A Sea Of Red

Missouri softball committed the most unethical act in history of college sports. They were in danger of finishing with a losing record, and missing NCAA tournament. They had 2 remaining non conference games scheduled with Wichita State who had a good RPI and 31 wins. Missouri brought out those 2 games for $5,000.00, and found some cupcake with an RPI of 263 or something, to play. Missouri finished with a 28-27 record, did not make their conference tourney, yet got selected for NCAA tournament and a #2 seed. By buying out Wichita State, they affected final RPI of 3 other teams.
NCAA needs to take immediate action to prevent teams from being this unethical . There's no way Missouri should have made NCAA tournament. This demonstrates just how crooked NCAA is.

Ok

Read and acknowledged.

jbock13 wrote:Read and acknowledged.

ballcoach15 wrote:Missouri softball committed the most unethical act in history of college sports. They were in danger of finishing with a losing record, and missing NCAA tournament. They had 2 remaining non conference games scheduled with Wichita State who had a good RPI and 31 wins. Missouri brought out those 2 games for $5,000.00, and found some cupcake with an RPI of 263 or something, to play. Missouri finished with a 28-27 record, did not make their conference tourney, yet got selected for NCAA tournament and a #2 seed. By buying out Wichita State, they affected final RPI of 3 other teams.
NCAA needs to take immediate action to prevent teams from being this unethical . There's no way Missouri should have made NCAA tournament. This demonstrates just how crooked NCAA is.

A 2 seed that is 28-27 is an indictment on both the NCAA and Women’s softball.

rogers3 wrote:

ballcoach15 wrote:Missouri softball committed the most unethical act in history of college sports. They were in danger of finishing with a losing record, and missing NCAA tournament. They had 2 remaining non conference games scheduled with Wichita State who had a good RPI and 31 wins. Missouri brought out those 2 games for $5,000.00, and found some cupcake with an RPI of 263 or something, to play. Missouri finished with a 28-27 record, did not make their conference tourney, yet got selected for NCAA tournament and a #2 seed. By buying out Wichita State, they affected final RPI of 3 other teams.
NCAA needs to take immediate action to prevent teams from being this unethical . There's no way Missouri should have made NCAA tournament. This demonstrates just how crooked NCAA is.

A 2 seed that is 28-27 is an indictment on both the NCAA and Women’s softball.

That’s what I was thinking

#1 SOS, not enough softball programs in this country.

Just playing devil’s advocate. Can’t really justify buying out the Wichita series. Just afraid to play. But if I were Missouri’s coach........I don’t know.

The softball selection committee is by far the worst NCAA selection committee there is. Most of them are unqualified to be on committee. Most do not know enough about softball. In basketball, normally only problems arise are with the final 2 or 3 teams selected and/or left out. In softball they screw up selections, seedings and everything else that can be screwed up.

Which teams were selected that should not have been selected and what seeds were not done properly?

If you are the worst team in the best conference, your SOS will be high. They didn't break any rules. It does need to be addressed with a rule change which would prevent it from happening again. Ballcoach is way over the top as usual, but I do agree it was a shady move by MO. Really sends a bad message to the players that the end justifies the means. I Hope they are proud of their wonderful accomplishment. "Kharma" would have them go 2 and out, losing to the 3 seed and then the 4, but it probably won't happen, because they likely are a better/more talented team. IMHO it doesn't matter, they should not have been in the tournament, let alone a 2 seed. If you are a member of a super strong conference, you should have to accept the negative of sometimes not winning a lot of games along with the many positives.

Thanks ballcoach, now I know who else I'll be rooting for other then LU

I'm willing to bet there are some MO players who are upset about this. In addition to blatantly saying the end justifies the means, it also is an insult to them, basically saying, "we didn't think you were good enough to earn your way into the tournament against the teams on the schedule, so we made it easier." No way I will agree with ballcoach that something that broke no rules or laws is the "worst ever", but it's pretty bad, and I have a feeling there will be repercussions down the road. I would hope MO fans are angry and raising heck over it as well. It is a huge stain on the school's reputation.

Here is an article about it from the Witchita State perspective.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wi ... 72709.html

Looks like they had no choice in the matter. Apparantly you can cancel any game you want by paying the buyout. On the other hand, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the team that took their place, did have a choice, and they had to know what was going on.

As much as I hate how shady that is, I love coaching so hard they make a rule to stop you.

Class of 20Something wrote:As much as I hate how shady that is, I love coaching so hard they make a rule to stop you.

I would normally agree. IMHO, what makes this different is the fact that it is telling the players loudly and clearly that they did not have confidence in them to beat the team on the schedule. Is that good coaching? I also give a big thumbs down to AK-Pine Bluff, who had nothing to gain except $$$$ for agreeing to be cannon fodder to facilitate it. Almost makes you wonder whether actually throwing the games was in the deal.

Pine Bluff always needs money, Missouri offered them money. That's all they know, that's all they accepted.

I agree the message to MO players is troubling.

Wichita's hands were tied. A lot of contracts have these buyout clauses, not just guarantee contracts.

Finally, the committee could've just as easily sent a message by not granting MO an at-large bid. The committee - I would hope - had to know this had gone on. They missed an opporutnity to shut down these shenanigans without even implementing a rule.

JK37 wrote:Pine Bluff always needs money, Missouri offered them money. That's all they know, that's all they accepted.

I agree the message to MO players is troubling.

Wichita's hands were tied. A lot of contracts have these buyout clauses, not just guarantee contracts.

Finally, the committee could've just as easily sent a message by not granting MO an at-large bid. The committee - I would hope - had to know this had gone on. They missed an opporutnity to shut down these shenanigans without even implementing a rule.

You are right on the last point, but of course their failure to do so confirms that a rule change is needed.

I'm sure Pine Bluff rationalized it because they needed the money, but I don't buy for one second that they did not know exactly why MO dropped Witchita State and scheduled them.

Incidentally, the committee may have missed an opportunity when they put Missouri in, but they did also select Wichita St., who were squarely on the bubble, as an at-large. This would have been even worse if they had not gotten in.

That’s a good point about Wichita, Old Guy

As far as pine bluff, I can’t fault them for taking $$$. No different than if a guarantee game was scheduled earlier in the season.

This story is made to order for "Outside the Lines". I really hope they do it.

You’re right. Love me some OTL.

Just was served on Day 1. Tulsa “upset” Missouri by a final score of 9-1, while Wichita State crushed Oklahoma State, 8-2.

JK37 wrote:Just was served on Day 1. Tulsa “upset” Missouri by a final score of 9-1, while Wichita State crushed Oklahoma State, 8-2.

MO plays 39-19 Boston U today. Seeing them go 2 and out would be sweet.

Indeed

Missouri and Boston U tied 7-7 in the 5th.