T1B

The last couple years it seems as though the gap between traditional basketball schools (Duke, UNC..etc) and traditional football school (OSU, Florida...etc) has closed.

I have been trying to figure out if the size of college football and whether or not you have success in it is carrying over into other sports. Are basketball players more likely to go to OSU or Florida because those schools are good in the fall, or is this purely an anomoly?

$ and how well you hide it.

Interesting topic.

I think money definitely has something to do with it. Football is the major cash cow in the athletic department. The money that brings in can spill over into success in other sports. Not to mention that most of the more successful football schools are generally larger schools, which as a rule, usually have more money than do smaller schools. Also, there's no doubt that it's more expensive to run a football program, particularly at the highest level, than it is to run a basketball program.

Having said that, traditional football schools having success at basketball is not exactly new. Just off the top of my head, Michigan, Oklahoma and Notre Dame all have had their moments in the sun in college basketball in the past. But it does seem to be a bit more pervasive today than at any time in the past.

The arms race has become a major factor in recruiting the top talent recently. So many of the football powers whose pockets are lined with the windfall a major gridiron program brings are now diverting some of the pigskin profit to the hoops programs. The nice shiney new practice facilities are a major selling point. Even the traditional hoops powers like IU and Kentucky are about to step it up in that regard to keep pace with the likes of tO$U, UF and Tejas. As has already been pointed out, football is the cash cow of collegiate sports so when a football power makes the decision to put an emphasis on hoops the results are likely to follow.

IndyFrisco wrote:$ and how well you hide it.

Yep