Arizona Basketball: Sean Miller talks East Coast bias and the Pac-12

Rich Eisen asks Sean Miller why there is a bias against the Pac-12.

What is East Coast Bias? Here’s one explanation from Urban Dictionary:

East Coast bias The sports media’s tendency to cover, and show more attention to, sporting events and teams that are from the East Coast of America.

Maybe this is a ‘thing’ because ESPN headquarters are in Connecticut? Maybe because sports from the east coast starts earliest in the USA? Sporting events on the East Coast come on TV much earlier and end before people go to bed on the West Coast. Maybe most sports commentators hired from the South to the East coast, are indoors more often watching TV, while the West Coast Media has so much more to do because of the sunshine?

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Nah, probably not, but it sure is excruciating because if you are on the west coast and a Pac-12 fan, and you listen to National Sports shows, you almost never hear about the Pac-12. Take it from us; it is rare to hear about the Pac-12 unless you are actually on the Pac-12 Network, which is still not on DIRECTV!

The only other times you may hear about the Pac-12 are when former Pac-12 alumni such as Sean Elliott (Former Wildcat and NBA Player), Miles Simon (Former Wildcat and NBA Player), Rick Neuheisel (Former Bruin and UCLA Football head coach), or Craig Malcolm Robinson (former Oregon State basketball coach) are on a show.

By now, you should have seen references to ESPN as ESECPN on social media, and have felt the Pac-12 gets slighted not only in NCAA football but also in NCAA Basketball.

Throw into the mix NCAA Baseball. Announcers were all about the South and the East, the Regionals were all located East of Texas (we know different subject). They hardly spoke about the Pac-12, Arizona or UCSB during the tournament. Very few if any of the ESPN3 announcers thought Arizona had a chance to make it to the finals, and that includes every step of the way all the way up to the finals.

Rich Eisen of The Rich Eisen Show called up Arizona Basketball coach Sean Miller to get his spin on if he thought there was still an East Coast Bias in NCAA basketball. Miller explained that he thinks it’s over, “I think we are in a new day and time, and we are thankful that day has come.”

We will never know if his is just ‘backing the Pac’ as they say, or if he really feels like this. Here’s Millers full response in his words:

I know Arizona’s head football coach Rich Rodriguez had complained last season about late start times because no one on the East Coast could stay up to watch late games, he thought it hurt the West Coast teams when it comes to rankings. He got his way a bit more this season when the Pac-12 decided to start late games earlier.

In the 2016 NFL Draft, only 14 percent of the top 120 picks in the first three-plus rounds were from schools west of Texas including a couple from Boise State and BYU. None were from Arizona either. So, maybe Rich Rod has a point, more players from the South and East got drafted in the 2016 NFL Draft, and at higher draft picks than the West Coast.

must read: Arizona Basketball: Wildcats performing well in NBA Summer League

According to Miller, East Coast Bias in NCAA Basketball is over, and he may be right at least for basketball. Oregon was placed as the No. 1 seed in the west in the 2016 NCAA tournament, and Arizona garnered a No. 1 seed in 2014 and No. 2 seed in 2015. After all, if there were an East Coast Bias, then recruiting would be that much more difficult.