The West Is Best -- at College Hoops

[sagegrouse]

Men's Final Four all west of the Mississippi
Gonzaga -- Washington
UCLA -- California
Baylor -- Texas
Houston -- Texas

Women's Finals both Pac-12 schools
Stanford -- California
Arizona -- duh

[G man]

How crazy is this? It has been forever since the eastern schools performed so poorly. Clearly this year is an aberration, but still mind blowing.

[uh_no]

How crazy is this? It has been forever since the eastern schools performed so poorly. Clearly this year is an aberration, but still mind blowing.

it's not so surprising on the women's side, since teams like oregon, and obviously UA, have been on the rise (and even teams like OSU and CU have had some good results), while teams like ND and tennessee have fallen off the radar. NCSU, unfortunately, dropped the ball on the east-coast teams on the rise.

[kako]

Being born in North Carolina, going to Duke when the ACC, SEC, Big 10 and Big East ruled the college basketball landscape, I am by nature an east coast sports guy. But I've lived in California for decades now. While I still favor the east coast, it has become clear to me that the east coast bias is definitely real. The time zone difference is the biggest thing. For example, few people on the east coast watch Gonzaga or Pac-12 games live. Sure, they have respect for Gonzaga's tournament performances, but how many east coast folks could name 2 Zags before the tournament started? Or how many people thought Georgetown, since they won the Big East tourney, would win a game or two in the NCAAs? They have Patrick Ewing as the coach, former Hoya and Knick, after all! According to ESPN, 43% of people thought that the 12th-seeded Hoyas would win their first game. On the other hand, Oregon State, with a better regular season performance compared to Georgetown, won the Pac-12 tourney. They were also a 12th seed. How many people picked them to win a game? 21.6%. The end results are obvious. The Hoyas got smoked in their first round game (versus Colorado, a Pac-12 school). The Hoyas should have been in the play-in game. UCLA, in the play-in game, should have been a higher seed. Meanwhile, Oregon State made it to the Elite 8. And the NCAA committee totally disrespected USC and Oregon and had them meet in the S16. Yes, the west coast is often an afterthought in the national CBB consciousness.

That being said, just because it's an all-west coast FF doesn't mean the west is the best. All the FF means is that west coast teams survived. Sure, they were good enough to survive. But the luck of the draw (and their own hard work) had them surviving. I deal with this a lot with my Pac-12 friends these days. The west coast isn't the best. Even though Illinois lost in the 2nd round, I still think they could have taken Gonzaga. But the west coast is better than the east coast (particularly the media, which generally is located in the Tri-State area) gives it credit for.

9F

[uh_no]

Being born in North Carolina, going to Duke when the ACC, SEC, Big 10 and Big East ruled the college basketball landscape, I am by nature an east coast sports guy. But I've lived in California for decades now. While I still favor the east coast, it has become clear to me that the east coast bias is definitely real. The time zone difference is the biggest thing. For example, few people on the east coast watch Gonzaga or Pac-12 games live. Sure, they have respect for Gonzaga's tournament performances, but how many east coast folks could name 2 Zags before the tournament started? Or how many people thought Georgetown, since they won the Big East tourney, would win a game or two in the NCAAs? They have Patrick Ewing as the coach, former Hoya and Knick, after all! According to ESPN, 43% of people thought that the 12th-seeded Hoyas would win their first game. On the other hand, Oregon State, with a better regular season performance compared to Georgetown, won the Pac-12 tourney. They were also a 12th seed. How many people picked them to win a game? 21.6%. The end results are obvious. The Hoyas got smoked in their first round game (versus Colorado, a Pac-12 school). The Hoyas should have been in the play-in game. UCLA, in the play-in game, should have been a higher seed. Meanwhile, Oregon State made it to the Elite 8. And the NCAA committee totally disrespected USC and Oregon and had them meet in the S16. Yes, the west coast is often an afterthought in the national CBB consciousness.

That being said, just because it's an all-west coast FF doesn't mean the west is the best. All the FF means is that west coast teams survived. Sure, they were good enough to survive. But the luck of the draw (and their own hard work) had them surviving. I deal with this a lot with my Pac-12 friends these days. The west coast isn't the best. Even though Illinois lost in the 2nd round, I still think they could have taken Gonzaga. But the west coast is better than the east coast (particularly the media, which generally is located in the Tri-State area) gives it credit for.

9F

given that the pac12 seems to be averaging a single final 4 big every 5 years, it seems the bias reflects reality...UCLA got there this year, oregon got there what, 2017? and before that we're talking UCLA in 2008. So yeah...there hasn't been much to warrant attention on that front in the past decade.

The gonzaga bias seems to be more mid-major hate than west coast hate.

[peteandpete]

Men's Final Four all west of the Mississippi
Gonzaga -- Washington
UCLA -- California
Baylor -- Texas
Houston -- Texas

Women's Finals both Pac-12 schools
Stanford -- California
Arizona -- duh

Isn't South Carolina in the women's FF?

[Bob Green]

Isn't South Carolina in the women's FF?

Yes, but they lost to Stanford yesterday in the semifinals.

[Bob Green]

...it has become clear to me that the east coast bias is definitely real. The time zone difference is the biggest thing. For example, few people on the east coast watch Gonzaga or Pac-12 games live.

When it comes to television, there is a huge west coast bias. The games are played so late I can’t watch the east coast teams half the time much less Gonzaga or Pac-12 teams.

Tonight’s semifinal between Baylor and UCLA doesn’t tip until 8:34 pm. Ridiculous! It is Saturday, tip times should be a couple hours earlier.

[peteandpete]

Isn't South Carolina in the women's FF?

I know Bob. I thought Sage was listing Cal as Stanford's opponent and the "duh" was simply a reference to the always present U Conn. As I said, too early. Thanks.

[mpj96]

When it comes to television, there is a huge west coast bias. The games are played so late I can’t watch the east coast teams half the time much less Gonzaga or Pac-12 teams.

Tonight’s semifinal between Baylor and UCLA doesn’t tip until 8:34 pm. Ridiculous! It is Saturday, tip times should be a couple hours earlier.

Agree! Late tipoffs are awful. No reason in the world (other than west coast eyeballs) to start so late.

If you want to watch sports at a reasonable hour, west is best.

[arnie]

Agree! Late tipoffs are awful. No reason in the world (other than west coast eyeballs) to start so late.

If you want to watch sports at a reasonable hour, west is best.

Except for early NFL games; when traveling feels weird to watch Dallas, Giants, Eagles, WTF at 10 am Sunday.

[dukelifer]

Men's Final Four all west of the Mississippi
Gonzaga -- Washington
UCLA -- California
Baylor -- Texas
Houston -- Texas

Women's Finals both Pac-12 schools
Stanford -- California
Arizona -- duh

PAC 10 hasn’t won a women’s tourney in almost 30 years. For men, 24 years- Zags, Baylor, Houston never. A bit of a drought I would say.

[sagegrouse]

Isn't South Carolina in the women's FF?

I cleverly (hah!) chose late Friday night to rack up the six remaining teams -- four men's and two women's. All from the West.

[rsvman]

When it comes to television, there is a huge west coast bias. The games are played so late I can’t watch the east coast teams half the time much less Gonzaga or Pac-12 teams.

Tonight’s semifinal between Baylor and UCLA doesn’t tip until 8:34 pm. Ridiculous! It is Saturday, tip times should be a couple hours earlier.

I thought UCLA was playing Gonzaga, not Baylor. Am I mistaken?

[Bob Green]

I thought UCLA was playing Gonzaga, not Baylor. Am I mistaken?

No. You’re correct. I’m wrong.

[G man]

I live in Spokane and I agree people just don't stay up to watch West coast teams play. I also agree the pac 12 had been garbage for a while. Tourney results speak for themselves. Zags have been a very good team whose recent recruiting has been off the charts, but they play in a garbage league and it always hurts them.

[-jk]

...

That being said, just because it's an all-west coast FF doesn't mean the west is the best. All the FF means is that west coast teams survived. Sure, they were good enough to survive. But the luck of the draw (and their own hard work) had them surviving. I deal with this a lot with my Pac-12 friends these days. The west coast isn't the best. Even though Illinois lost in the 2nd round, I still think they could have taken Gonzaga. But the west coast is better than the east coast (particularly the media, which generally is located in the Tri-State area) gives it credit for.

9F

<pedantry>Baylor and Houston are west of the Mississippi. They are not of the west coast.</pedantry>

-jk

[Neals384]

Whatever happens today, the final will be Texas vs. the far left coast.

[kako]

given that the pac12 seems to be averaging a single final 4 big every 5 years, it seems the bias reflects reality...UCLA got there this year, oregon got there what, 2017? and before that we're talking UCLA in 2008. So yeah...there hasn't been much to warrant attention on that front in the past decade.

The gonzaga bias seems to be more mid-major hate than west coast hate.

I do not limit west coast basketball to just one conference. The west coast is more than just the Pac-12. And it's interesting choice of words with "mid-major hate" and "west coast hate". Why is there hate for mid-majors and/or west coast?

9F

[kako]

When it comes to television, there is a huge west coast bias. The games are played so late I can’t watch the east coast teams half the time much less Gonzaga or Pac-12 teams.

Tonight’s semifinal between Baylor and UCLA doesn’t tip until 8:34 pm. Ridiculous! It is Saturday, tip times should be a couple hours earlier.

?

There is no west coast bias when it comes to showing FF games. The networks just want the most eyeballs on them. It's a business decision, not bias.

If the tip was a couple of hours earlier, today's games would start at noon on the west coast. People actually have to get things done on a Saturday. Even the 2:15PM start is annoying for me. To me, the game times clearly benefit the east coast. You can get your stuff down on a Saturday, even eat an early dinner, then plop down on the couch and watch hoops til bedtime. Me? I've had errands, my kid's games and events, work, etc. all block my FF watching. Or I just have to skip them. So if people complain about a 8:34PM start (which is, after all, primetime TV hour), I believe this is definitely an east coast centric opinion.

9F