College Basketball 2021-22

[Seadragon76]

Villanova won and so did Duke.

 

Villanova winning could be something since the last two times they made it this far, they won it all.

 

Duke winning wasn't a surprise... but the potential match-up for the Final Four has built in stories: They could face either the greatest Cinderella story ever in St. Peter's or give the fans the rarest moment ever in the famed history of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry - a meeting in the NCAA Tournament.

[Kevin W.]

10 minutes ago, Seadragon76 said:

or give the fans the rarest moment ever in the famed history of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry - a meeting in the NCAA Tournament.

Nobody outside of ESPN wants this.

[sc49erfan15]

14 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

@sc49erfan15i I just saw two commercials in a row featuring NCAA mascots. Do those mascots get paid for their time? Is the mascot at the school at time of filming the guy in the commercial? Or do they bring in someone else to wear the costume?

 

This is an excellent set of questions that I unfortunately don't have a full answer to. I would imagine it varies from university to university, mainly depending on how many mascot suits they have. Bigger schools have multiple identical suits, so Brutus Buckeye or whoever can more easily meet demand and be in multiple places at once. Winthrop had 3 suits - a new one that was first preference, an old one (that wasn't quite identical) as a backup, and a really old and incomplete one that was only used when absolutely necessary.

 

I can only speak definitively from my own experience when it comes to commercials, and I was only in one (local, low-budget, and probably lost forever) commercial during my time as a mascot. It was basically "they're shooting for this commercial on Thursday the 28th from 1-3pm, can you make it? If not, we'll find someone else." I got paid my normal "outside" rate, which I was more than okay with. I had two pay rates, one for anything directly related to the university ($15/hr for games, events on campus, etc.) and another for any other purpose ($40/hr for kid's birthdays, local business promotions, this commercial, etc.). One thing they did right was that any time I was asked to make an appearance, I was getting paid and travel time was included. Student Union wants you to be there for 30 minutes as they're on campus promoting an upcoming event? I got paid for the full hour.

 

As for national commercials, it's probably a mix. I shared mascot duties for the Greensboro Grasshoppers with a guy that was UNC's Rameses. I remember him talking about getting flown up to D.C. during the summer break to tape a commercial for the next year's ACC tournament. In some instances, they probably send the "real" performer. In others, they probably just ship the suit, likely with ridiculously detailed directions on how to put it on. Heck, I could easily see there being a few former mascot performers in the L.A. area or wherever that get first call when Nissan needs to shoot their next commercial. "Alright, you're going to be Maryland's Testudo and the Seton Hall Pirate this time!"

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Thanks for the info!

 

I'm shocked that mascots were paid before the athletes were allowed to be, though in hindsight, that shouldn't be surprising. Are cheerleaders paid?

 

I'd imagine there's a lot of competition to be Ramses or Otto or whoever. I'd be pissed if some jerk in LA got paid for commercials if I were the official mascot.

[JerseyJimmy]

let's be real, St. Peter's are the only thing keeping this from being a bottom-5 all-time tournament.

[Germanshepherd]

7 minutes ago, JerseyJimmy said:

let's be real, St. Peter's are the only thing keeping this from being a bottom-5 all-time tournament.

And they’ve more than made up for that. I’ve had more fun with and I’ll remember St. Peter’s more fondly years from now than a tournament filled with more minor upsets/buzzer beaters/standout individual performances. 

[sc49erfan15]

2 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Thanks for the info!

 

I'm shocked that mascots were paid before the athletes were allowed to be, though in hindsight, that shouldn't be surprising. Are cheerleaders paid?

 

I'd imagine there's a lot of competition to be Ramses or Otto or whoever. I'd be pissed if some jerk in LA got paid for commercials if I were the official mascot.

 

Yeah, pay was certainly a point of contention at the time. However, I didn't get a scholarship for being the mascot. Obviously, not all athletes do either, but that was the rationale - at least then. Some places (mainly larger universities/programs) have full rides for their mascots. I didn't, so I was essentially a "student worker" paid for my time just like someone working at the library or whatever.

 

As for cheer/dance, it's really a mixed bag. Some places have full or partial scholarships for cheerleaders. Some pay them. At some, it's a volunteer "club" just like other club sports and other on-campus organizations. As you can expect, there's a pretty direct correlation between the quality of the cheer/dance squads and how much money the university puts into them. At Winthrop, the pep band was an "on-campus job" and the members were paid by the hour just like I was - no scholarships. I'm not sure if that's still the case, though.

 

There is absolutely a ton of competition to be the mascot at larger programs. At Winthrop, I was one of a handful (probably a half-dozen, out of ~6,000 students) to try out. It was the same at UNCG, I helped judge the tryouts they held to replace me as I was leaving. I only remember 4 or 5 students (out of ~15,000) trying out. And yeah, if I were at UNC or UCLA, I'd expect as a point of pride to be the one actually in the suit in the commercial - doubt it would usually work that way, though.

[Red Wolf]

1 hour ago, JerseyJimmy said:

let's be real, St. Peter's are the only thing keeping this from being a bottom-5 all-time tournament.

 

We got spoiled with the last two title games featuring schools that had never won it all before. On the bright side, UNC and Duke can't meet in the actual final.

[Kevin W.]

8 minutes ago, Red Wolf said:

On the bright side, UNC and Duke can't meet in the actual final.

"The NCAA announced Sunday that due to a sudden rules change, the remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament were being re-seeded. They would not elaborate on what the rules change was, claimed that Duke and North Carolina ending up on opposite sides of the new bracket was purely coincidental and denied reports that an armored truck bearing ESPN's logo was seen pulling up to the NCAA's headquarters."

[floydnimrod]

I'm hoping for a Duke-Villanova final. It's wild to me that those two schools have only played 10 times, and not since '09.

Childhood me would have never rooted for Duke (though I really like Luol Deng), but now that I'm an adult, I kinda hope Duke wins it all.

[Cujo]

Duke

North Carolina

Villanova

Kansas

[Germanshepherd]

If only Houston and St. Peter’s weren’t ice cold from three. That’s just the way she goes. 

[oldschoolvikings]

18 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

Nobody outside of ESPN wants this.

 

I'm sorry, but you must realize this makes no sense. ESPN's only concern is the money they'll get from high ratings. While it's probably true that the vast majority of people were rooting against this (including me) ESPN knows their business. They know how to build this into something everyone will watch, even if it's just to be annoyed.

[JerseyJimmy]

4 hours ago, JerseyJimmy said:

let's be real, St. Peter's are the only thing keeping this from being a bottom-5 all-time tournament.

 

actually, I changed my mind. this is a bottom-5 tourney anyway. I guess I'll pull for Villanova because of Big East sentiment? I don't know, this blows.

[floydnimrod]

17 minutes ago, JerseyJimmy said:

 

actually, I changed my mind. this is a bottom-5 tourney anyway. I guess I'll pull for Villanova because of Big East sentiment? I don't know, this blows.

What's so bad about this tournament? I get that it's not an all-time great, but I'm not sure what's so bad about it.

[heavybass]

Final Four is all blue.... no upsets.

[Kevin W.]

25 minutes ago, floydnimrod said:

What's so bad about this tournament? I get that it's not an all-time great, but I'm not sure what's so bad about it.

Because Duke-UNC is insufferable enough as is. Having them face off in the tournament in Coach K's last season just so the media can fall all over themselves praising him is sickening.

[floydnimrod]

14 minutes ago, Kevin W. said:

Because Duke-UNC is insufferable enough as is. Having them face off in the tournament in Coach K's last season just so the media can fall all over themselves praising him is sickening.

Rutgers-Notre Dame was the great first four game ever.

Teddy Allen was fun in the first round.

Gonzaga/Memphis was a good game.

UNC-Baylor was wild.

Everything St. Peter's did  was great.

Creighton/San Diego State was great.

Miami/USC was good.

lllinois/Chattanooga was fun.

These were just off the top of my head, there were more solid moments.

 

I don't think one matchup ruins it all. College basketball is my favorite thing. No other sport comes close for me. Duke is playing good basketball, and North Carolina is playing good basketball. The game should be good. Does it feature two teams who have won championships before? Yes. Are they playing some of the best basketball of any team at the moment? Also yes.

 

Duke/North Carolina is the biggest rivalry in college basketball. If there's a bigger one, let me know. I'm not sure why it's a crime for the media to talk about it. Rivalries are great for college basketball, especially as teams move conferences and rivalries die off.

[Burmy]

Sooner or later, the clock strikes midnight on every Cinderella...but nonetheless, Saint Peter's captivated the hearts of all these fans in their incredible run!

I think people are gonna keep an eye out for them for many years to come...in fact, I don't expect 'em to stay in the MAAC for too much longer (I imagine the A-10's keeping an eye out for them right now)

[Seadragon76]

2 hours ago, Burmy said:

Sooner or later, the clock strikes midnight on every Cinderella...but nonetheless, Saint Peter's captivated the hearts of all these fans in their incredible run!

I think people are gonna keep an eye out for them for many years to come...in fact, I don't expect 'em to stay in the MAAC for too much longer (I imagine the A-10's keeping an eye out for them right now)

 

Um, no... While this run is great and all for St. Peter's, the idea that anyone thinks that some other conference is going to snatch them up because of this run is definitely on something that's probably not legal.

 

There is a good chance that the high from this run doesn't translate into more success. The last two schools to reach the Sweet 16 as a 15 seed were Florida Gulf Coast and Oral Roberts.

 

Oral Roberts went 18-11 last year in their run to the Sweet 16. This year? 19-12. Not a massive improvement

Florida Gulf Coast went 26-11 in 2013. The following year? 22-13. That's a small drop off.

 

What's not to say that St. Peter's won't experience that?