March Madness

They tell you you can play top level basketball, get a top education from an Ivy, and be plugged into a career with a great income from the results of that education and the networking going to an Ivy gets you.

And you get bumped ahead of all those other National merit scholars who applied.

Other than that, I guess they just do well with walkons.

Purplegeezer wrote:They tell you you can play top level basketball, get a top education from an Ivy, and be plugged into a career with a great income from the results of that education and the networking going to an Ivy gets you.

And you get bumped ahead of all those other National merit scholars who applied.

Other than that, I guess they just do well with walkons.

I understand that. What I'm trying to understand is the conditions of the agreement to play if there is no athletic scholarship. It sounds like they just take the word of the recruit that he will in fact play the sport when attending the school.

Well, yeah. a kid can decide to just focus on studies when he gets there, where at most schools if you quit you lose your scholarship money the next year.

If that was a big factor, there would be no seniors on any teams. I'll counter that a kid has the option to quit if the studies aren't going well and not worry about losing the scholarship. That's a pretty good safety net. It's why I went where I did... At most D1 schools, they own you.

At Cornell, thy are telling you the focus is on your academic life - and you can still compete. Amazingly, some people want to hear that.


There are thousands of D3 kids who put an awfull lot of effort into their sports. Cornell gives you the same chance at the D1 level.

Saw this from Nate Silver, who is convinced Tom Izzo is quite the coach:

And so long as Izzo remains their coach, you should probably subtract a seed or two from Michigan State the next time that you're filling out your bracket.

PilotNut wrote:GO BUTLER!

Butler is in the final! 52-50 or Mich State.

This is a night every mid-major fan should enjoy. If Butler can do it, another mid-major can. Why not the Pilots someday soon?

Kyle Whelliston wrote about how this win was for all the small schools in the past who couldn't quite get past MSU. Then the mid-major fans on Twitter started remembering all the other ones that got away against all the other big opponents in the tournament. Here's where the story gets really cool:

@TheSplenda: This one was for Eric Jackson's 15-footer that barely missed when #1 Purdue held off #16 UWGB 49-48 in 1995. #thanksdawgs

Yes, it's our Eric Jackson. Small world, huh?