest 5-12 upsets for March Madness 2023 using analytics from the bleeding edge. Over the years, the 12-5

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]]> This article originally appeared at numberFire, powered by FanDuel.

The annual tradition returns! Let’s predict the tastiest 5-12 upsets for March Madness 2023 using analytics from the bleeding edge.

Over the years, the 12-5 game has been a go-to spot to find March Madness upsets. That was the case last year as a pair of 12-seeds won in the first round.

Over the last 20 NCAA Tournaments, there have been 33 instances of a No. 12 seed knocking off a No. 5 seed, meaning the 12-seed has won 41.2% of the time in that span. Only three times in the past 20 tourneys has there been a dance without a 12-5 upset.

Everyone wants to nail upset picks — whether you’re betting or you’re in a bracket pool — so let’s go through this year’s 5-12 games and see which are most likely to end in a 12 seed winning, ranking them from least to most probable, according to our projections.

We will be referencing our nERD metric as well as numbers from KenPom and BartTorvik. (nERD measures the number of points we’d expect a team to win by against an average opponent on a neutral court.) We’ll also be using college basketball odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

Let’s talk 12-5 upsets March Madness style.

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Most Likely 5-12 Upsets at 2023 March Madness

4. Saint Mary’s (5) vs. VCU (12)

SPREAD: Saint Mary’s -3.5 | numberFire Win Odds: VCU 20.2%

Our model likes Saint Mary’s a little more than the early lines do as we give the Gaels a 79.8% chance to prevail over Virginia Commonwealth in the first round.

This is more about Saint Mary’s being really good than anything negative about VCU. Saint Mary’s is under-seeded as a five and has been one of the best teams in the nation all year. We rank them 11th overall. KenPom and BartTorvik slot the Gaels 11th and 9th, respectively.

On KenPom, Saint Mary’s ranks 40th in adjusted offense and 9th in adjusted defense. As I said, they’re really dang good, and they’ve lost just once since January 18th to someone other than Gonzaga — and it was an overtime loss on the road to Loyola Marymount.

VCU is 17th in adjusted defense but an underwhelming 140th in adjusted offense. One thing VCU has going for it in this matchup is that Saint Mary’s plays at a snail’s pace, ranking 359th in adjusted tempo. Fewer possessions leads to an increase in variance, which can aid the underdog.

Plus, oddsmakers are into them, making VCU just a 2.5-point ‘dog (as of early Monday), so while VCU clearly has a chance to pull the upset, our numbers say they’re the least likely 12 seed to win.

3. San Diego State (5) vs. College of Charleston (12)

SPREAD: San Diego State -5.5 | numberFire Win Odds: Charleston 23.8%

This one is very similar to the last one — San Diego State was a bit under-seeded and should be too much for Charleston.

The Aztecs are 14th by nERD, 14th by KenPom and 11th by BartTorvik. They went 27-6 and have an argument to be a 3 or 4 seed. KenPom puts SDSU 10th in defense and 64th in offense. The Aztecs have lost only twice since January 18th, and they just beat a quality Utah State team — one that can bust brackets this year — in the Mountain West Tournament title game.

Charleston went 31-3, so they know how to get it done. But by most metrics, they’re clearly a step or two behind the Aztecs. nERD ranks the Cougars 67th. KenPom (73rd) and BartTorvik (72nd) are a smidge lower on them than we are. KenPom has the Cougars 70th in offense and 75th in defense.

If you’re looking for a reason to back Charleston, pace is it. Charleston sits 29th in adjusted tempo and could make things uncomfortable for a San Diego State squad that is just 252nd in adjusted tempo.

2. Duke (5) vs. Oral Roberts (12)

SPREAD: Duke -6.5 | numberFire Win Odds: Oral Roberts 36.5%

Our numbers see this one quite a bit differently than oddsmakers do. By the 6.5-point spread, this game is the least likely 12-5 upset. But we give Oral Roberts a 36.5% chance to advance, the second-best win odds for a 12 in this season’s first round.

Duke enters the tourney on a heater and is playing as well as anyone in the country. The Blue Devils have won nine in a row, including a run to the ACC Tournament crown, besting Virginia by 10 in the final. KenPom and BartTorvik put Duke 21st overall while we place them 24th. They’re obviously a stout team.

If you want to poke holes in the Blue Devils’ resume, you can nitpick their good fortune in close games. During their current nine-game win streak, Duke won three games that were decided by five or fewer points. They actually lost just two such games this season — although another one of their defeats was a seven-point overtime loss — and rate as the 57th-luckiest team in the nation by KenPom’s Luck rating. Also, it was a down year for the ACC as KenPom has Duke as the lone ACC team in the top 30.

Oral Roberts is on a big-time run, too. The Golden Eagles tore through the Summit Conference with an unbeaten 18-0 record. Their last loss came on January 9th.

Of course, the Summit kind of stinks, but ORU did test themselves out of conference, playing Houston, Saint Mary’s, Utah State, New Mexico (54th by BartTorvik), and Liberty (44th). While Oral Roberts defeated only Liberty from that group, they fell by just eight at Saint Mary’s and shouldn’t be shell-shocked by Duke.

ORU’s calling card is offense. Not only do they rate 23rd by KenPom’s adjusted offense, they push the pace (38th in adjusted tempo) and fire up a ton of threes (16th in three-point attempt rate). That gives them a high ceiling if they’re knocking down shots, and that is something they often do, boasting the 47th-best three-point percentage (36.9%).

1. Miami (5) vs. Drake (12)

SPREAD: Miami -2.5 | numberFire Win Odds: Drake 39.4%

Miami looks like the worst of the five-seeds.

The nERD formula puts Miami just 42nd — nearly 20 spots behind the next-worst five seed. KenPom has the ‘Canes 40th, and BartTorvik sees them as the nation’s 38th-best team. KenPom has Miami behind two teams that didn’t make the tournament (Rutgers and Oklahoma State).

What Miami is elite at is offense, ranking 12th by adjusted offense. They’re not very good on D, though, slotting in 107th in adjusted defense. While a 15-5 ACC record is impressive, the ACC was not as good as it usually is.

Ranking this game as the most likely to end in a 5-12 upset is more about Miami than it is about Drake.

With that said, Drake is a solid team. The Bulldogs have gone 14-1 over the previous 15 games and ended the year playing their best ball in a 26-point beatdown of Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference title game.

Drake has five wins over teams that ranked inside the BartTorvik top 100 at the time of their matchup, and with a BartTorvik rating of 42nd in defense and 68th in offense, they’re a well-rounded group — one that is more than capable of making a run in this year’s dance.

They can flat-out stroke it, too, nailing 37.3% of their threes this season, the 32nd-best clip, and in Tucker DeVries — a guy who averages 19.0 points per game and shot 38.7% from deep — the Bulldogs have a star who can take over games.

Going by the spread (-2.5) and our model’s win odds (60.6% for Miami), the Hurricanes are fully on upset alert in the first round.

— Austan Kas 

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]]> Loading Athletes.org Celebrating South Carolina’s Dominant Run https://boardroom.tv/south-carolina-gamecocks-march-madness-dominance/ Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:52:28 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62874 The South Carolina Gamecocks are on a remarkable run through women's college basketball. And yes, that's good for the game.

The post Celebrating South Carolina’s Dominant Run appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> It’s easy to look at a dominant team and say that it’s bad for women’s college basketball. The truth is the exact opposite.

Going in, this year’s women’s and men’s NCAA Tournaments appear to have two distinct flavors.

The men’s field is wide open with no clear-cut dominant team. On the other side, South Carolina is the runaway favorite for the women, getting minus odds on FanDuel Sportsbook to win the National Championship against the field.

It’s sure to trigger a familiar refrain from those who only check in with women’s basketball via Instagram comments: There’s no competition. There are no upsets. It’s always the same teams in the Final Four.

There’s no use denying that the Gamecocks are now a Final Four mainstay. Alongside them, fellow 1 seed Stanford could well make it to Dallas, and 2 seed UConn has a decent shot of extending its Final Four streak to a mind-boggling 15 straight years.

But the game runs so much deeper than that.

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South Carolina is undefeated and dominant, but not in the same way that even the UConn teams from 2015-16 were. Nobody was going to touch those Huskies, while the Gamecocks have been tested several times this season. They could also get a real push or two in this tournament before the Final Four.

That’s not a knock on the Gamecocks, either. They’re putting together one of the most impressive runs the sport has seen. It’s just that the rest of the sport has grown so much over the past decade that a team that good cannot sleepwalk to the title game anymore.

While, eventually, we will want to get to the point where the women’s game is as up-in-the-air as the men’s, they’re in a good spot right now. Keep in mind the men have a 43-year head start on the women, playing their first tournament in 1939, while the NCAA did not sponsor a women’s championship until 1982.

As it stands, a dominant team that could still be beaten is a happy medium for the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Similar to the mid-2010s UConn teams, people are going to tune into the Gamecocks’ contests for any of three reasons:

  • To root for them; South Carolina has a massive fanbase
  • To root against them; people love seeing the favorites go down
  • To watch greatness unfold in front of them

It’s a shame the powers that be at ESPN didn’t put the Gamecocks’ first-round game in a better time slot (2 p.m. on Friday, ESPN), because people would tune in, even against Norfolk State. ESPN must know this, too, because UConn’s first-round walkover against Vermont is on Saturday afternoon on ABC.

But, no matter. South Carolina will have a second tournament game, barring the biggest upset in sports history. The Gamecocks will get the winner of Marquette and South Florida on Sunday and, if ESPN is smart, that game will be in the early afternoon, where it will only have to compete with one men’s game.

This will matter more in the later rounds, particularly the Final Four when all eyes are on the women’s game. Great programs draw eyeballs, and a Final Four with South Carolina, Stanford, UConn, and, let’s say LSU out of the Greenville 2 region, would be a ratings bonanza. Stanford and UConn both pushed South Carolina to the brink earlier this year, and while the Gamecocks blew out LSU in their lone matchup, Kim Mulkey is one of the best coaches in the country and has at her disposal one of the best players (Angel Reese) and one of the best freshmen (Flau’jae Johnson) in college basketball.

But this is about more than ratings. Zoom out and look at the growth of the game as a whole. Dominant runs not only strengthen the program in question, but it’s a rising tide that lifts all programs around them. Yes, great players will want to attend South Carolina, but the Gamecocks only have a few scholarships available each year. Did South Carolina pass on you in high school? Go play in the SEC and beat them.

Why do you think the Big East has gotten so much better in women’s basketball over the past few years?

Look even further down the road. Thousands of young girls are watching Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke tear through a brutal schedule like it’s nothing. Those girls are modeling their young games after them. I’ll be stunned in 10 years if we do not have women’s college basketball stars crediting Boston, Cooke, or any other of the game’s best players with getting them interested in basketball.

So yes, we ultimately want to reach a point where there’s more balance in women’s college basketball. We’ve come so far already, with almost as many double-digit seeds advancing in the women’s tournament last year as the men’s — and remember the women’s first and second rounds are on the higher seeds’ home courts. But there’s more work to do. In the meantime, let’s celebrate South Carolina’s dominance or, if you prefer, root fervently for them to slip up.

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]]> Loading The Madness Begins: Who’s Making it Out of the NCAA Tournament’s First Four? https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-first-four-march-madness-2023/ Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62983 This article originally appeared at FanDuel. Get set for the official start of the men’s side of March Madness with our best NCAA First Four predictions and the latest game-by-game odds courtesy of FanDuel

The post The Madness Begins: Who’s Making it Out of the NCAA Tournament’s First Four? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at FanDuel.

Get set for the official start of the men’s side of March Madness with our best NCAA First Four predictions and the latest game-by-game odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

After an exciting couple of weeks of conference tournaments, the college basketball world is ready to turn its attention to perhaps the greatest sporting event of the year: the NCAA Tournament.

With March Madness ready to kick off on Tuesday with 2023’s men’s NCAA First Four, let’s take a look at the four games to be played on March 14 and 15 that will decide two of the 16-seeds and two of the 11-seeds that make the final 64-team field.

To view FanDuel Sportsbook’s complete 2023 Men’s NCAA Tournament odds, click here.

2023 NCAA Tournament Play-in Games

1. No. 16 Southeast Missouri State vs. No. 16 Texas A&M Corpus-Christi

South Region – First Four

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
Venue: UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Coverage: truTV
Spread: SEMS: +4.5 (-120) | TAMCC: -4.5 (-102)
Winner advances to face: No. 1 Alabama
Final score prediction: Texas A&M-CC 83, Southeast Missouri State 76
Best bet: Over 155.5 Total Points (-105)

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2. No. 11 Pittsburgh vs. No. 11 Mississippi State

Midwest Region – First Four

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Time: 9:10 p.m. ET
Venue: UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio
TV coverage: TruTV
Spread: PITT: +1.5 (-106) | MISS: -1.5 (-114)
Winner advances to face: No. 6 Iowa State
Final score prediction: Pittsburgh 71, Mississippi State 65
Best bet: Pitt Panthers ML (+110)

3. No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. No. 16 Texas Southern

East Region – First Four

Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2022
Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
Venue: UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio
TV coverage: truTV
Spread: FD: +2.5 (-120) | TXSO: -2.5 (-102)
Winner advances to face: No. 1 Purdue
Final score prediction: Texas Southern 75, Farleigh Dickinson 70
Best bet: Texas Southern Tigers -2.5 (-102)

4. No. 11 Nevada vs. No. 11 Arizona State

West Region – First Four

Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Time: 9:10 p.m. ET
Venue: UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio
TV coverage: truTV
Spread: NEV: +2.5 (-120) | ASU: -2.5 (-102)
Winner advances to face: No. 6 TCU
Final score prediction: Arizona State 73, Nevada 68
Best bet: Arizona State -2.5 (102)

2023 March Madness Bracket

The bracket can be viewed below, but a printable version can be accessed by scrolling down to the link in the next section. The Duel will update the bracket throughout the tournament following each round.

— David Kaestle

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]]> Loading 01gvear39m99y6kk2ap6 Women’s March Madness Odds: South Carolina Favored to Repeat https://boardroom.tv/2023-ncaa-womens-march-madness-odds/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 20:23:56 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62818 Get ready for March Madness with the latest NCAA women's basketball tournament championship odds, courtesy of FanDuel SportsBook.

The post Women’s March Madness Odds: South Carolina Favored to Repeat appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> EDITOR’S NOTE: Click here to read Boardroom’s overview of 2023 Women’s NCAA Tournament odds entering the Sweet 16.

Get ready for March Madness with the latest NCAA women’s basketball tournament championship odds, courtesy of FanDuel SportsBook.

The bracket is set and the field of 68 for the 2023 women’s NCAA Tournament is official. You know what that means: One of the year’s biggest sports betting events is on.

South Carolina is the overwhelming favorite to repeat as national champs, to the point where you can’t even get plus money on picking the Gamecocks to win it all at -165. Stanford and UConn are the odds-on biggest threats to Aliyah Boston and Co. cutting down the nets at +700, with Indiana not far behind at +800. You can even get the field at +120 to win it all if you don’t like South Carolina at -165.

With some help from our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook, here are the latest 2023 women’s March Madness odds:

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2023 Women’s March Madness Odds

National Champion

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]]> Loading The 1 Thing the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee Got Wrong https://boardroom.tv/march-madness-florida-atlantic-owls-seed/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 19:02:05 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62768 For the most part, the March Madness bracket looks the way it should. The committee only made one big mistake.

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]]> For the most part, the March Madness bracket looks the way it should. The committee only made one big mistake.

Stand up and take a bow, NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee. You got through yesterday without the angry mobs, baffled podcasters, and prolonged rants from snubbed coaches.

You mostly got it right. The 1 and 2 seeds are almost exactly as predicted. The only potential snub, Rutgers, lost seven out of its last 10 and has no clear argument for being more deserving than any of the last teams in. You even set up what could be an all-timer at Madison Square Garden in the East Regional should Duke and Kentucky both advance to the Elite Eight.

You’re not perfect — I think you know that. While I won’t waste time quibbling about a seed line here or an unfortunate geographic placement there, I do have one complaint. And it’s something we seem to encounter every year. I’m talking, of course, about the No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic Owls and the complications their resume presents.

Florida Atlantic Owls Tournament Resume

Record: 29-3
NET: 13
KenPom: 26
Quad 1: 2-1 Quad 2: 4-2 Quad 3: 11-0 Quad 4: 12-0
Good wins: at North Texas, vs. UAB
Bad Loss: at Middle Tennessee

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The Problem

The difficulty in seeding a team like Florida Atlantic is simple — every metric, from the most basic (win-loss record) to the nerdiest (KenPom) suggests this is a really, really good team. But the most important criteria — every year — is “who did you beat and who beat you?”

The Owls have one win over a team in the NCAA Tournament field, and that’s the 16-seeded Northern Kentucky Norse. But FAU plays in Conference USA, and with all due respect, the league just isn’t good enough to give the Owls what they need to build a compelling resume. That means that while all logic suggests they should be seeded higher than 9, there aren’t any specific games to point to as evidence.

The NCAA has taken steps to address this issue but clearly has not gone far enough. The good news is the famous Team Sheets that the committee looks at to evaluate each team now include metrics like KenPom, Sagarin, and BPI, which also measure efficiency and should theoretically level the playing field. The NET, which replaced the RPI a few years back, also has efficiency ratings built into its formula.

The committee uses the NET to evaluate the quality of opponents that teams face, letting the rankings guide what constitutes a Quad 1, 2, 3, or 4 game. What it does not do, however, is use the NET to help clarify the quality of that team itself. A NET of 13 would suggest a 4 seed if that were the only criteria. That’s obviously not the case and I’m not saying that’s where FAU should have fallen. But that, with two Quad 1 wins in three opportunities, and no losses outside of the top two quadrants should make them better than a 9 seed.

What it Means for FAU

First, the obvious. As a 9 seed, the Owls have to play a red-hot Memphis team in the first round and, should they advance, No. 1 seed Purdue after that. FanDuel Sportsbook currently has Memphis as a 1.5-point favorite over FAU. If the Owls had been placed on the 7 line, probably closer to where they deserve to be, they’d be first-round favorites over a 10 seed that barely skirted the bubble.

Betting odds are far from the be-all-end-all, and the Owls can certainly beat the Tigers. But for a school like Florida Atlantic, which plays in a non-power conference making pennies off of media rights deals compared to the Power 5, an NCAA Tournament win (or two) can make a big difference. As we detailed ahead of last year’s tournament, one win in the men’s tournament could net a school well over a million dollars over the course of the next few years. By not valuing FAU as it should, the committee has decreased the likelihood of the Owls cashing in.

Now, zoom out. This is one problem with one team in a field of 68. The committee mostly got it right this year — it’s just that there’s an FAU every season and eventually I’d love to see them figure out how to seed them.

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]]> Loading Men’s March Madness Odds: Houston Favored to Cut Down the Nets https://boardroom.tv/2023-ncaa-mens-march-madness-odds/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 17:15:18 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62779 The latest men’s March Madness national championship, Final Four, and Sweet 16 odds from FanDuel SportsBook To read Boardroom’s March Madness odds update entering the 2023 Sweet 16, click here. The bracket is set

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]]> The latest men’s March Madness national championship, Final Four, and Sweet 16 odds from FanDuel SportsBook

To read Boardroom’s March Madness odds update entering the 2023 Sweet 16, click here.

The bracket is set and the field of 68 for the 2023 men’s NCAA Tournament is official. You know what that means: One of the year’s biggest sports betting events is on.

The fun part about this year? There’s no clear-cut heavy favorite. Sure, Houston has the best odds to go all the way, but at +490, it’s hardly a sure thing, especially with the health of Marcus Sasser in question. No. 1 overall seed Alabama is second at +800, but will the Tide’s off-court distractions catch up with them?

We’ll find out soon enough. For now, with some help from our friends at FanDuel SportsBook, here are the latest odds on the national champion, the Final Four, and the Sweet 16 for the men’s March Madness field.

2023 Men’s March Madness Odds

National Champion
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Final Four

West Region

  • Kansas: +330
  • UCLA: +340
  • Gonzaga: +420
  • UConn: +600
  • TCU: +850
  • Saint Mary’s: +1100

South Region

  • Alabama: +190
  • Arizona: +360
  • Baylor: +550
  • Creighton: +800
  • Virginia: +1200
  • San Diego State: +1500

Midwest Region

East Region

  • Purdue: +300
  • Marquette: +420
  • Tennessee: +500
  • Kentucky: +850
  • Duke: +850
  • Kansas State: +900
Sweet 16
  • Alabama: -300 yes, +250 no
  • Arizona: -225 yes, +180 no
  • Baylor: +104 yes, -128 no
  • Creighton: +168 yes, -210 no
  • Duke: +154 yes, -192 no
  • Gonzaga: -144 yes, +118 no
  • Houston: -320 yes, +245 no
  • Kansas: -225 yes, +180 no
  • Kentucky: +160 yes, -200 no
  • Marquette: -142 yes, +118 no
  • Purdue: -188 yes, +152 no
  • Tennessee: -110 yes, -110 no
  • UCLA: -250 yes, +198 no
  • Xavier: +106 yes, -130 no

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]]> Loading Loading “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Shines at the Oscars https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/mar-13-2023-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-oscars/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 13:06:24 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=62755 The post “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Shines at the Oscars appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Shines at the Oscars appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Which Cinderella Teams Are Analytics Nerds Backing to Destroy Your NCAA Tournament Bracket? https://boardroom.tv/march-madness-cinderella-teams-2023/ Mon, 13 Mar 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62773 This article originally appeared at numberFire, powered by FanDuel. Using formulas from numberFire, KenPom, and BartTorvik, let’s identify four March Madness Cinderella teams for the algorithmically inclined. Part of what makes the NCAA Tournament

The post Which Cinderella Teams Are Analytics Nerds Backing to Destroy Your NCAA Tournament Bracket? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at numberFire, powered by FanDuel.

Using formulas from numberFire, KenPom, and BartTorvik, let’s identify four March Madness Cinderella teams for the algorithmically inclined.

Part of what makes the NCAA Tournament so special is just how unpredictable it is.

We saw that play out last year when we got an Elite 8 matchup between 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s and eighth-seeded North Carolina — anyone can beat anyone on a given day.

Last year, five teams seeded eighth or worse made it to the Sweet 16, with three getting to the Elite 8 and one — UNC — going all the way to the title game. Two seasons ago, four double-digit seeds made it to the Elite 8, with one — UCLA — advancing to the Final Four.

So, which Cinderella teams could make some noise this season?

Using our nERD metric and numbers from both KenPom and BartTorvik — as well as college basketball odds from FanDuel Sportsbook — let’s take a look at four potential March Madness Cinderella teams who could wreak havoc on this year’s tournament.

(NOTE: nERD indicates expected point differential over an average opponent on a neutral floor.)

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Analytics-powered March Madness Cinderella Teams for 2023

Florida Atlantic (9 Seed, East Region)

  • +112 underdog vs. Memphis in Round of 64 at FanDuel Sportsbook

Florida Atlantic is used to winning — they went 31-3 this year — and they have the tools to make some noise in this season’s big dance.

Our model is really high on the 9th-seeded Owls, ranking them 20th in the country. KenPom and BartTorvik aren’t quite as bullish but still view FAU pretty favorably, slotting the Owls 26th and 30th, respectively.

The problem for FAU is that they got a rough draw. In the first round, they’ll see Memphis and are a 2.5-point underdog. If the Owls get past the Tigers, they’ll almost surely come up against Purdue in the second round. That’s a brutal opening two games.

What FAU has going for it — other than being flat-out good and ranking in the top four in both adjusted offense (32nd) and adjusted defense (36th), per KenPom — is that they jack up a lot of threes, which makes them dangerous. Florida Atlantic’s three-point attempt rate is 43.9%, the 39th-highest clip in the nation. And they don’t just take a lot of threes, they make a high percentage of them — 37.2% (35th-best).

Florida Atlantic will need to bring their A-game to survive the first weekend, but if the Owls are hitting from deep, they can be one of the surprise teams of the tournament.

Boise State (10 Seed, West Region)

  • +108 underdog vs. Northwestern in Round of 64

Purely from their team-based statistical profile, Boise State checks some boxes — the most notable of which is that the Broncos boast a top-shelf defense, ranking 14th by KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency.

Defense has been the driving force for Boise State en route to a 23-9 season. Things could’ve been even better for them as they lost two overtime games as well as a pair of other games by two points apiece. They rank 31st on KenPom, 30th by nERD, and 31st on BartTorvik.

In addition to their ability to guard, Boise State plays at a slow pace (219th by adjusted tempo), and fewer possessions means an increased chance for variance — something that should come in handy if they’re a sizable ‘dog in a game.

They’re barely an underdog in the first round, with their clash against seventh-seeded Northwestern priced as basically a pick’em (as of Sunday night). The Wildcats had a great year en route to a second-place finish in the Big Ten but rank just 42nd on KenPom, 35th on BartTorvik, and 38th by nERD — behind Boise State in all three.

UCLA would be a very difficult foe in the second round, but if we’re looking for a reason to believe in a possible Boise State upset over the Bruins, we can cling to UCLA’s slow pace (230th). The Broncos may be able to hang around in a low-possession affair. Plus, UCLA will be without Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

West Virginia (9 Seed, South Region)

  • -130 favorite vs. Maryland in Round of 64

When I think of March Madness Cinderella teams, my mind doesn’t go to an established program like West Virginia, but going by seeding, they are a Cinderella for 2023.

By our numbers, the Mountaineers are one of the more under-seeded teams in the field. We rank ninth-seeded West Virginia as the 19th-best team in the country. KenPom has them 17th while BartTorvik is right in line with our model, putting WVU 19th.

The reason for the discrepancy in how the advanced metrics see WVU and how the committee saw them comes down to close losses — results that can be heavily dependent on luck. And by KenPom’s Luck rating, the Mountaineers check in 299th, making them one of the nation’s unluckiest teams (fifth-unluckiest squad in the tourney).

While West Virginia is fully capable of making a run, the committee put them in a tough spot. In the first round, the Mountaineers will play a Maryland squad that ranks 22nd on KenPom and 28th by nERD. It’s a very strong 8/9 game. If they win that, WVU will likely run into Alabama, the big dance’s overall top seed.

But West Virginia has shown it can play with the country’s best, and it did just that at the tail end of the campaign. Prior to being thumped by Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament, the Mountaineers closed the regular season with a two-point loss at Kansas followed by wins over Iowa State and Kansas State.

The Mountaineers are 2.5-point favorites over Maryland and can give Bama a game in the second round.

Utah State (10 Seed, South Region)

  • -110 pick ’em vs. Misssouri in Round of 64

Much like West Virginia, Utah State is just better than its seed implies.

We rank the Aggies 16th overall. KenPom (18th) and BartTorvik (25th) also have them as a top-25 team.

While Utah State is no slouch on D (64th by KenPom), they really shine on offense, coming in 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency. They get up plenty of threes, ranking 57th nationally in 3-point attempt rate (42.6%), and they do a nice job getting to the line, finishing the regular season 69th in free throw attempt rate. (35.0%). That’s a good recipe for success, and they had a lot of it this season.

The Aggies went 23-8, and three of their losses were to a really good San Diego State team, with two of those defeats coming by two and five points. Utah State had three other losses by five or fewer points.

The 10th-seeded Aggies are 2.5-point favorites in the first round versus Missouri, a side Utah State ranks ahead of by all of nERD, KenPom, and BartTorvik. They’d probably tangle with Arizona in the second round, and although the Wildcats are an elite bunch on offense (No. 4 by KenPom), they aren’t quite as tough on D (41st). Overall, ‘Zona ranks just seven spots in front of Utah State by nERD.

— Austan Kas

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]]> Loading Loading The Business, Brains, & Beauty of Bracketology https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-march-madness-bracketology-business/ Sun, 12 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62724 Bracketology is synonymous with March. But how did it all start and what does it truly mean in 2023? You can credit Steve Nash for the existence of Bracketology. At least that’s how Charlie

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]]> Bracketology is synonymous with March. But how did it all start and what does it truly mean in 2023?

You can credit Steve Nash for the existence of Bracketology.

At least that’s how Charlie Creme, ESPN’s women’s basketball bracketologist, tells it.

It was 1995, and Creme was sharing a cramped office with Joe Lunardi, now ESPN’s men’s bracketologist, as the NCAA Tournament selection show was airing. The two were working on the Blue Ribbon Yearbook’s NCAA Tournament preview edition, due to hit the printer as soon as the bracket was set so that it could get to fans well in advance of Thursday’s First Round games.

The editor Lunardi, Creme, and a team of freelancers around the country had written close to 100 team previews, accounting for every team they knew to be in the field and thought could make it as an at-large selection. But as the two watched CBS unveil the bracket, they were caught off guard when Santa Clara, led by the junior Nash, made the cut. And then when the Fran Fraschilla-led Manhattan Jaspers followed.

“It’s one of those proverbial ‘bleep’ moments,” Creme said. “Joe says ‘I’ll take Manhattan, you take Santa Clara,’ because we had to crank this out. Everything had to be at the printer by I think 8 or 9:00 and the [Selection Show] is at 6.”

So the pair got to work, dumbfounded that the committee placed into the bracket two teams they were unprepared for.

Neither knew it at the time, but those frantic two hours, with old desktop computers clacking and fax machines whirring (they needed information on these mystery teams from school SIDs), soon gave rise to one of the most influential movements in the history of college sports media.

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The Birth of Bracketology

Lunardi knew even before that Selection Show debacle that he could better optimize his and his staff’s time. This was a 64-team tournament and there should not have been any reason to prepare 30-something team previews that would never see the light of day.

“There’s got to be a way to whittle down the number of teams we’re doing,” Lunardi recalled thinking to himself. “That essentially involved understanding the selection process so that maybe I could assign 80 or 75 or 70 [previews].”

To decrease the amount of work while increasing his staff’s productivity, Lunardi needed to determine how exactly the committee assembled the bracket. Remember, this was the 90s, before NCAA Tournament procedures were readily available online.

Lunardi doesn’t quite remember who he called, but it must have been someone at the NCAA, because they sent him a photocopy of the committee’s selection and bracketing procedures. He got to work studying it, not as a way to ultimately make a living, but just to make sure his publication would be better prepared for any surprises in the 1996 selection show.

“Back then, it was very cloak and dagger,” Creme said of the selection process. “The committee didn’t really give you much after those [television] interviews [after the selection]. They were very evasive.”

That wouldn’t fly for a publication on deadline, and so out of necessity, what we now know as bracketology was born.

Taking it to the Masses

Lunardi and Creme remember what happened next a little differently, but shortly after Lunardi began “messing around [with the bracket] on legal pads,” as he puts it, he started his own website, bracketology.net. In true late-90s Internet fashion, it was a rudimentary website, full of unnecessary fonts and without anything that actually resembled a bracket.

But the content was good. It showed his projected teams, where he’d place them in the field, and which teams were on the proverbial bubble.

Around that time, ESPN.com — then ESPN SportsZone — was getting off the ground and Lunardi pitched putting his bracket projection on their fledgling website a few weeks before the tournament started. It was a way to promote Blue Ribbon, with an 800 number at the bottom of the projection for people to order the postseason edition.

“People were really into these projections of the field,” Lunardi said, “It wasn’t anything like it is now, where people understood why certain teams can’t play in certain places or against other teams from their league or why is Georgetown always out west and whatever.”

Soon, Lunardi became better known for his bracket projections than for his work at Blue Ribbon. One projection a few weeks out became several. That became weekly, and it eventually evolved to a year-round job for the man they call Joey Brackets.

Lunardi had been at ESPN for a few years already when they asked him if he’d be willing to add women’s tournament projections to his to-do list. But between his men’s basketball responsibilities and a full-time job in the Saint Joseph’s athletic department, he just didn’t have the time to double his bracket workload. So he turned to Creme, a guy who had seemingly been preparing for the moment his entire life.

Literally.

In 1979, when he was just a kid, Creme cut a blank bracket out of the newspaper the morning the field was announced, hung it up on his wall, and started filling in teams as they came in. After that, he started to make his own brackets with construction paper, a ruler, and a pencil.

“My teachers probably wish I was as neat and orderly with my homework or schoolwork I did back then as I was with my bracket,” he said. “I don’t know, just, I love college basketball.”

In 2003, he traded in his ruler and construction paper for the back end of ESPN.com, and he’s been at it with the Worldwide Leader alongside Lunardi ever since.

Everyone’s a Bracketologist

Bracketology isn’t just about which teams are good and which aren’t. It’s about who those good teams might play on the sport’s biggest stage, where they might play those games, and what juicy matchups could work out depending on how the theoretical bracket unfolds.

Every time a bracketologist creates a bracket — and check Bracket Matrix, there’s no shortage of so-called experts — they create a possible fantasy March Madness world, full of possible Cinderellas, upsets, and buzzer-beaters.

Perhaps that’s what draws so many people to the practice; it’s a chance to put your team in an ideal March scenario, setting them up to cut down the nets on the first Sunday or Monday in April.

For Megan Gauer, who does women’s basketball bracketology for Her Hoops Stats, it’s her love of numbers.

“I’m a big data person,” she said. “Bracketology is a lot of data and I’ve always been interested in how it works. I’ve gotten more into it recently because in the women’s game, there’s not a ton of people doing it.”

There’s another element too. Bracketing an NCAA Tournament field is, ultimately, a puzzle. One has to put 68 teams into a bracket while avoiding a number of pitfalls:

  • Teams from the same conference can’t play each other in the first round
  • Teams need to be placed into the field in order and by geographic preference
  • Each region’s top four seeds must be from different conferences if at all possible
  • Each region needs to be somewhat balanced so no one region is significantly stronger or weaker than any other

It’s a daunting task, but one that keeps bracketologists coming back for more. Take Chris Dobbertean, SB Nation’s resident men’s bracketologist, for example. He started building brackets in 2003 when he was in grad school, based on a friend’s suggestion. Though he admits his first attempt wasn’t great, he soon got better and says that before long, he was predicting the field with more accuracy than Lunardi himself.

Much like Creme, Dobbertean is still going strong after two decades.

“It just mixes all sorts of things that I really love,” he said. “Data, putting together a puzzle and trying to follow all the rules, geography. Those are, really, I think the three things that brought me to it besides the love of the sport.”

The craze has even extended to some coaches, as Creme says former Texas A&M women’s coach Gary Blair tries to predict the field himself, then compares his results to Creme’s.

“It’s kinda cool to hear that he’s still involved,” Creme said. “He still has this love for bracketology that he carried into retirement.”

Bracketology, the Business

For most, bracketology is a hobby — albeit a time consuming one — particularly in March.

For a select few – with Lunardi and Creme leading the way — it’s a way of life. Tune into ESPN during a men’s college basketball game in February and you’re sure to see Lunardi pop in from the “bracket bunker,” which is really just wherever Lunardi happens to be, as long as he has access to a camera.

From the bunker, Lunardi will explain how the game currently airing impacts his projections or talk through a team’s resume. Critics might call it a gimmick, but if it is, it’s a gimmick that people crave.

Not just fans, either. As he details in his book, Bracketology: March Madness, College Basketball, and the Creation of a National Obsession, coaches have asked him for advice related to scheduling — namely, how they can build an ideal at-large resume.

Creme is acutely aware of how coaches pay attention to his work. He knows when they cite him in a postgame press conference, campaigning to him specifically in order for a more favorable draw in his next projection.

On the surface, that sounds insane; no bracketologist has any say whatsoever on what the committee does. But the higher up Creme has a team on his seed list, the more ESPN pundits will discuss them. The more a coach can say to a potential transfer, “hey, Charlie has us as a 4 seed for next season. Come on board and we can move higher.”

“They reach out,” Creme said of coaches. “They politic to me, or they’ll quote me and say ‘hey you know, Charlie’s got us as a 10 seed, we have more work to do.’”

It’s not just coaches. Lunardi says the suits at ESPN also ask for his advice. It’s easy, before the season, to know that Duke vs. North Carolina should be on national TV. What’s harder to figure out, however, is what game the network should put on ESPNU on a Tuesday in December. That’s where Lunardi can help, pinpointing which games may have bubble implications or are resume boosting opportunities for at-large teams.

“I’m not doing any matchmaking,” Lunardi said. “I’m simply giving rankings to the people who do. No matter what I say, Kentucky is gonna be on 20 times because they move the needle. I’m simply giving them the menu, if you will, of what [the landscape] looks like in June or July.”

It makes bracketology a year-round endeavor, and one that can even lead to opportunities outside of basketball.

The most bizarre has to be a campaign Lunardi ran with Purina ahead of the 2016 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, aptly dubbed “barketology.” Lunardi broke down various dog breeds, helping fans fill out their “barkets” to predict the winner.

“I thought I was a dog person,” Lunardi said. “It’s not close. These people are really into it. But it works. 35,000 people filled out a dog bracket.”

Such opportunities don’t come along often for Lunardi, but he does do the occasional paid social post or speaking engagement.

A Year-Round Effort

Creme hasn’t had the opportunity to do any dog brackets just yet, but his impact on the bracketology business is just as pronounced, particularly in women’s basketball, which still fights to earn the coverage it deserves. The men’s and women’s college games are both victims of the calendar, playing the bulk of their seasons up against the NFL and college football. It leads some to view college basketball as a month-long season in March. What Creme and Lunardi have done is extend the excitement of March Madness beyond the month itself — doubly important for the women’s game, which is operating almost a half-century behind the men’s.

“It’s another section of the sport that fans can clamp onto,” Creme said. “It’s absolutely extended March Madness. People started saying last week ‘oh wow, this is your time. This is your busy time.’ I wanna grab them by the throat. Are you kidding me? I’ve been busy with this stuff for months.”

For proof, check the mentions of any bracketologist from November to March. It just doesn’t stop.

“People want to make cases for their team on the bubble and all that,” Dobbertean said. “I’ll take criticism, but remember that what I want to do, what everybody else wants to do, doesn’t matter. It matters what the committee is thinking.”

And that’s what bracketologists of all sorts agonize over. The men’s and women’s committee change by a couple members every year, so there’s no true consistency. We get hints of their thinking through the annual seed reveal previews in February, but those are merely breadcrumbs.

Being able to predict the bracket itself remains the holy grail. Lunardi, Creme, or someone else may nail all 68 tournament teams, but the odds of getting the exact right seeds, matchups, and game locations are miniscule.

It doesn’t matter. It’s still fun to chase. And that’s regardless of whether it’s July, February, or in March while Steve Nash ruins your evening.

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]]> The Business, Brains, & Beauty of Bracketology - Boardroom If you're interested in college basketball, you know about bracketology. But how did it start and how did it become the monster it is today? Bracketology,March Madness,bracketology Loading Screen-Shot-2023-03-11-at-2.34.13-AM Screen-Shot-2023-03-11-at-2.45.14-AM Loading Silicon Valley Bank Fails, Marks Biggest Financial Collapse Since 2008 https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/mar-11-2023-silicon-valley-bank-collapses/ Sat, 11 Mar 2023 15:09:29 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=62728 The post Silicon Valley Bank Fails, Marks Biggest Financial Collapse Since 2008 appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Silicon Valley Bank Fails, Marks Biggest Financial Collapse Since 2008 appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Sports Reference: Closing the Women’s Basketball Data Gap https://boardroom.tv/sports-reference-sean-forman-interview/ Wed, 08 Mar 2023 17:40:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=61950 Sports Reference founder and president Sean Forman discussed with Boardroom his site’s decision to add women’s college basketball to its database. If you’re a sports fan, you’re familiar with Sports Reference. It’s where you

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]]> Sports Reference founder and president Sean Forman discussed with Boardroom his site’s decision to add women’s college basketball to its database.

If you’re a sports fan, you’re familiar with Sports Reference. It’s where you go to check your favorite baseball player’s WAR. To see how many times Giannis has been named to the All-Defensive team (five). To look up Derek Carr‘s career home/road splits.

Until recently, however, the site has had a blind spot in women’s college basketball. Sports Reference has a treasure trove of data related to the men’s game and the WNBA, but if you wanted to see Sabrina Ionescu‘s advanced stats at Oregon, you were out of luck.

Not anymore. A couple of weeks ago, the site added women’s college hoops data going back to the 2009-10 season and hopes to have another decade’s worth of info ready to go this week.

As the site continues to roll out a tsunami of statistics for the women’s game, Sports Reference founder and president Sean Forman spoke with Boardroom about how and why his company took on such a tall task.

“What’s important to us is just making data available in places where maybe it wasn’t before,” he told Boardroom. “Part of that was a big push in the WNBA. Part of that was a big push for women’s soccer as well. I think women’s college basketball is definitely on the rise in terms of popularity. It made sense for us.”

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RUSSELL STEINBERG: Did you see a demand for women’s basketball data beforehand? Were people asking you about it?

Sean Forman: I think we could see that just around the women’s tourney, there was a lot more interest, both television interest and, and, like, ESPN had a record number of brackets submitted for the women’s tourney as well. I thought it definitely felt like there was an interest there. Our WNBA site is very extensive and does pretty good traffic each year when it’s in season. And so, we felt it was a good extension for that.

RS: It must have been much easier to build out the site for baseball versus women’s college basketball, where the availability of data is a lot more difficult. How do you even go about compiling all of this data?

SF: One of our dirty little secrets is we don’t do a lot of data aggregation ourselves in terms of from primary sources. Genius Sports, who is one of the big data providers along with Sport Radar and Stats LLC, they’re the NCAA’s official partner. And so they had women’s coverage back to 2009-10. So we were able to strike a deal with them, and it’s a significant upfront investment, but we were able to get them to license us that data.

We’re also going in and filling in things like biographical information. We had to get all the awards, we’re still working on the conference players of the year, all-conference teams, all-tourney teams, things like that. By the tourney, I’m hoping we’ll have 20-plus years of data. And then from there, it’s really about filling it in. Like on the men’s side, we have tourney box scores, I think going back to the 50s. Obviously, we’d like to get that back to 81-82 on the women’s side, and then start filling in stats. The NCAA has some of this historical information available. The schools have some of this historical information available. On our men’s side, we’re not 100% covered. So it’s where we can get the information, we’re gonna start adding it in. Our goal is that we would love to have something that’s at least for full-season data complete back to 81-82.

RS: In terms of actually gathering the data and getting it all on the site, I know that’s not you sitting there plugging in every number, but what is that process like? What’s the time commitment that goes into that, and how does it get from step one to what I see when I log on?

SF: We had a group of five or six people whose primary job was to launch the women’s college basketball site. They’ve been working on it probably six, seven months now. We already had the men’s college basketball site, so we’d already identified old schools. But, you know, having to go back and work out all the conference affiliations over time, we had to work on all that kind of stuff that, often we’re looking at Wikipedia, we’re looking at other sources that you would look at as well, just to make sure that we’re sussing this out correctly and implementing it.

And there are gonna be errors. Hopefully, you or your readers will let us know and we can fix them. One of the nice things about what we do is things always can get better as we fix errors. So that’s a nice thing about our business. The main work was taking what we had on the men’s side and then generalizing it so we could likewise cover the women’s side and make sure that we were doing it in a way that was respectful to the women’s game and not shunting it off into kind of a separate section or something like that. We tried to treat both sides of the coin equally and give them equal presentation on the site. I think we’ve mostly got there.

RS: I would imagine one of the challenges is that there’s just a lot more information publicly available about the men’s game. What sort of roadblocks did you hit in trying to even just get the data that you’ve been able to present so far?

SF: I think one of the benefits on the men’s side is there have just been a lot more eyes on it. And so, players who’ve transferred, we’ve probably got an email about, ‘Hey, you’re not linking these two player IDs, these are the same person.’ There probably has not been as much because the site’s only been up for like two or three weeks now. But even from the data providers, there’s fewer eyes on that information and making those corrections. So we send a lot of information to our data providers saying, ‘here are things that we’ve found,’ and they add those corrections into their data set as well.

So it’s kind of a virtuous cycle of making these corrections and updates. I think there’s a thirst for this information. It’s not as readily available as it might be on the men’s side. And so that, for us, has been a big opportunity. Caitlin Clark has already been trending on our site, and that’s irrespective of gender. So we’ve seen a significant interest in looking at those pages and finding information about those players. I think the lack of competitors makes the information a little hard to find, but also gives us a better opportunity going forward.

RS: In the short time that this has been up, what sort of feedback have you gotten, either from fans or media?

SF: It’s been very gratifying. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback. Some people have said ‘what took so long?’ It’s a fair criticism. We probably should have done this earlier than we ended up doing it, but we got there. But it’s been very positive. When we first launched, saw a lot of really positive comments on Twitter and elsewhere. The team has been very excited about it. You can tell sometimes when you’ve made somebody’s life a lot easier. So that’s a very gratifying thing, and the team feels very good about that. They’ve been pretty proud. We had a very young team working on this. I think everybody, the leadership on the team was in their twenties. And so, fairly junior people were taking the lead to make this happen and really pushed it forward and I’m really proud that they were able to grow into that and get this out the door.

RS: Maybe this is me being overly cynical, but the fact that you’ve added women’s data two years after the 2021 debacle in the San Antonio bubble, and all of the increased attention around gender equity, is that what spurred this? Just finally realizing that, hey, maybe it’s time to explore the women’s game?

SF: That certainly has weighed on me as time has gone on, and I’m certainly aware of those things. I would say probably the bigger issue for us is we’ve expanded pretty significantly in the last two to three years. So we had 11 people for quite a while, and then in 2020, actually into 2021, we’ve started expanding. We’re up to 32 people now. And so previously, there was a lot of scrambling just to keep the lights on and keep operating the sites we have. So we didn’t necessarily have the bandwidth to start adding a lot of additional stuff.

This was definitely one gap that we had. We were aware of them, had been working to close it, and the other aspect of that is with Genius, we were able to find a partner that would license us like 10 years of data, which we didn’t really wanna start something that just had like one or two years of data, and our previous college basketball provider on the men’s side did not cover women’s college basketball. The day that deal expired we were able then look for a new partner. Genius was thankfully willing to work with us, and so we converted out all of our college stuff over to the college football, men’s college basketball, and then we’re able to add women’s college basketball. So that’s been a significant reason for why the timing has been such as it is. We were — I wouldn’t say dragging our feet — but it was not a priority for us prior.

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RS: When Breanna Stewart was at UConn, my friends and I were trying to compare her to Rebecca Lobo from her college days. We were trying to find numbers for Lobo, and we just couldn’t, other than very basic, basic stats. It’s things like that that just come up a lot for me in covering women’s basketball, and it feels like making this data more available is such an underrated component to growing the sport. Do you see that as well?

SF: Absolutely. I think Sue Bird wrote a piece for the Players Tribune back in 2016 about how on the NBA’s side you’d have charges drawn and field goal percentage at the rim, and all that kind of stuff. And they weren’t presenting any of that on the WNBA side. And so they didn’t really know the things that the men could know on the NBA side, that they could study and learn from and improve from. It was kind of a blocker for them. And so thankfully we’ve seen the WNBA up their game and start presenting that information.

I think we’re all about facilitating arguments about different players, right? So if we can put out offensive rating and effective field goal percentage and stuff like that for Breanna Stewart and Rebecca Lobo, that’ll allow you to compare those two. I think that’s gonna be great for everybody. You know, we love those arguments. We love facilitating those discussions. Those are the types of things you’ll see in our Slack channel in our office as well. We’re excited to see where people go with this information. We make it very easy to use, very easy to repackage, share with the readers, or share with each other.

RS: I think Sport Reference has played a role in familiarizing people with more advanced stats, particularly in baseball. Do you see yourself as having a role in normalizing analytics?

SF: Yeah, absolutely. On the baseball side, for instance, there are a lot of people who are really doing cutting-edge work: Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, MLB Savant with Statcast data, and stuff like that. We really try to cover everything. We have such a large audience. I really view our role as, we’re not on the cutting edge, but we’re kind of like 85% of the way there. And so we’re going to present stuff that we think provides an interesting context to the user and allows them to answer questions that they might be having. That’s really kind of our standard for any stat we provide is that, is this useful to the user? Will they be able to understand it? Can they put it in context? Can they understand what good is, what bad is, what average is, all that kind of stuff.

We really work hard to try and put that context around it. All the advanced stats we had on the men’s side, we’ve applied to the women’s side as well. That’s ongoing work for us and so as new numbers become available, we’ll take a hard look at adding those. We have some access to shot charts and things like that, that we’re not using at the moment. Maybe that’s the direction we go in the future where we’re adding more shot-related information that I know is being gathered at the team level.

RS: So what’s coming next?

SF: We will be launching, I think it’s the [data dating back to the] 01-02 season. We’re kind of merging two different data sets that we’re able to get. And so putting those together, at the boundary, you’ve gotta like match up players and teams and all that kind of stuff. So it’s a long process, but everything the team tells me is that we’ll be ready to go early [this] week with data back to 01-02.

Anything we have on the men’s side we’re hoping to have [on the women’s side]. For the most part we’re there. There are a few things we’re working on, like our NCA tourney forecast for the women’s side, which we will hopefully have up in time for Selection Sunday. One thing we have on the men’s side that we probably won’t have in time this year, but we have every buzzer beater in men’s NCAA tourney history. And so that’s really just kind of sweat-of-your-brow, show me all the games that are within three points, and then see how the game ended. Or is there a YouTube video for it kind of stuff? Mike Lynch, who’s our head of data here, that was a passion project for him that he started. And in the NBA, every NBA buzzer-beater in NBA history on our site, we hope to get all the NCAA tourney games as well on both. We have it on the men’s side, but we’re hoping to get it on the women’s side as well.

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]]> Loading Loading Loading UConn Freshman is Cold as Ice Ice Brady https://boardroom.tv/ice-brady-uconn-trademark-application/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 16:47:53 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62110 UConn freshman Isuneh Brady hasn't played a game yet, but she has filed a trademark application for Ice Ice Brady.

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]]> Isuneh “Ice” Brady has filed an application to trademark Ice Ice Brady. She plans on using the trademark on clothing such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, and more.

Stop. Collaborate and listen. UConn women’s basketball is back and one of its players has a brand new invention.

Or, several, actually, in the form of NIL apparel.

UConn freshman Isuneh “Ice” Brady has filed a trademark application for “Ice Ice Brady,” as noted by trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Intellectual Property.

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Per the application, Brady intends to use the trademark on clothing, namely t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets/outerwear, socks, sweatpants, tank tops, shorts, pants, hats, and jerseys. The freshman forward’s website, iceicebrady.com, already features several items, including four different t-shirts and a hoodie.

Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, so she has not yet taken the court for the Huskies, who won the Big East championship Monday night. Her injury was an omen of things to come for UConn, who lost superstar Paige Bueckers for the season shortly after that and had to deal with so many injuries throughout the campaign that it even had to postpone a game against DePaul because it did not have enough available players.

Next season, Brady plans to take the court alongside a (hopefully) much healthier Husky squad. She was the No. 5 recruit in her class and a 2022 McDonald’s All-American.

Even though she hasn’t played a game yet, Brady has been active in the NIL space. She signed a deal with Dunkin Donuts in 2022 and has been an active #TeamDunkin member on social media. Brady is not the first player on this UConn roster to trademark her nickname, either. Bueckers did the same for “Paige Buckets” shortly after NIL came into effect in 2021.

Despite the injuries to Brady, Bueckers, and seemingly everyone else, UConn is still poised for a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies will learn their fate on Selection Sunday, March 12.

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]]> Loading Screen-Shot-2023-03-07-at-10.52.58-AM Screen-Shot-2023-03-07-at-10.53.05-AM Screen-Shot-2023-03-07-at-10.53.38-AM Loading May Only Your Bracket Feel Busted https://boardroom.tv/jack-links-vasectomy-care-package/ Mon, 06 Mar 2023 21:02:57 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62027 March Madness is one of the most popular times for men to seek vasectomies. Jack Link’s is here to help them recover. Your balls are snipped, and there you are. We read the stories

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]]> March Madness is one of the most popular times for men to seek vasectomies. Jack Link’s is here to help them recover.

Your balls are snipped, and there you are.

We read the stories every year. As the NCAA Tournament approaches, urologists report an increase in men seeking vasectomies.

It makes sense: the procedure requires a day or two of recovery, so what better time to prevent future Diaper Dandies than the days when basketball dominates the airwaves from noon to midnight?

This year, Jack Link’s is prepared. Now through next Monday, the brand is offering 50 free tender meat care packages to men at home nursing their own tender meat.

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According to a press release, the care packages include the following:

  • Tender meat: This includes multiple bags of Jack Link’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky, Extra Tender Original Beef Steak Strips, BBQ Tender Bites, and Teriyaki Tender Bites.
  • One tender meat ice pack: Sometimes you have to ice the shooter.
  • One ball game that still functions: A mini basketball set to ensure your household still has balls that can get the job done.
  • One tender meat blanket: Wrap yourself in a meat cocoon to protect from predators during this vulnerable time.
  • One pair of Sasquatch socks: To “remind you of your Wild Side that was brave enough to get snipped in the first place,” per Jack Link’s.
  • One Ode to Your Load: A love letter from Jack Link’s, the text of which can be found below.

“Jack Link’s jerky is the perfect meat snack to have on-hand while watching sports,” Tracy Fleischhacker Quigley, Senior Brand Director, Jack Link’s said in a release. “It takes a lot of balls to get snipped and we know tournament season is a good time to kickback and recover. Our tender meat snacks will help take the mind off of the recovery so guys can focus on the thrill of the games and enjoy their favorite Jack Link’s protein snacks.”

Interested in getting snipped and getting snacks? Those daring to make cuts to their swim teams can enter here for a care package.

Hopefully, this will ease your mind if you and your favorite bubble team are hoping to make the cut next week.

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]]> Loading Screen-Shot-2023-03-06-at-2.00.48-PM Loading Who Do the Oddsmakers Like at the 2023 Big East Tournament? https://boardroom.tv/big-east-tournament-2023-predictions-odds-best-bet/ Mon, 06 Mar 2023 11:30:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=62144 Get set for the latest revival of the New York City tradition with our Big East Tournament predictions, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

The post Who Do the Oddsmakers Like at the 2023 Big East Tournament? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at FanDuel.

Get set for the latest revival of the New York City tradition with our Big East Tournament predictions, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

March Madness is right around the corner, which means college basketball’s conference tournament season is here. One tourney getting underway just ahead of Selection Sunday on March 12? Well, it’s a big one: the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Here’s everything NCAA hoops fans and bettors need to know about the 2023 Big East Conference Tournament.

Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament Schedule, Dates & Location

The 2023 Big East Conference Tournament will tip off with its first game at 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The championship game will be held at 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 11. FS1 will televise all nine games in the first three days of the tournament before the FOX broadcast network carries the championship game.

2023 Big East Tournament Schedule

  • First Round: March 8
  • Quarterfinals: March 9
  • Semifinals: March 10
  • Championship: March 11
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Big East Tournament 2023: Odds to Win

Big East Conference tournament odds are from FanDuel Sportsbook as of March 7, 2023.

TeamOdds to Win
UConn Huskies+210
Creighton Blue Jays+280
Marquette Golden Eagles+340
Xavier Musketeers+500
Villanova Wildcats+900
Providence Friars+1900
Seton Hall Pirates+6000
Georgetown Hoyas+25000
DePaul Blue Demons+25000
Butler Bulldogs+25000

Big East Conference Tournament Predictions 2023

The oddsmakers may like Connecticut, but Marquette is the top seed, followed by Xavier. Those two teams are averaging 80.5 and 82.3 points per game, respectively, to lead the Big East. The Golden Eagles and Musketeers also lead the conference in field goal percentage, hitting between 49.5% and 50% of their shots from the floor. The two teams split a pair of very close games during the regular season, and both teams went 3-1 vs Providence and Creighton.

With Marquette leading the league in steals and assist-to-turnover ratio, they are a slight favorite in a tight race at the top for the conference championship. That said, we prefer Xavier’s tempo and top-10 adjusted efficiency on offense, field goal shooting, and 3-pointers.

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT BEST BET: Xavier to win

— FairwayJay

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]]> Loading 1400x510_MA-1 Athletes.org Loading ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament 2023: Which Dark Horse Has the Best Chance Against Duke? https://boardroom.tv/acc-tournament-2023-predictions-odds-best-bet/ Sun, 05 Mar 2023 11:30:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=61953 Get set for the most hotly-contested men's conference slugfest before March Madness with our ACC Tournament predictions, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

The post ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament 2023: Which Dark Horse Has the Best Chance Against Duke? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at FanDuel.

Get set for the most hotly-contested men’s conference slugfest before March Madness with our ACC Tournament predictions, plus the latest odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.

March Madness is right around the corner, which means college basketball’s conference tournament season is here. One tourney getting underway just ahead of Selection Sunday on March 12 is the ever-popular ACC Tournament.

Here’s everything NCAA basketball fans and bettors need to know about the 2023 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

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ACC Conference Tournament Schedule, Dates & Location

The 2023 ACC Conference Tournament will tip off with its first game at 2:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 7 at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina. The championship game will take place at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 11.

Men’s Basketball Schedule: ACC Tournament 2023

  • First Round: March 7 on ACC Network
  • Second Round: March 8 on ESPN
  • Quarterfinals: March 10 on ESPN and ESPN2
  • Semifinals: March 11 on ESPN and ESPN2
  • Championship: March 12 on ESPN

ACC Tournament 2023 Odds

All ACC Basketball Tournament odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of March 6.

TeamOdds to Win
Duke Blue Devils+280
Miami Hurricanes+360
Virginia Cavaliers+360
Clemson Tigers+600
UNC Tar Heels+750
Pitt Panthers+1100
NC State Wolfpack+1400
Wake Forest Demon Deacons+3600
Virginia Tech Hokies+3700
Boston College Eagles+15000
Notre Dame Fighting Irish+16000
Louisville Cardinals+25000
Florida State Seminoles+25000
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets+25000

2023 ACC Tournament Predictions

The best coaches in the ACC, Tony Bennett and Jim Larrañaga, lead two of the top teams, Virginia and Miami. The Cavaliers and Hurricanes were recently co-favorites to win the ACC Tournament, and the Cavs have the top defense in a weaker ACC. Meanwhile, well-coached Clemson under Brad Brownell has the ACC’s No. 1 FG% defense and No. 2 FG% offense behind Miami. The Tigers also have the league’s top 3-point shooting team and No. 1 free throws (79.5%) with a top-5 rebounding and assist-to-turnover team in the conference.

Clemson looks like a legitimate dark horse and one to bet along with Miami, who can score more, beat Virginia at their own game, and won seven straight games before a one-point loss to rival FSU in the regular season finale.

ACC TOURNAMENT BEST BET: Clemson or Miami to win

— FairwayJay

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]]> Loading 1400x510_MA Athletes.org Loading West Coast Conference Tournament 2023: Whom Will Oddsmakers Back in the Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary’s Rivalry? https://boardroom.tv/west-coast-conference-tournament-2023-prediction-odds/ Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=61760 With glory up for grabs, let's make a 2023 West Coast Conference Tournament prediction and roll through the latest odds and insights from our friends at FanDuel.

The post West Coast Conference Tournament 2023: Whom Will Oddsmakers Back in the Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary’s Rivalry? appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> This article originally appeared at FanDuel.

With glory up for grabs, let’s make a 2023 West Coast Conference Tournament prediction and roll through the latest odds, best bets, and insights from our friends at FanDuel.

March Madness is right around the corner, which means college basketball’s conference tournament season is here. One of the tournaments getting underway in the first week of March? The West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here’s everything NCAA basketball fans and bettors need to know about West Coast Conference Tournament 2023 as the rivalry between Gonzaga and St. Mary’s takes center stage once again.

Here’s what college hoops bettors need to know as the action begins.

WCC Tournament 2023: Schedule, Dates & Location

The 2023 West Coast Conference Tournament will tip off with its first game at 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 2. The championship game will be held at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 7.

West Coast Conference Tournament Schedule

  • First Round: March 2
  • Second Round: March 3
  • Quarterfinals: March 4 on ESPN2
  • Semifinals: March 6 on ESPN and ESPN2
  • Championship: March 7 on ESPN
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West Coast Conference Tournament Odds

West Coast Conference tournament odds are from FanDuel Sportsbook.

TeamOdds to Win
Gonzaga-130
St. Mary’s+115
Santa Clara+2400
BYU+3100
Loyola Marymount+3500
San Francisco+4500
Portland+21000
Pacific+25000
Pepperdine+25000
San Diego+25000

2023 West Coast Conference Tournament Prediction & Best Bet

If you’ve been following the West Coast Conference this year, you know St. Mary’s was a top team and ended Gonzaga’s reign on top of the conference. The two teams were co-conference champions during the regular season, but it’s mighty hard to pick against Gonzaga, which continues to take the most betting action to win the WCC tournament.

St. Mary’s and Gonzaga split the season series, with the Zags knocking off the Gaels on the last day of the regular season. St. Mary’s was awarded the No. 1 seed due to the NCAA Evaluation Tool tiebreaker: St. Mary’s (25-6) finished No. 7 in NET and Gonzaga (25-5) was No. 9.

The Bulldogs led all WCC teams in scoring at 87.4 points per game this season. St. Mary’s was the WCC No. 1 team in scoring defense (59.3 PPG).

Gonzaga has won 9 of the last 10 WCC tournaments, with St. Mary’s winning the 2019 championship over Gonzaga. That said…

WEST COAST CONFERENCE BEST BET: If you’re betting on one of the favorites to win the WCC tournament, take a shot on St. Mary’s. A legitimate longshot to support? The San Francisco Dons.

— FairwayJay

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]]> Loading Athletes.org Loading Charlie Baker’s NCAA To-Do List https://boardroom.tv/charlie-baker-ncaa-president-priorities/ Wed, 01 Mar 2023 19:36:49 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=61521 March 1 marks the beginning of the Charlie Baker era at the NCAA. Here's what he needs to focus on in his first days on the job.

The post Charlie Baker’s NCAA To-Do List appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> As Charlie Baker takes the reins at the NCAA, he has the opportunity to be different from his predecessor.

At the stroke of midnight this morning, while the true college basketball heads were busy tweeting “THIS IS MARCH!!!!!,” the college sports landscape changed.

Mark Emmert is out, and Charlie Baker is now the President of the NCAA.

In many ways, being NCAA president is a thankless job — something a former Republican governor from Massachusetts should be familiar with. But that doesn’t mean Baker needs to stumble through it blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back and feet constantly slipping on errant banana peels like his predecessor, a guy who twice oversaw projects that lost over $100 million.

While Charlie Baker will have university presidents to answer to, and will undoubtedly enrage fans countless times along the way, there are a few simple ways he can be an effective leader with the NCAA.

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Be Proactive, Not Reactive

One of the biggest criticisms of the NCAA over the past few years has been how it let outside bodies dictate how it would run its own organization. With NIL — something we knew was coming for years — the NCAA simply refused to act until state legislatures began passing their own laws to allow student-athletes to make money. As a result, the NCAA had to haphazardly throw together loose guidelines in 2021, leaving universities, athletes, and brands unprepared for what was to come.

Two years later, we know the biggest issues facing college sports and the areas that Baker can address right now, NIL included. He shouldn’t wait for the next lawsuit to decide how to rein in collectives or for another high-profile scandal to define pay-for-play. Nor should he wait for congress to decide that college athletes are university employees. The writing there is on the wall. Now it’s time to figure out what in the hell that looks like. He also shouldn’t wait for the Power 5 Cartel to decide it doesn’t need the NCAA and to split off in college football.

Do I have the solutions for any of the issues above? Absolutely not. It’s also not my job. He doesn’t need to have it all figured out on day one. He does, however, need to start there, keeping the public informed along the way.

Figure Out Your Own Rules

Perhaps nothing drives college sports fans crazier than seeing the NCAA’s lack of consistency in enforcing its own rules. Its infamous IARP (Independent Accountability Resolution Process) is the perfect example. After the FBI’s investigation into college basketball, the NCAA appointed the IARP to…it seems spend literally years looking into programs involved in the scandal only for every single one of them to escape real punishment and for the IARP to immediately shut down after. Meanwhile, coaches lost their jobs, championship banners came down, and schools self-imposed postseason bans.

An even bigger concern than enforcement may be a lack of transparency, particularly when it comes to the rules surrounding NIL. Baker told Sports Illustrated that one consistent complaint he’s heard in the lead-up to his first day is “the lack of transparency, opaqueness, and the I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-is-going-on associated with NIL.”

Why, out of nowhere, did the NCAA punish Miami women’s basketball coach Kate Meier last week over helping to arrange a meeting between the Cavinder twins and Life Wallet CEO John Ruiz? Keep in mind Ruiz singlehandedly brought men’s transfer Nijel Pack to The U with an $800,000 NIL deal months ago. If that’s allowed — and I’m not saying it shouldn’t be — then the Cavinders having dinner with the guy shouldn’t be out of bounds. Right? RIGHT?

Maybe the Pack deal doesn’t quite fall under the Pay for Play umbrella. Maybe Meier shouldn’t be allowed to set potential transfers up with meetings with boosters. But the lack of consistency here is wild.

Lead in Reforming Championships

Take the College Football Playoff out of the equation — that’s its own monster, governed by its own committee.

Men’s and women’s March Madness are the next two highest-profile NCAA championships (and the men’s tournament is the NCAA’s single-biggest moneymaker). Yet both have problems, along with other championships in the so-called Olympic sports.

Expansion is on the table in the men’s tournament. Unlike some, I’m not dead against it, but it will need to be addressed before the NCAA’s contract with Turner expires in 2032. The billion-dollar-plus event is crucial to the NCAA’s very existence, and Baker will need to figure out how to maximize its revenue without watering down the product too much.

More importantly, the NCAA is still working on ensuring its women athletes enjoy an equitable experience in their NCAA Tournament. The Kaplan Report was a significant step forward. Next, it must fold the women’s tournament into the overall Basketball Performance Fund, incentivizing schools to invest in their women’s programs year-round. It also must look at its olympic championships and ensure the men’s and women’s tournaments are presented equally. There’s no reason the NCAA should embarrass itself again like it did in the 2021 Women’s College World Series. Issues like adequate facilities or swag bags are avoidable problems that can easily be prevented right away. Baker needs to conduct an overview of every NCAA-sponsored championship to make sure there are no more hiccups.

Charlie Baker has a ton on his plate as he takes over at the NCAA. With NIL rocking the college sports landscape, conference realignment kicking into overdrive, and money speaking louder than anything, Baker faces a tough road ahead. Unfortunately for him, fans aren’t a patient bunch. With what we’ve seen in the last decade-plus, they’ve earned that right. Good luck to the guy.

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]]> Loading Lil Nas X to Headline Men’s March Madness Music Festival https://boardroom.tv/lil-nas-x-march-madness-music-festival/ Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:59:59 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=61474 The men’s Final Four in Houston will have a distinct country flair, with performers ranging from Lil Nas X to Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. The old town road to college basketball’s men’s Final

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]]> The men’s Final Four in Houston will have a distinct country flair, with performers ranging from Lil Nas X to Tim McGraw and Keith Urban.

The old town road to college basketball’s men’s Final Four leads to Houston, where Lil Nas X will star and headline the list of performers at the 2023 NCAA March Madness Music Festival from March 31 to April 2, WBD Sports announced Wednesday.

Other tacts taking the stage at H-Town’s Discovery Park include Grammy Award winners Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, and Little Big Town, as well as Grammy Award nominees Mickey Guyton and Maggie Rogers. Lil Nas X, a two-time Grammy winner in 2020 who’s nominated for Song Of The Year and Best Collaboration at the 2023 iHeart Radio Music Awards for his “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow, will perform April 1 alongside Rogers at Move By Coca-Cola. The others perform April 2 at the Capital One JamFest.

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The NCAA March Madness Music Festival is an extension of the NCAA’s Corporate Champions and Partners marketing program. It’s a collaboration between Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and CBS Sports as part of an NCAA agreement. Last year’s performers in New Orleans included Khalid, The Kid Laroi, BIA, Imagine Dragons, and Macklemore.

Free registration to see Lil Nas X at Move Coca-Cola is now open, while Capital One debit and credit cardholders (excluding private label cards) will get early access to the CapitalOne JamFest from March 8 at 10 a.m. eastern through March 10 at 10 a.m. eastern while supplies last.

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]]> Loading Athletes.org The Football Fan’s Guide to the 2022-23 College Basketball Season https://boardroom.tv/2022-23-college-basketball-football-season-guide/ Tue, 10 Jan 2023 17:39:15 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=55887 Did tailgating and midweek MACtion occupy too much time for you this fall? Boardroom catches you up on the 2022-23 college basketball season.

The post The Football Fan’s Guide to the 2022-23 College Basketball Season appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Missed the first half of the season? Boardroom catches you up on the players, teams, and storylines to know in men’s and women’s college basketball.

In the time it took you to click on this story, TCU punted again and Georgia scored another touchdown.

Yes, the college football season had about as anti-climactic an ending as you could imagine, and letdown fans might be wondering where to turn. The answer is, of course, college basketball.

If you’ve been sidetracked by Saturday afternoon tailgates and midweek MACtion to this point, don’t worry. You’ve missed a lot since the Champions Classic in November but never fear. From the Big East to the Big 12, and Zach Edey to Zia Cooke, Boardroom is here to catch you up.

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The Men’s Top 25 Looks Nothing Like It’s Supposed To

If you only saw the preseason AP Poll and then tuned out until right this minute, you’d be forgiven for being positively baffled. Houston and Kansas (preseason Nos. 3 and 5) being in the top two spots is nothing outlandish, but after that, it gets crazy. Purdue started the season unranked but was actually No. 1 until this week thanks to a dominant run at the PK85 tournament and a 13-0 start. Alabama, which started at No. 20, is now ranked fourth, with UConn (unranked to start the season) at No. 6.

And those teams we thought would be awesome? Well, preseason No. 1 North Carolina lost four straight at the end of November and is now unranked. Things have gotten so bad for preseason No. 4 Kentucky that people are starting to wonder if John Calipari‘s time with the Wildcats is nearing an end. Creighton, thanks partly to an illness from star Ryan Kalkbrenner, went from top 10 to losers of six in a row before getting their big guy back and starting to right the ship. Duke and Baylor were also top 10 teams in November. Today, Duke is No. 24 and Baylor is unranked and 0-3 in the Big 12.

New Blood in Women’s Basketball

As expected, South Carolina and Stanford appear to be the two best teams. They’re a combined 32-1, and that one loss came for the Cardinal at the hands of…the Gamecocks. But take a look at the top 25 and you’ll see some unfamiliar names — or some kind of familiar names in unfamiliar spots.

Ohio State, which has not been to the Elite Eight since 1993, is 17-0 and in the driver’s seat for a 1 seed. Made even more impressive is how flat-out awesome the Big Ten has been. The Buckeyes are one of three Big Ten schools in the AP Poll top 10 (Indiana and Maryland are the other two), with Iowa, Michigan, and Illinois all in the rankings as well.

Yes, Illinois. The Illini went 7-20 last year, 1-13 in the Big Ten, and are somehow 14-3 this year, complete with a win over Iowa and a down-to-the-wire loss against the Buckeyes.

It’s not just the Big Ten that’s brought surprises. Out west, Utah is 14-1 and suddenly ranked in the top 10. And on the outskirts of the Top 25, you have two traditional men’s powerhouses proving the women can compete as well, with Kansas and Villanova.

Tournament Expansion: Possible, Not Likely

NCAA Tournament expansion is going to be a topic of discussion every year until it actually happens. Then, two or three years later, it’ll come right back. It’s the nature of the March Madness beast.

Last week, the NCAA Division I Transformation Committee released its recommendations to the Board of Governors, and it included expanding NCAA championships for sports with 200 or more teams to 25% of eligible schools. In basketball, that would mean a 90-team NCAA Tournament.

Before you throw your computer/phone/tablet in frustration, don’t. There seems to be little interest from the men’s or women’s basketball committees to expand to 90, and you shouldn’t expect any expansion at all until the men’s contract with Turner is up in 2032. After that, could you see an expansion to 72 or 76 teams? Maybe. And if you don’t like it, just remember you’re complaining about more March Madness. Not a bad problem to have.

The Wildest Men’s Coaching Carousel Ever?

Let’s get this part out of the way: One of the most prominent jobs in the game opened under one of the worst circumstances you could imagine when Texas fired head coach Chris Beard following a domestic violence arrest. That will forever be the most important and serious part of the story. But the reality is that Texas is going to need to hire someone and the list of names is intriguing, led by the Hall of Famer Calipari. If the Longhorns don’t go that route, they could take a swing at Kelvin Sampson (Houston), Jerome Tang (Kansas State), Eric Musselman (Arkansas), or Chris Holtmann (Ohio State).

The chain reaction that would set off is only the beginning. Plenty of other questions abound, including: Will Georgetown finally say it’s had enough of Patrick Ewing? Will Jim Boeheim call it a career at Syracuse? Will Kenny Payne even get a second year at Louisville? Those are all elite jobs and they all have a non-zero chance of opening (along with Kentucky, maybe the best in the nation). Buckle up.

Player of the Year Watch

Men’s Basketball Favorite: Zach Edey, Purdue
https://twitter.com/SBN_Ricky/status/1611162439370051584

The best player on one of the best teams, Edey is running away with the player of the year race in men’s basketball. Through 15 games, the 7-foot-4 behemoth is averaging 21.9 points and 13.2 rebounds per game while shooting 63% from the field. The Purdue conversation begins and ends with the big man, who has compiled an ORtg over 100 in every game he’s played this year and is far outpacing everyone else in the country on the KenPom Player of the Year list.

Other candidates: Jalen Wilson (Kansas), Marcus Sasser (Houston), Drew Timme (Gonzaga)

Women’s Basketball Favorite: Aliyah Boston (South Carolina)

You can make a great case for a handful of players, but for now, it’s still Boston. Her per-game numbers are down this year, but it’s because she is commanding so much attention from opposing defenses that it’s making everyone on her team better. Combined with Zia Cooke, South Carolina undoubtedly has the best 1-2 punch in the game. The best player on the best team will always be in the running for player of the year and Boston checks all the boxes.

Other candidates: Cameron Brink (Stanford), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Angel Reese (LSU)

Playing Favorites

Considering how turbulent the first couple of months have been, it’s no surprise that the betting market has changed substantially. Here are the favorites to win the men’s and women’s national championships, with their odds today compared to their odds in the preseason, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

Men’s Basketball Odds

Houston: +600 (was +850)
Kansas: +750 (was +1500)
Purdue: +1200 (was +4500)
Arizona: +1300 (was +2000)
UConn: +1400 (was +8000)
Tennessee: +1400 (was +2500)
UCLA: +1400 (was +2000)

Women’s Basketball Odds

South Carolina: +125 (was +135)
Stanford: +270 (was +450)
UConn: +700 (was +1000)
LSU: +1200 (was +5000)
Ohio State: +1800 (was +5000)
Indiana: +2000 (was +4000)
Notre Dame: +2000 (was +2500)
Iowa State: +2500 (was +3000)
Utah: +3500 (was +20000)

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]]> Loading Loading This Proposed NCAA Policy Could be a Game-changer for Women’s College Basketball https://boardroom.tv/ncaa-transformation-committee-tournament-revenue/ Wed, 04 Jan 2023 18:36:31 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=55155 The NCAA Division I Transformation Committee has recommended rewarding schools for their success in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Here’s what that means. If you want to set College Basketball Twitter ablaze, propose expanding the

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]]> The NCAA Division I Transformation Committee has recommended rewarding schools for their success in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Here’s what that means.

If you want to set College Basketball Twitter ablaze, propose expanding the NCAA Tournament. Then, just sit back and watch the world burn.

When the NCAA released its Transformation Committee Report on Tuesday, that’s exactly what happened. One of its recommendations was to expand access to Division I championships to 25% of membership — in men’s and women’s basketball, that would mean a 90-team NCAA Tournament.

No one in their right mind wants that, and folks spent plenty of time hooting and hollering about it yesterday just to make sure you know that in all caps.

But amid that hooting and hollering, maybe the most intriguing point from the report was almost entirely overlooked.

On page 15, one bullet point could transform how NCAA institutions view women’s basketball — and, perhaps, Olympic sports on the men’s and women’s sides. The committee is urging the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors to:

Refine the Division I revenue distribution program to reflect contemporary Division I values and account for athletic performance in more sports than men’s basketball. When redesigning the program, consider: (a) gender equity; (b) implementation timeline; and (c) commitment to broad-based sports sponsorship.

What is the Division I Revenue Distribution Program?

For the purposes of this report, the Transformation Committee is referring to the NCAA’s Basketball Performance Fund, which doles out money to conferences based on how its teams perform in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. Boardroom broke down the numbers behind the fund earlier this year.

Here’s the quick version:

  • The NCAA’s March Madness broadcast and streaming deal with Turner Sports brings in $1.1 billion per year.
  • A fraction of that is given back to each Division I conference through two funds: the Equal Conference Fund, which distributes its money equally to each league, and the Basketball Performance Fund, which is based on how many tournament games conference members play in.
  • In 2022, the total amount in the Basketball Performance Fund was $169,443,000. That was broken into equal-sized distribution units, and handed out based on the success of conference’s members over a rolling six-year period; conferences then awarded the units to their teams.

Such a program incentivizes schools to prioritize men’s basketball — the more games you win in March, the more money you receive. For now, such a program does not exist in women’s basketball.

According to the report, that could soon change.

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What Could This Program Look Like in Women’s Basketball?

We don’t know for sure, mainly because (through the NCAA’s own failing) we don’t know what the women’s NCAA Tournament is worth in real terms. The NCAA is nearing the end of a $500 million deal with ESPN to broadcast dozens of its championships, with the women’s tournament lumped in with other sports like track and field, bowling, and fencing, as well as international rights to the men’s NCAA Tournament.

In doing so, the NCAA cheated itself out of millions of dollars per year that it could have made simply by packaging the women’s tournament separately for prospective media partners.

This current deal will expire in 2024, and it’s expected that the NCAA will shop the women’s tournament on its own after that.

While we don’t know for sure how much the NCAA can make off the women’s tournament, the famed Kaplan Report found that it could be worth between $81 and $112 million per year — and that estimate came over a year ago, noticeably before the 2022 tournament shattered ratings marks from the year before.

The Kaplan Report outlined exactly how that revenue could be distributed, too. It suggests phasing women’s basketball into the overall Basketball Performance Fund over the course of 10 years. To start, 95% of the money from the fund would be awarded based on men’s basketball success, compared to just 5% for success in the women’s tournament. That gap would then close by 5% each year until achieving a 50/50 split in year 10.

This is going to increase the total pot in the basketball fund, but decrease the value of an individual unit, as there will be twice as many to hand out. This should incentivize schools to invest in both men’s and women’s basketball in order to maximize their overall revenue haul.

The Impact

This probably won’t affect what schools do too much on the Power Five level. Some quick math shows that schools in the SEC, for example, made almost $1.5 million each last year in NCAA Tournament distributions; they also took home $55 million each in media rights money. A couple extra hundred thousand based on women’s tournament performance isn’t going to make or break the Florida Gators.

Thankfully, however, most SEC schools invest heavily in women’s basketball as it is.

This could mean everything, however, in a conference like the Atlantic 10 — traditionally solid in men’s basketball, lacking in women’s basketball, and without a robust media rights deal to hold them up. Over the past six years (including the canceled 2020 tournament), the A-10 has accrued 16 distribution units for men’s basketball, meaning that this year, each A-10 school will receive a little over $310,000 from the Basketball Performance and Equal Conference funds. Meanwhile, the A-10 would have only earned six units over five tournaments in women’s basketball, had the proposed policy been in effect.

There’s no need to speculate how much money the A-10 stands to lose if it does not improve its women’s basketball product — the Kaplan report lays it out. Assuming the same level of success in both tournaments, the Atlantic 10 would earn $2.8 million less per year if the men’s and women’s units are doled out equally.

This is how you’re going to get schools that are lagging behind to invest in women’s basketball.

This is how you continue to grow the game.

Click here to read the full NCAA Transformation Committee report released on Jan. 3, 2023.

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]]> Loading Loading The Off-the-court Intrigue Shaping College Basketball in 2022-23 https://boardroom.tv/2022-23-mens-womens-college-basketball-preview/ Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:24:54 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=48924 From more continuity in the men’s game to more contenders in the women’s game, it’s a new era in college basketball entering the new season. At long last, welcome to college basketball season. The

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]]> From more continuity in the men’s game to more contenders in the women’s game, it’s a new era in college basketball entering the new season.

At long last, welcome to college basketball season. The games tip off for real on Monday, and while the slate isn’t exactly loaded thanks to the Champions Classic getting bumped to the second week of the year, there is plenty of intrigue around this season. Gonzaga and South Carolina are the betting favorites to win the men’s and women’s national championships, respectively, but they’re far from the only contenders. 

More importantly for fans, there are plenty of storylines off the court that will shape how college basketball continues to evolve.

As the 2022-23 season begins, let’s explore the biggest and best of them.

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Impending NCAA Tournament Expansion

Thanks to the NCAA’s recent efforts to atone for the disastrous inequities witnessed at the 2021 NCAA Tournaments, it’s safe to assume that if the men expand their own March Madness field, then the women will do the same — like it or not. And if you’re against further expansion as most fans tend to be, at least take solace in knowing that it means increased opportunities for more men and women each year to play on the sport’s biggest stage. 

The 2023 NCAA Tournaments are locked at 68 teams, so don’t worry about anything changing in time for March, but there’s a real chance the field is bigger in 2024 or 2025. It doesn’t sound like we’re going to get a 96-team field anytime soon, but don’t be surprised if the First Four becomes the First Eight and the fields are 76 teams each.

Why? Well, people like to say football drives the bus in college sports, but that’s not entirely true; 85% of the NCAA’s annual revenue comes from March Madness, so more springtime basketball inventory means more revenue for the NCAA. Oh, and it makes the coaches happy — a good way to increase your job security on the sidelines is to make the NCAA Tournament. More at-large spots means it gets a little bit easier to do just that.

Continuity in the Men’s Game

A fortunate byproduct of the NIL era is that we are going to see more roster continuity in men’s college basketball. Players like Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, who in the past may have gone to the NBA Draft after a year like he had in 2021-22, are back with an opportunity to make (quite literally) hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The obvious benefit is that keeping more talent in school makes the college game better. It also makes it easier for the so-called casual fan to follow the game. In the past, men’s college basketball hasn’t featured teams with clear on-court identities in the season’s opening weeks, as the true superstars don’t often emerge until around January.

Well, now we know. CBS Sports published its list of the top 101 players in college basketball this year and the top 10 are all upperclassmen, with Timme and Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe leading the way.

Some other returning stars to watch: Armando Bacot at North Carolina, Marcus Sasser at Houston, Trayce Jackson-Davis at Indiana, and Jaime Jaquez at UCLA.

The Women’s Game has More Contenders than Ever

For the better part of the past decade, the pool of contending teams in women’s basketball has slowly grown. This year, South Carolina is the clear-cut national championship favorite, but there are probably a dozen teams that have real Final Four potential — and if you can make it to the Final Four, who knows what can happen? Stanford and Tennessee are both expected to be factors, as always, and though UConn lost Paige Bueckers for the season, would anyone really be surprised if they were major factors in the end? 

But there are some less traditional names joining the fray this year. Vic Schaefer has his best team since he came to Texas in 2020, and that’s saying a lot — the Longhorns are coming off back-to-back Elite Eight seasons. Iowa also has a potential Final Four team with Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano. Louisville will be back in the mix as well, along with a resurgent Notre Dame and a sneaky-good Iowa State.

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The IARP Fallout

One of the biggest storylines on the men’s side this offseason was the drama (or lack thereof) around the Independent Accountability Resolution Process board that reviewed NCAA infractions cases from Memphis and Louisville. After literally years of review, both programs got off essentially unscathed despite facing Level I violations (the big, bad kind).

Even though Louisville doesn’t figure to be competitive this year and Memphis projects as an also-ran in the AAC, this has some broader implications. We’re still awaiting a rule on Kansas’s own case, and the Jayhawks have already suspended head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend for the first four games of the season as a preemptive measure. Jayhawk fans should feel a little more at ease after seeing the Louisville and Memphis resolutions, however, and for the Cardinals in particular, the NCAA infractions case is no longer looming over them on the recruiting trail. Kenny Payne’s job just got much easier when it comes to bringing in talent.

Slightly unrelated: The process has been so long and drawn out that the IARP will dissolve when it is done with its current slate of cases.

The Women’s Regionals

This year, instead of the typical four regional sites, the final 16 teams will go to one of two locations for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight: Greenville, South Carolina and Seattle. The hope is this will create better game environments by consolidating eight fanbases in cities likely to have at least a semi-local team.

Greenville will, of course, be a hotbed for South Carolina fans, and if Oregon makes it to the tournament, you can count on the committee sending the Ducks out west. Stanford, which isn’t exactly local but also isn’t TOO far, will be as well. The question becomes whether other fanbases will travel a longer distance than usual — UConn fans are used to playing their regionals in Connecticut or, at farthest, Albany. Will they go to South Carolina? Louisville and Notre Dame were typically locks for the midwest; same question to those fanbases.

As I wrote after last season, I’m willing to give a chance to any idea to increase visibility and excitement around the women’s game. Let’s wait and see what happens here.

The Balance of Power in Men’s Hoops

Last year, we got our first look at North Carolina in a post-Roy Williams era, and Hubert Davis weathered a rocky regular season to take the Tar Heels all the way to the national title game. This year, we get to see if Jon Scheyer at Duke and Kyle Neptune at Villanova can have similar success in their first years following the departure of a program legend (Mike Krzyzewski and Jay Wright, respectively). 

So far, Scheyer has shown no signs of letting Duke fall from the top of the sport. The Blue Devils enroll the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, led by Dariq Whitehead and Dereck Lively. For 2023, Scheyer already has four of the top 16 recruits currently committed, per ESPN’s rankings.

At Villanova, Neptune has a team with a real shot at winning the Big East. The Wildcats probably won’t be as dominant this year as they were during the latter part of the Wright Era, but that’s not Neptune’s fault. The team has had some turnover from last year’s crew that made the Final Four, and an injury to stud freshman Cam Whitmore isn’t helping matters. Neptune told Boardroom that Whitmore is one of the most talented players on the team and was “unbelievable” in practice this fall. Don’t be surprised if Villanova makes the second weekend once again.

One More Under-the-radar Storyline: Keep an Eye on the WAC Tournament

This isn’t going to get much attention, but is something worth keeping an eye on. The Western Athletic Conference, which operates entirely off the national radar with schools like Grand Canyon and Abilene Christian in tow, is going to use advanced metrics to help seed its men’s conference tournament. The idea is to minimize some of the randomness around one individual game result and really favor its best teams. While the wild unpredictability of March Madness is part of what makes it fun, one-bid leagues desperately want their best teams to win their conference tournaments and will go to great lengths to help them out — just look at the WCC, where Gonzaga is essentially guaranteed a double-bye to the conference semifinals every year. If those small schools get their best teams in, it increases their odds of winning an NCAA Tournament game or two, which would result in far higher payouts to the league. If this works out well for the WAC, other conferences might follow suit.

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The post The Off-the-court Intrigue Shaping College Basketball in 2022-23 appeared first on Boardroom.

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