The NCAA Tournament Diff: Round of 64 Day 2

CLEVELAND -- Something's missing at the Q this weekend. "The Diff," the "statistic" from the Gund Arena days that tells viewers the difference between the number of points the two teams have scored in plus/minus format, was blacked out on the hardwired media room scoreboard by the NCAA. It was removed from the in-arena scoreboards years ago, but representatives from the Mid-American Conference (who used The Diff at the MAC tourney) have no idea why they went to such great lengths to hide it. Nobody knows why. But it was the one stat that made sense no matter how drunk spectators got; a little + before the number meant the "good guys" in the light jerseys were winning, and the - meant that it was time to be sad.

On this second day of the Round of 64, with the Cleveland quad getting underway, another type of Diff. Here are the spreads between the financial outlays of Other 25 teams and their more moneyed power-conference counterparts. Forget shooting, rebounding, coaching strategy, any of that -- all of those things are bought somehow with hiring and recruiting, and we are at a disadvantage. Victory today means coming from behind before the game ever began, before the score was blank, before The Diff was a flat zero.

These are numbers from the Office of Postsecondary Education's Equity In Athletics report, and the grand debut of the fiscal year 2010 numbers, which are now on Basketball State as of yesterday.

[13] Oakland vs. [4] Texas - 12:15 pm
West Region - Tulsa, OK
Athletic: OAK: $9,558,174 TEX: $113,952,320 ($-104m diff/8% of TEX's)
Men's Basketball: OAK: $1,392,896 TEX: $8,887,250 ($-7m diff/12.5% of TEX's)

[15] Akron vs. [2] Notre Dame - 1:40 pm
Southwest Region - Chicago, IL
Athletic: AKR: $22,994,888 ND: $75,932,416 ($-53m diff/29.3% of ND's)
Men's Basketball: AKR: $1,817,692 ND: $4,060,565 ($-3m diff/25% of ND's)

[9] Villanova vs. [8] George Mason - 2:10 pm
East Region - Cleveland, OH
Athletic: NOVA: $27,688,128 GMU: $15,570,115 ($12m diff/55% of NOVA's)
Men's Basketball: NOVA: $6,117,021 GMU: $2,126,409 ($4m diff/30% of NOVA's)

[16] Hampton vs. [1] Duke - 3:10 pm
West Region - Charlotte, NC
Athletic: HAMP: $9,751,779 DUKE: $68,094,064 ($-59m diff/13.2% of DUKE's)
Men's Basketball: HAMP: $787,567 DUKE: $12,286,475 ($775m diff/0.57% of DUKE's)

[16] Texas-San Antonio vs. [1] Ohio State - 4:40 pm
East Region - Cleveland, OH
Athletic: UTSA: $13,020,346 OHST: $104,934,208 ($-91m diff/12.5% of OHST's)
Men's Basketball: UTSA: $1,327,333 OHST: $4,554,908 ($-3m diff/25% of OHST's)

[16] Boston University vs. [1] Kansas - 6:50 pm
Southwest Region - Tulsa, OK
Athletic: BU: $25,664,736 KU: $60,193,732 ($-35m diff/41.7% of KU's)
Men's Basketball: BU: $1,929,181 KU: $10,984,833 ($-9m diff/10% of KU's)

[15] Long Island vs. [2] North Carolina - 7:15 pm
East Region - Charlotte, NC
Athletic: LIUB: $11,563,499 UNC: $67,375,160 ($-56m diff/16.4% of UNC's)
Men's Basketball: LIUB: $1,254,046 UNC: $6,647,459 ($-5m diff/16.7% of UNC's)

[14] Saint Peter's vs. [3] Purdue - 7:20 pm
Southwest Region - Chicago, IL
Athletic: SPC: $6,475,303 PUR: $58,220,328 ($-52m diff/10.3% of PUR's)
Men's Basketball: SPC: $823,054 PUR: $5,171,495 ($818m diff/15.6% of PUR's)

[11] Virginia Commonwealth vs. [6] Georgetown - 9:50 pm
Southwest Region - Chicago, IL
Athletic: VCU: $15,622,370 GU: $28,999,356 ($-13m diff/53.6% of GU's)
Men's Basketball: VCU: $2,324,111 GU: $7,393,234 ($-5m diff/28.6% of GU's)

[14] Indiana State vs. [3] Syracuse - 9:57 pm
East Region - Cleveland, OH
Athletic: INST: $10,000,677 SYR: $49,342,460 ($-39m diff/20.4% of SYR's)
Men's Basketball: INST: $1,340,015 SYR: $8,086,376 ($-7m diff/12.5% of SYR's)

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