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In the Least Shocking News Ever, Spending Money Helps You Win in College Hoops

Mar 10, 2010, 5:11 PM UTC

â†µâ†µAs usual, the New York Times has done yeoman’s work in looking up the spending records at colleges as it relates to athletics. This time around, with the Big East tournament under way, the paper looked at how programs in the league are spending their money, and how it correlates to success on the court. First, a rundown of the spending:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Marquette $10,306,548â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Louisville $8,625,245â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Syracuse $7,784,244â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Georgetown $7,405,214â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Connecticut $6,796,942â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥West Virginia $5,963,760â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Villanova $5,959,931â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Pittsburgh $5,337,512â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Seton Hall $5,200,805â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥St. John’s $4,729,555â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Providence $4,637,423â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Notre Dame $4,380,691â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Cincinnati $4,011,357â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Rutgers $3,793,356â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥DePaul $3,257,409â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥South Florida $2,927,362â†µâ†µâ†µNow go look at the Big East standings, which ironically use a “$” to indicate teams that qualified for a double bye into the quarterfinals of this year’s postseason tournament. DePaul, the second-lowest spending team in the Big East, finished dead last this season at 1-17. The top four seeds in this year’s Big East tournament all spent at least $5.3 million on basketball between July 2008 and June 2009.â†µ

â†µâ†µIf anyone should be double-checking their books, it’s probably Providence, which spends $4.637 million, but finished second-to-last in the league. (Presumably the high number has something to do with firing Tim Welsh and hiring Keno Davis.) The real puzzler is how Marquette, a non-football school, spends so much on hoops. They didn’t fire Tom Crean. (He willingly walked into that mushroom cloud in Bloomington.) And Buzz Williams isn’t particularly highly paid. The answer is, of course, the $31 million Al McGuire Center. While it opened in 2003, it’s likely they’re probably still paying for it to this day -- and for good reason. (Seriously, take the virtual tours.) There’s probably debt that’s still being paid on this palace.â†µ

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â†µIn fact, Boeheim makes the point that most of the teams toward the top of the list above have done what Marquette did:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I think wherever you are and whoever you are, you have to have facilities,” he said. “I think that’s something that’s important. Obviously Louisville is investing and Marquette has and we have. Obviously Pitt has. New facilities help.”â†µâ†µâ†µPeople often talk about college football as an arms race, but the story is really the same in college hoops, perhaps just on a smaller scale. It’s about budgets, not conference affiliations. (Yes, budgets are often dictated by the size of a conference, but schools like Gonzaga don’t spend like their league, so let’s not be dim-witted and label them mid-majors.) It makes USF’s success this season in the Big East somewhat remarkable. â†µ

â†µâ†µMore on the Times’ findings can be read here.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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