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There has been a lot of talk about how Duke has the easiest road to the Final Four in Indianapolis, and Kansas, the overall #1 seed, has one of the hardest.  Duke has the most losses of the #1 seeds (5), all of which were on the road.  Duke was also given the play-in game.  Disregard the play-in game, since the first game for #1 seeds is always a joke, #1 has never been beaten in the first round.  Kansas, Kentucky, and Duke all won their conferences and conference tournaments.

Here’s where the conspiracy theorists come into play.  The NCAA is in its final 3 years of its lucrative TV contract with CBS (11 years, 6.1 billion).  They can opt out after this tournament.  They want another huge contract from either CBS or ESPN/ABC if they can match the CBS bid.  CBS is losing money on the NCAA’s just like NBC lost money on the Winter Olympics ($250 million).  So the NCAA wants to make sure ratings are huge this year to make sure CBS bids high and ESPN/ABC is drooling for the opportunity.  It’s also the same reason the NCAA is considering adding 31 teams to the NCAA field to expand it to 96.  Money.  Big Money.

So why Duke?

Duke is ratings gold.  Duke has always been ratings gold.  There is never controversy with the Continue reading →