I have been on this anti-ESPN/Lunardi campaign for several years now, and while I have no physical evidence to support my suspicions; I believe the mainstream media, particularly NBC and Disney/ESPN, have an strategic agenda designed to advance the SEC and BIG, and certain schools in their respective sports based on TV audience attraction.
On one hand, those March Madness upsets in the early rounds provide excitement and some level of fulfillment for the TV audience; however, the effect during Regionals and the Final Four on TV viewership can result in significant decreases in revenue. Participants like SDS, FAU and Loyola-Chicago are not what Regional and National audiences want, and it is no coincidence that Disney/ESPN, NBC, ABC and CBS have invested a lot of money in advertising and televising these games; any influence they can muster up by helping advance those conferences and particularly the schools that attract the largest audiences is in full display with seedings.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that Lunardi has sufficient knowledge to warrant this level of influence, and there is nothing to support the manner in which the talking heads constantly refer to his seeding. Think about it ……. it’s the very same mainstream media that prop Lunardi up across every media outlet.
I am not doubting the superiority this season of the SEC, but teams like UK, Arkansas, Texas who have huge basketball audience following, but have struggled throughout this season, are still getting more favorable considerations, despite their losses. In all fairness, some of this spreads to the the other Power Conferences as well ……. as it is no coincidence that schools like Kansas, UNC, UCLA, Michigan State are each enjoying greater consideration, at least when comparing the same criteria with other schools who do not necessarily fit Lunardi’s agenda.
I do not believe Lunardi has a bias against UL per se, but I do believe that it is imperative that Lunardi minimizes UL, as well as so many other equally worthy teams in his seeding, as it’s his way of both defending and protecting those teams that he established early on …… otherwise it raises questions about his credibility.
It’s going to be extremely difficult now for Joe to explain his 8 seeding for UL as recently as just a few weeks ago. If we beat Duke tonight, we will have a strong argument for a 3 or 4 seeding, something the Committee might feel obligated to award.
