PROVIDENCE – “March Madness” became maddening over the weekend for not just Providence College, but also the Big East Conference Inc. as a whole. And the impacts of “Selection Sunday” could cause some financial ripple effects with all 11 conference member institutions, PC notwithstanding, down the line.
Sixty-eight men’s college basketball programs on March 17 heard their names called as participants in the upcoming 2024 NCAA tournament, vying for the right to become national champion. Of that bunch, Wisconsin-based Marquette University, Omaha, Neb.-based Creighton University and the University of Connecticut – the reigning national champion – will represent the Big East in the upcoming tournament.
PC, along with New York-based St. John’s University and Seton Hall University in New Jersey, who had the identical conference record as the Friars did a year ago when they went to the NCAA tournament – 13-8, including the Pirates’ Big East tournament loss to St. John’s – were left out of “the Big Dance” this year. However, the fact of only three Big East teams were selected to play in the NCAA tournament – the first time that’s happened since 1993 – caught many in the Big East, regarded as one of the country's premier college basketball power conferences, by surprise.
“Anybody in the middle of our conference could beat anybody in the country,” PC Vice President and Director of Athletics Steven Napolillo told Providence Business News. “I truly believe we deserve more teams in the NCAA tournament.”
It’s not just being denied a chance to seek a national championship over the next couple of weeks that hurt both PC and other Big East teams. There could also be less money coming into the conference down the line, and member colleges potentially having to fill those gaps in some way.
Napolillo said participating conferences receive “units,” which are financial payments, from the NCAA for each team taking part in the NCAA tournament and for each victory they earn through the bracket. The more teams participating and wins they earn in the tournament, the more money the conference receives. Plus, those units are spread out over a six-year period, therefore colleges who play in the NCAA tournament don’t receive a lump sum for their participation.
For example, according to the sports business news site Sportico, the Big East over six years will receive around $30 million total for 15 units earned by the five teams that participated in last year’s NCAA tournament, including PC – which lost its opening round game to the University of Kentucky. That payment includes $10 million for five Big East teams just being in the tournament, whether they won games or not.
From 2014 through 2022 – the year the Friars made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 – PC received about $34 million from the Big East Conference, the majority of it the result of Big East teams playing in the NCAA tournament, according to the Big East’s financial documents that are publicly available. Over time, with the exception of the 2021 fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic canceling tournament play, PC’s share of the Big East money pie has increased annually from $2.9 million in 2014 to $5.6 million in 2022 (2023 fiscal year data from the Big East was not available).
So, if the Big East wants another $30 million earned from this year’s tournament, UConn, Marquette and Creighton will have to potentially each make the Final Four on April 6 in Phoenix. Having three Big East teams advance to the Final Four in the same year happened only once in conference history - in 1985.
[caption id="attachment_398633" align="alignright" width="284"]
STEVEN NAPOLILLO, vice president and director of athletics at Providence College, says the Big East Conference will need to collaborate on how to better position its member schools, including PC, to be eligible for future NCAA men's basketball tournaments. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE COLLEGE[/caption]
“There’s a significant financial impact,” Napolillo said. “All of the [conference] teams, right now, are rooting for UConn, Marquette and Creighton to go on and win the whole thing.”
Napolillo and PC athletic officials did not say how PC could be impacted financially if the Big East receives less money as a result of limited NCAA participation and potential poor tournament performance. Napolillo did say that PC does miss out on a chance to market itself to a national audience by not playing in the NCAA tournament.
PC President The Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard
told PBN in 2022 that the men’s basketball team making the Sweet 16 at the time didn’t influence the high application count but was sure the Friars’ success on the court – and the festive student atmosphere during those games – had influenced students to choose PC as their next stop in their education careers.
“Anytime you expose your brand to the national audience that the NCAA tournament does, it’s an incredible opportunity,” Napolillo said. “Schools all across the country receive a boost from all areas, from admissions, marketing, donations, pride, there’s all different areas that are truly impacted by it.”
Napolillo posted on March 17 on X, formerly Twitter, a statement saying along with believing the Big East was “underrepresented” in this year’s NCAA tournament, the conference will “work together … to better position our teams in the future.” Napolillo elaborated to PBN that he felt the tournament selection committee on March 17 put more of an emphasis on margin of victory in games as opposed to strength of schedule in welcoming teams into the field of 68.
He also said the conference is trying to better understand what metrics need to be met for NCAA tournament qualification so teams can properly schedule their seasons. That scheduling may include PC playing more “buy games,” where power-conference colleges paying lower-level programs to play a home game. Those contests provide a virtual guaranteed nonconference win for the power school and the lower-level program scores a funding boost for participating. It is unclear if PC played any such “buy games” recently.
“If the committee is looking for us to play as many nonconference games [as possible] to win at a wide margin, then that’s what we have to understand,” Napolillo said. “That’s the goal of all of us working together to make sure we’re doing the things [the committee] rewarded teams to get in this year.”
Despite the tournament snub, PC is optimistic for a positive future. PC does have a chance to showcase itself in the National Invitation Tournament starting Tuesday at Amica Mutual Pavilion against former Big East rival Boston College.
Napolillo said along with having high confidence in head coach Kim English building the basketball program, about 80% of season ticket holders renewed for next season and doesn’t see many people giving up their tickets going forward. Plus, 1,000 people are on PC men’s basketball’s season ticket waiting list, which has generated approximately $100,000 for the athletic program at $100 per waitlist spot.
“Providence is a hot school right now,” Napolillo said.
(CORRECTION: The Big East Conference Inc. had three teams make it to the 1985 NCAA Final Four.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
