I consider myself fortunate to have a spouse who loves watching all types of sports. There is only one sport she does not particularly like. Basketball.
That is unfortunate, because for all my life college basketball has pretty much been my favorite sport. Aside from fantasy football…which is another story…and not a sport.
(There is no truth to the rumor she auditioned for the role that eventually went to Rerun in Peanuts…)
She pretty much takes a pass on college basketball…until March Madness (both the Men’s and Women’s editions) come around. And dear reader, I am more than aware many of you feel the same way…if you care for the sport at all. I am convinced everyone I know finds college hoops starting at the beginning of November a complete non-event. Hell, most people do not even know college basketball has started up again until they see these huge scores roll across their screen during football games and say, “whoa, that’s a lot of points…oh, it was a basketball game.”
I have known for a long time I am an outlier when it comes to attaching any significance to the start of the college hoops season. March Madness is the only “season” of college basketball most people care about.
It is hard to fault our national championship tournaments for that. While I am in the large minority who care about college hoops from November through March, I consider myself in the large majority who feel March Madness is just about the most exciting post-season in all of sports.
Of course, as with most things we like these days, people with lots of money and power are trying to ruin things…in this instance increase the number of teams that qualify for the Madness, hoping to flood the qualifying field further with power conference teams and keep smaller schools from having access to the tournament…as if those wealthy programs do not already own ridiculously significant leverage.
It is not breaking news, but those employed by power conference universities could care less what you and I think about keeping March Madness in its current construction of 68 teams (which of course should still be a perfect bracket of 64 teams, but I digress). Their jobs involve making as much money for their conferences. Period.
The geographical fabric of college sports was shredded from all the money-chasing conference realignment chaos, and these geniuses are now equally willing to ignore any fallout from making March Madness a bloated mess…as long as the next giant check for the media rights to distribute the additional games clears the bank. They didn’t have a problem blowing up rivalries, increasing travel, and putting the screws to fans when it comes to football kickoff dates and times, so they won’t have any issues reworking March Madness to further favor affluent programs. And, the large majority of money these schools have are funneled to their football program…then a little bit gets distributed to basketball…and ALL the rest of their sponsored sports are left to fight over pennies…as well as fight for their very survival, of course.
But I digress again. The college basketball regular season features over 350 schools playing for a chance to be a part of March Madness. Truly, it is madness to try and follow all the teams…all the games. I do think that is a huge reason why people dismiss the sport’s regular season. Aside from following your favorite team, maybe you can also keep tabs on their conference teams. Or, maybe you can just follow games involving the top-ranked teams. But it is not possible to keep up with it all, and so people just let November through February college hoops all sort itself out. Most general sports fans don’t consider college basketball back until the final commercial airs during the Super Bowl post-game show.
And that is ok with me. I am not the least bit offended by people tuning out a sport with that many teams competing in games daily from November through February until it gets whittled down to the chosen ones who compete in March.
Even with the afore-mentioned challenges collegiate athletics faces these days, I have been rolling with the numerous changes and trying to find joy where I can. Am I upset about the end of amateurism? No, because top players were getting compensated under-the-table previously. The pay-for-play system has however created a bidding war the smaller schools will never win. The uneven playing field has never been tipsier. My biggest gripe is not athletes are getting paid over-the-table. It is instead the loss of what I would call the “spirit” of college athletics.
The connection between athletes and schools is fading fast as players transfer yearly chasing more playing time…and more money. While it was inevitable college athletes were finally going to be compensated, those who run college athletics dropped the ball by not maintaining guardrails regarding the number of seasons one can compete in, as well as the number of times one can switch schools without having to hit pause on your eligibility.
It is the non-stop revolving door of player movement from school to school that really impacts college hoops because of the significantly smaller rosters, and what I consider optimal team continuity. Each year now, college basketball squads show up for the start of Fall practice with name tags. When playing basketball, I always valued having a majority of our roster be players who had been together for (at least) a couple of seasons, and considered familiarity a big advantage over teams who were not returning as many players.
I was listening to my go-to college hoops podcast. One of the hosts volunteered he talked to a men’s head coach recently, asking him when does he start thinking about what he would need for next season’s squad. His response…he needed to start planning for next season after the first game of the year…because he knew players who did not start in his team’s opener would start looking for the exits for a place to play next season. Some players leave their teams shortly after the season starts to maintain their eligibility for next year…at yet another school.
(Sidebar – While it is pretty much impossible in the current climate to do so, I did learn the Marquette women’s team is returning every player from last season’s squad…kudos to Big East Coach of the Year Cara Consuegra for that accomplishment)
This is the cold reality of the collegiate sports landscape, not just college basketball. Yet, I will stubbornly be watching college basketball through the cold months ahead while looking forward to March…when fans who only enjoy the “second season” of college hoops come aboard for the rest of the journey.
Pictures Courtesy United Feature Syndicate