Universities spend millions of dollars to succeed in the NCAA men?s basketball tournament. But according to an American City Busi?ness Journals report, spending can vary widely from one team to another.
For example, the school with the highest men?s basketball expenses for the 2013-14 season was the University of Louisville, this year a No. 4 seed, which spent about $16.4 million.
By contrast, Hampton University, which played in to the round of 64 as a 16 seed, spent a paltry-by-comparison $907,328, according to the U.S. Department of Education?s Equality in Athletics data.
Spending on men?s basketball at Wichita State was relatively modest, at $5.1 million for 2013-14, ranking No. 40 of the 68 teams involved in the tournament.
The University of Kansas ranked 10th of the 68 teams, spent $8.5 million.
While money isn?t a guarantee or predictor of success, the national title winner in three out of five of the last college basketball seasons since has been either the first-, second- or third-biggest spender in men?s college basketball.
In 2010, Duke spent $12.3 million (No. 1) and won a national title over the No. 98-ranked spender, Butler.
Kentucky?s No. 3-ranked spending total of $15.1 million was enough for a national title in 2012. And Louisville spent $15.7 million during its title run in 2013, tops among all NCAA teams.
Connecticut bucked the trend with its two national title wins in 2011 and 2014, yet still spent more than $8 million per season, which was No. 11 and No. 22 respectively, among all teams in the tournament.
Commitment to winning seems to equate with success of reaching the final games of the tournament. When spending rank is applied to the last five seasons of Final Four teams, the top 25 spenders in college basketball accounted for 65 percent of those Final Four teams.
While NCAA tournament games can turn on a three-pointer or a savvy coaching adjustment, having a top 25 financial commitment from a team?s university seems to balance out some of the chaos of the tournament.
Based on spending this year, it?s no surprise that Kentucky and Duke were in the Final Four, spending nearly $16.2 million and $14.2 million, respectively.
If your university wants to spend its way into contention, it better put its money where its mouth is.
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For what it?s worth, we can dispense with talk that the Big 12 was the best basketball conference in 2014-15.
Before the NCAA Tournament, there was talk about how tough the Big 12 Conference was in basketball. With seven out of 10 teams making the tournament, the Big 12 clearly was viewed favorably by the tournament selection committee.
In reality, the conference was very good, if not a little overrated.
Looking at how the conferences fared in the NCAA tournament, the Big 12 was only 5-7. The ACC, by comparison was 17-5, the Big 10 went 12-7, the Pac-12 was 8-4, the Missouri Valley was 3-2 and the SEC was 6-5.
The most disheartening aspect for the Big 12 was that its teams were just 1-4 when playing in games as the higher-seeded team.
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In the bad-sportsmanship department, a hard foul in a game between Hammond and Griffith high schools led to an ugly, bench-clearing brawl in Indiana. Benches cleared, fists started flying and fans spilled out of the stands and onto the court.
It was bad enough that the Indiana High School Athletic Association canceled the seasons for both schools.
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In the ?Can?t we just all get along?? category, the cheerleaders and dance teams for Albany State and Tuskegee were sent home from the Southern Intercol?legiate Athletic Conference tournament after fighting.
The fight happened at halftime of the schools? first-round men?s basketball game. The cheerleaders and dance teams for both schools were barred from performing for the rest of the tournament.