Please Leave College Basketball Alone
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jerad Shaw-
What a great two weeks it’s been. The NCAA men’s national tournament started with 68 teams and is now down to the Final Four.
This year’s tourney will go down as one of the most entertaining in recent memory. Close finishes and highlight reel comebacks have been the norm throughout the first five rounds of action.
Well, that is unless you ask the mouth pieces at ESPN.
For the better part of last week, Colin Cowherd and Mike Greenberg spent the majority of their shows complaining about the product on the floor at the collegiate level. Through their eyes, the game is played too slow and needs to be more oriented to mirror the NBA style of play.
In their opinion, the fans no longer appreciate teams such as Virginia, a squad that values possessions and moving the ball around for an open shot inside of their offense.
Now, far be it from me to call out two guys that to my knowledge have never played an organized basketball game in their life, and maybe I’m putting the precious game of basketball on a pedestal, but there are much bigger issues in terms of the college game than what the “experts” are voicing.
Let’s try and poke some holes in problems that they feel are turning college basketball into a boring and unwatchable sport.
Wisconsin, Michigan State, and for the most part Duke, are teams that try and focus on quality half-court possessions at all times. They want their teams to move the ball inside of their scheme with screens and back cuts in order to achieve the best possible shot.
That’s not the only thing those three teams have in common. Interestingly, those three teams are heading to Indianapolis this weekend to vie for a national Championship.
I’m sure you all remember the glory days of the NBA. Offensive execution inside of a team-oriented concept was very common. Those teams were still able to showcase the greatness of individuals along with playing inside of a team structure. That all changed when you saw people stepping away from the game. Individuals superseded the team, which pushed fans away from the product and into the waiting arms of the NCAA.
Now, they want that kind of product brought to the collegiate level. Forget what the main goal of these teams are, which is to win. Apparently that’s not enough for some people. As exciting as this tourney has been, the naysayers are saying that it’s not exciting enough. There’s not enough superstars at the forefront, and too many underdogs getting the focus.
But isn’t that what March Madness is about?
My only complaint has come from the amount of timeouts implemented in each game. The flow during games is almost nonexistent. I can complain from my chair all I want, but I can’t imagine players enjoy it too much either. Baseball games lasting four hours is ridiculous on its own accord, but no college basketball game should last over two and a half hours.
But that’s a minor fix. To change the way the game is played because it’s not the sideshow that Cowherd wants would be a travesty. As things in sports continue to evolve, there’s fewer and fewer games played the way we grew up enjoying them. Some for health reasons, some to encourage games to increase in popularity. Either way, the landscape of athletics is changing.
But people can stop messing with the game of basketball anytime they want! It was great before guys like Cowherd and Greenberg, and it will be great after them.[[In-content Ad]]
What a great two weeks it’s been. The NCAA men’s national tournament started with 68 teams and is now down to the Final Four.
This year’s tourney will go down as one of the most entertaining in recent memory. Close finishes and highlight reel comebacks have been the norm throughout the first five rounds of action.
Well, that is unless you ask the mouth pieces at ESPN.
For the better part of last week, Colin Cowherd and Mike Greenberg spent the majority of their shows complaining about the product on the floor at the collegiate level. Through their eyes, the game is played too slow and needs to be more oriented to mirror the NBA style of play.
In their opinion, the fans no longer appreciate teams such as Virginia, a squad that values possessions and moving the ball around for an open shot inside of their offense.
Now, far be it from me to call out two guys that to my knowledge have never played an organized basketball game in their life, and maybe I’m putting the precious game of basketball on a pedestal, but there are much bigger issues in terms of the college game than what the “experts” are voicing.
Let’s try and poke some holes in problems that they feel are turning college basketball into a boring and unwatchable sport.
Wisconsin, Michigan State, and for the most part Duke, are teams that try and focus on quality half-court possessions at all times. They want their teams to move the ball inside of their scheme with screens and back cuts in order to achieve the best possible shot.
That’s not the only thing those three teams have in common. Interestingly, those three teams are heading to Indianapolis this weekend to vie for a national Championship.
I’m sure you all remember the glory days of the NBA. Offensive execution inside of a team-oriented concept was very common. Those teams were still able to showcase the greatness of individuals along with playing inside of a team structure. That all changed when you saw people stepping away from the game. Individuals superseded the team, which pushed fans away from the product and into the waiting arms of the NCAA.
Now, they want that kind of product brought to the collegiate level. Forget what the main goal of these teams are, which is to win. Apparently that’s not enough for some people. As exciting as this tourney has been, the naysayers are saying that it’s not exciting enough. There’s not enough superstars at the forefront, and too many underdogs getting the focus.
But isn’t that what March Madness is about?
My only complaint has come from the amount of timeouts implemented in each game. The flow during games is almost nonexistent. I can complain from my chair all I want, but I can’t imagine players enjoy it too much either. Baseball games lasting four hours is ridiculous on its own accord, but no college basketball game should last over two and a half hours.
But that’s a minor fix. To change the way the game is played because it’s not the sideshow that Cowherd wants would be a travesty. As things in sports continue to evolve, there’s fewer and fewer games played the way we grew up enjoying them. Some for health reasons, some to encourage games to increase in popularity. Either way, the landscape of athletics is changing.
But people can stop messing with the game of basketball anytime they want! It was great before guys like Cowherd and Greenberg, and it will be great after them.[[In-content Ad]]
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