Also see our Daily Threads, March 18, and the News Digest for Yesterday, March 17, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, March 17

NCAA Tournament 2014 Schedule: Times, Dates, Live Streaming and TV Info ↗

BRACKET: PDF ↗ | Join KU Buckets Group on ESPN ↗

!Top Basketball teams values ↗

Forbes: College Basketball's Most Valuable Teams 2014: #2 Kansas worth $33m ↗

In 2008 Kansas ranked eighth with a value of $16 million, which was below that year’s average value for a top-20 team. But Kansas is now worth $33 million, thanks largely to $13 million in ticket sales and, like Louisville (#1), massive contribution revenue: The Kansas athletic department collected $33 million in such donations. And Bill Self’s Jayhawks have been stellar on the court, too, generating more money for their conference from NCAA Tournament play than any other team in the nation.

Full List: College Basketball's Most Valuable Teams ↗

Eastern Kentucky eager for KU 'challenge' ↗

Eastern Kentucky men’s basketball coach Jeff Neubauer and his players had very little reaction to seeing Kansas University on the line above theirs when the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed Sunday afternoon. “We knew we were going to draw a great team,” said Neubauer, now in his ninth season in charge of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament champions. “We knew we were gonna draw a Duke or Michigan or Kansas. And we just happened to draw one of the greatest programs in the history of college basketball, so our team is looking forward to the challenge, and we’ll see if we’re ready for this test.”

Self pleased with KU's No. 2 seed despite tough NCAA regional draw ↗

Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self can make a case for the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional being the toughest of all four in the upcoming Big Dance. "But you just want to win two games this weekend. That’s the focus,” Self said after it was revealed his No. 2-seeded Jayhawks would meet No. 15 seed Eastern Kentucky in a South Regional opener at 3:10 p.m. Friday in St. Louis.

KU basketball's Conner Frankamp, Perry Ellis keeping tabs on hometown Wichita State ↗

Because he’s a Wichita native, it’s only natural for friends to razz Conner Frankamp about Wichita State’s 34-0 record this year, and how he perhaps should have picked his hometown school.

“I get that quite a bit now, just because they’re doing so good,” the Kansas freshman guard said. “But I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else except here.”

Heartland a hotbed for hoops ↗

All three of the Sunflower State’s programs are back in the NCAA Tournament this year, and all are ninth seeds or better, led by No. 1 seed Wichita State. There are three schools from Oklahoma in the dance. Two from Nebraska. Two more made it from Iowa. Saint Louis is in the field, too.

ESPN Sports Science: Andrew Wiggins ↗

ESPN Sport Science examines what sets Andrew Wiggins apart from everyone else in college hoops.

Keegan: Column: Without Embiid, possible UNM rematch would be toss-up ↗

One game, more than any other, demonstrated how much having 7-foot freshman center Joel Embiid on the floor changes the Kansas University basketball team for the better: Dec. 14 in Sprint Center against New Mexico, a possible NCAA Tournament opponent in St. Louis if KU survives Eastern Kentucky.

NY Times: Kansas Has Star on the Court and Maybe One in Reserve ↗

There are times when Andrew Wiggins, the versatile freshman guard for Kansas, will scowl, smile and laugh, displaying the usual emotions of a 19-year-old navigating his first collegiate postseason.

Globe and Mail: Is Canada’s Andrew Wiggins too nice to be an NBA superstar? ↗

Before the game, there are rituals.
They begin with a hymn, fans at Allen Fieldhouse draping their arms around each other, and then comes an incantation, drawn out like a Gregorian chant: “Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk. K.U.”
The noise builds ahead of tipoff on a Saturday evening in February in Lawrence. In this church of U.S. college basketball, a video extols history – James Naismith, Wilt Chamberlain, national championships – and celebrates the promise of the present.

AP: Study: Eight teams fail to meet standard; KU perfect ↗

Orlando, Fla. — An annual study of the schools in the men’s NCAA tournament shows a slight increase in teams that fall below graduation rate standards.

The University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport said in its report Monday that eight teams that made the 2014 men’s bracket fall below the NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Rate score of 930, equivalent to a 50 percent graduation rate. Last year six teams didn’t reach that benchmark.

Pattani: Filling out a bracket with BPI's insight ↗

While ESPN’s Basketball Power Index wasn’t designed to be purely predictive, there has been interest in using BPI to help with picking NCAA Tournament brackets. It’s one thing to just look at the BPI rankings and pick the higher-ranked team to win each matchup. If you do that this year, you end up with a pretty chalky bracket with all four No. 1 seeds making the Final Four and Arizona over Florida in the title game.

A more nuanced way to look at things, however, is to determine the percentage chance of each team getting to each round. This can help not only by taking into account the effects of opponent strength round-by-round (beyond just “better BPI”), but it also helps illuminate what might be considered smart upset picks and undervalued or overvalued teams.

Dodd: KU knows it has to win while awaiting Embiid ↗

If you believe in the aura of advanced statistics — the formulas and algorithms that dominate the modern sports landscape — the loss of a promising freshman center can be overcome.

Please add stories here

Also see our Daily Threads, March 18, and the News Digest for Yesterday, March 17, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, March 17

Put the Forbes story at the top because .. well, there's $33 million reasons to lead with it.

Not sure how they valuate these entities... but it does seem worth pondering that Self has a $50 million contract to run a $33 million entity. Is there risk if the leader is worth more than the entity he/she leads?

Anyway, the increase in value during Self's last 6 years (double!!) is pretty amazing! If you are an investor, you like that rate. In other words-- KU is a hot stock right now and has been for the last 6 years.

The best news: we were all early investors!

@bskeet sounds good!

@bskeet

That valuation is based on yearly revenues; you would have to compare this number to Coach Self's yearly contract not his entire contract.

@bskeet Wow you mean Duke almighty isn't in the top 6?

Hold on that reminds me...hahahahahahahahahahahaha

HA!

"Louisville has been among college basketball’s three most valuable teams ever since we started ranking the teams in 2008, but that financial success turned to dominance when Louisville began playing home games in the KFC Yum! Center. The new waterfront arena, which opened in 2010, has the third-highest capacity among college basketball arenas."

Well... there goes the argument that we won't play WSU because of money. If money was king, we would have taken Louisville instead of WVU into our league. Surely Kansas had a say in that.

In retrospect, this will end up being one of the biggest blunders in conference decision-making of all times. Could even mean the difference if this conference makes it.

In retrospect, this will end up being one of the biggest blunders in conference decision-making of all times. Could even mean the difference if this conference makes it.

@drgnslayr I have been saying that for the longest time. There has to be more working TV's in the greater Louilville area than in all of WV. You also get a team that is competitive in football and basketball. The AAC and next year the ACC stole them when in all honesty they should be a member of the Big12.

I am just glad that conference realignment is done for now.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24490175/ranking-the-ncaa-tournament-coaches-by-playing-career-1-68 ↗

Interesting, guess who' s #1?????

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24490175/ranking-the-ncaa-tournament-coaches-by-playing-career-1-68 ↗

@Crimsonorblue22 I'm surprised they put him ahead of every ones new golden boy Hoiberg.

But glad to see him at #1. Way to go Coach Manning!!!

See what happens when you aren't planning for the NCAA's!!!

Missouri players face pot charges

Updated: March 17, 2014, 7:02 PM ET Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Four Missouri athletes were arrested Saturday night on suspicion of possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana during a traffic stop in Columbia.

Guards Wes Clark and Shane Rector of the basketball team and defensive backs Aarion Penton and Shaun Rupert from the football team were pulled over at 11:32 p.m. after Columbia police noticed an expired rear license plate tag on Rupert's car, police spokeswoman Latisha Stroer said Monday.

The officers approached the car and detected the smell of marijuana, prompting the discovery of a package of Swisher Sweets cigarillos containing a substance that tested positive for marijuana, Stroer said. The four athletes were each issued a court summons and released.

Columbia residents passed a referendum in 2004 that reduced penalties for the offense to no more than a court summons and a fine, if found guilty, of up to $250. The reductions do not apply to anyone found guilty of misdemeanor possession of marijuana on two or more occasions in the past five years.

The Columbia Daily Tribune first reported the arrests.

Basketball coach Frank Haith said Monday that Clark and Rector were suspended for the team's practice, but not necessarily for Tuesday's NIT opener against Davidson.

"I didn't know about it soon enough," Haith said, adding that the final decision would be made after gathering additional information.

Missouri missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years after finishing 22-11 and 9-9 in the Southeastern Conference.

Practice??? Makes sense, doesn't it???

@JRyman did anyone else have a team named after them?? Nope!

@RockChalkinTexas

What's that saying?

"A blunt in the hand is worth two in the NIT!"

I also noticed Rex Walters is coaching in the NIT as is former asst. coach Joe Dooley. I expected to see Turgeon and the Terrapins in the field as well, but their 17-15 record wasn't good enough. Needless to say there's a lot of KU influence being felt in the post season.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/03/16/myles-turner-closing-in-on-smu-basketball-decision/ ↗

What does this mean???

@Crimsonorblue22

I believe he will pick soon... after Embiid makes up his mind. That is only relevant if he has KU at the top of his list. I think he does... as long as JoJo leaves for the league.

I'm thinking his second pick is SMU. Larry has him hooked on old Danny Manning tapes!

Heck... he should just go to Tulsa!

@drgnslayr I think it means JoJo is staying!

@Crimsonorblue22

I think everyone thinks JoJo is staying... but young guys tend to be unpredictable.. and also change their minds half a million times before dinner.

My gut says he is staying. My mind says he is leaving. My heart is stuck in the middle with indigestion and a migraine!

@drgnslayr my people (ha) think he's gone and not playing in the tourney. Negative Neds!

Embiid has until April 27 to declare for the draft. If he does, he still has until May 8 to withdraw, provided he did not hire an agent; after that date he can no longer come back to KU.

SMU missing the Tournament might actually hurt them as Turner might have second thoughts about going to a school that does not regularly make it to the dance. SMU also has Mudiay coming in which will help, but chances are that even with these two highly ranked players, SMU would not be contending nationally. If I were a top ranked player that will be only one year in College , I would want to go to a school with a shot at the National Title; SMU is not that school.

JoJo - I just don't sense him not playing in the tourney. I think he'll be back and he'll be back with something to prove!

Myles - I think he likes Larry, it is close to home, and Mudlay will be there. Three good reasons for an 18 yr old.

But I think SMU is second behind a KU without JoJo.

There are a lot of talented kids around and not all of them go to UK, KU, Duke and the other blue bloods.

@drgnslayr just guessing, but wouldn't Self sell SMU to Myles if he knew JoJo was coming back?

@Crimsonorblue22

You mean.. if he knew he WAS coming back?

I don't think coaches put much effort into selling other programs. I could see him just saying a nice comment or two about one of his mentors... But coaches only care about directing players to their own program and don't want to get too deep into referrals... that can backfire!

I'm just thinking optimistic thoughts that we will end up with one of them!

If we can nail down solid, consistent, aggressive PG play next year.... watch it world! Maybe Tharpe figures it all out, or we land Lyle, or Conner or Frank steal the job. We just need someone who will fight hard every single time we go on the floor, and not disappear in tough games!

@drgnslayr thanks!! We better have one of those guys!!! If Myles decides soon and picks SMU before signing date, then do you think JoJo has decided to stay? Doesn't everyone think Myles would have decided before now if he wasn't waiting on jojo's decision?

@Crimsonorblue22

Seems like that is the situation... but we've all been wrong before!

I have a hard time thinking we will be without a superstar 5! That doesn't even compute. Self can sell our program to bigs all day long. And think about... who was Self's last 5 that didn't go to the league? Maybe Sasha? (who has made millions in his home country)

Every big man knows the conference that will best get you ready for the league is the B12, and the best team with bigs and best reputation is Kansas.

@Crimsonorblue22 I think it could mean that Turner got tired of waiting, but who knows.

Bottom line on Louisville--they turned down the B12 and chose the ACC in order to optimize football TV revenues. No, wait! they didn't optimize TV revenues.

Bottom line on West Virginia, they turned down the B1G and the SEC to optimize football TV revenues. No, wait, they didn't.

Bottom line on Oklahoma--they turned down the Pac 12 to optimize football TV revenues. No, wait, they did not optimize TV revenues.

Bottom line on MU--they turned down the B12 to optimize TV revenues. No, wait, they didn't optimize revenues. They make less in the SEC than they would have had they stayed put in the B12, knowing what KU knew at the same time; that the most likely scenario was to stand pat after the teams left and take larger shares with fewer members.

Bottom line...well, you get the idea.

Many schools do NOT realign to optimize football TV revenues.

It was talking points PR all along.

Schools realign for much more complex political economic reasons.

It has always been naive to think that a university with a billion dollar annual budget, or larger, that has long since spun off its athletic department into 501C3 status for tax, revenue, and donative reasons has a TV check as the sole driver of why it realigns.

Does everyone grasp how tiny even the fattest annual TV check is in relation to a Billion dollar/year budget? It is chump change.

But of course please school me if you know something different.

Regarding program valuations: these 'valuations" of these private not for profit programs by Forturne have always seemed kind of bogus.

They seem liike saying that Goodwill is more valuable than Salvation Army. It appears problematic to try to think about these organizations in capitalized business valuation terms.

Hey, Fortune, what is the capitalized value of Russia? USA? The Crown of Great Britain? How about Henry and Claire's foundation? How about Bill Self's Assists Foundation? No, let's just focus in on Henry and Claire's foundation. Then let's compare that with the Rockefeller's foundations, and the Mellons' foundations and talk about how much they are worth in capitalized value.

Athletic departments are reputedly particularly idiosyncratic in their book keeping and creative donation activities. What is the impact on capitalized value of an athletic department that has the donations in house, versus those that maintain a fire walled foundation? What is the value impact of a private oligarch being willing to donate mega bucks when he dies 15 years out in exchange for a lot of "influence" now, when compared to another school where the private oligarch writes the check now, not later. How do those differences wash out in a capitalized value? How do you account for the difference between an arena on university land owned by the university, an arena owned by an athletic department built on university land, it does not have to pay for, an arena built and owned by a private for profit entity that leases it back to the university, and each option already mentioned in which their is a 20 year ground lease on one, and 50 year ground lease on another, and donated land without a lease on another.

Details, details.

The valuation problem is not so much that athletic departments are not-for-profit, but rather that there is no standardized way of accounting for all the bizarre ways that donors can give money in pursuit of tax deductions and influence.

You don't have to do a capitalized business valuation to know that a larger arena triggers more revenues than a smaller one, assuming they both have the same percentage of corporate boxes and regular seats. Hey, speaking of which, how do you compare KU AD with Allen Field House that has no corporate boxes with some school that has some.

The most Fortune can probably meaningfully say is that a school has some annual revenues, some annual expenses, some intermittent costs, and some donations with all kinds of weird structures and some kind of infrastructure sunk costs, and most of all of these probably have inconsistencies in accounting criteria from school to school.

And since these athletic departments so far are not sold that I know of, any capitalization, or discount rate, is made up. Since it is made up, then any capitalization, or discounte rate could logically be justified and each one would justify a different cash value with a sharply different magnitude.

But of course presenting a metaphysical value instead of presenting all the boring, disaggregated accounting lines and footnoting all of the ways in which each line item varies university to university, well, that would put people to sleep and not promote the name Fortune in the sports world.

But what do I know? I am just a laymen. Feel free to school me on state of the art of not for profit business valuation.