Public service announcement: college basketball starts Friday. I thought this was worth noting only because I don’t think anyone knew or cared.
That is the problem. Early-season college basketball is the most ignored sport outside of American soccer.
There’s no hope in competing with the NFL and college football, so why even try? Most people don’t even get around to college basketball season until after the Super Bowl ends, usually in late January, early February.
Here’s a proposition: move college basketball’s season back. The tip-off of the season would work perfectly around the New Year. College football is coming to its conclusion, NFL is ramping up into playoffs and with the holidays people would actually know college basketball is starting.
The other benefit is that it would truly make college basketball a one-semester sport. We often forget about the “student” aspect of student-athlete, but a November start to the season disrupts the two semesters for players. With a January start, all of games would be played during the second semester.
The resistance is obvious and understandable: what about the March Madness we all know and love?
It’ll still be there, just with a mid-April start. People won’t like the idea of getting rid of term, but we’ll adapt. It’s too many pros compared to the switch than the only con of tradition.
Maximizing the publicity of a sport (i.e. more $$$) should be paramount enough for the NCAA to part with the term “March Madness.”
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Cameron Wolfe: cwolfe@denverpost.com or
Online sports producer Joe Nguyen contributed to this story.
