The current state of College Basketball

[rtnorthrup]

I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago for the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament. This was my 7th tournament in the last 14 years. I absolutely love the ACC tournament, and were it not for the realities of life, I would go every year. This year, however, seemed a little off. Maybe it was Phillips Arena (though I did like the look of the inside, I'm not sold on it for college games), and my biased opinion that the tournament should be in Greensboro every year.

The quality of the Thursday games was bad. I mean really, really bad. But beyond the quality, I just didnt feel like I had any connection with any of the players. Other than C.J. Leslie, Tanner Smith, and a couple of the Virginia Tech players, I didnt really feel like I knew these guys, nor did I think that any of the teams had a particularly bright future. Maryland has a couple of decent young players, but they dont particularly play as a team. NC State could be real good if everyone comes back, but that is about it. Duke will be Duke and UNC will be UNC, but the rest of the league isnt very good.

There was also a lack of excitement in-and-around the arena. Oh, there were still people wearing their school colors, but the buzz/excitement never really showed up. There was not much playful banter among fans in the concourse. Even after two very good semi-final games and a thrilling final, it didnt feel special. Not in the way that that ACC tournament usually feels special.

As I have watched the games in the NCAA tournament, the one thing that jumped out at me (other than Duke losing) was the number of empty seats visible in the stadiums. There have been several articles the last few weeks supporting the decline in attendance at college basketball games. So maybe the ACC tournament isn't an anomaly. Maybe college basketball is going through a transition period.

When I read the report of Austin deciding to turn pro, I wasnt even surprised. Here is a good young basketball player, though not one ready for the NBA, and I am not surprised by his decision to turn pro. Even more so, when I read stories of Shabazz or Amile, I wonder if they have any desire to see their jersey hang from Cameron Indoor Stadium. Do they have dreams of being listed among the Duke greats, or do they consider themselves rentable commodoties? Will their college choice simply be a one year job interview for a prospective NBA team? And if so, does that even change my mind about whether I want them to choose Duke?

I am starting to read stories about Kentucky potentially being one of the best college teams ever, and yet the very nature of the one and done player somehow tarnishes any talk about this particular Kentucky team. We have three very good teams in this year's final four (and a not too bad Louisville team), and yet it seems like college basketball has fallen behind Tim Tebow and Tiger Woods on the sports page. The Final Four is somewhere around fantasy baseball draft advice right now.

There was a feeling several years ago that Coach K intentionally stayed away from recruiting kids who had already made up their minds that they would be one and done. There has been a lot of hand wringing on these boards about our recruiting the last few years and whether we land the type of athletes needed to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament. (Would we even be favored to win the Patriot League next year?) I don't know what Coach K or Duke see for the future of the program. Are we more willing to take the one-and-done players to sell our brand? All I know is that college basketball as a whole is in a weird place. I won't make any value comments, but I dont think it can survive here. Attendence is down, I would guess tv ratings are down. The quality of the product is down.

I want my college basketball back. I want to root for Seth Curry for four years instead of Anthony Davis for 6 months. I want the best conference tournament to be special again.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago for the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament. This was my 7th tournament in the last 14 years. I absolutely love the ACC tournament, and were it not for the realities of life, I would go every year. This year, however, seemed a little off. Maybe it was Phillips Arena (though I did like the look of the inside, I'm not sold on it for college games), and my biased opinion that the tournament should be in Greensboro every year.

The quality of the Thursday games was bad. I mean really, really bad. But beyond the quality, I just didnt feel like I had any connection with any of the players. Other than C.J. Leslie, Tanner Smith, and a couple of the Virginia Tech players, I didnt really feel like I knew these guys, nor did I think that any of the teams had a particularly bright future. Maryland has a couple of decent young players, but they dont particularly play as a team. NC State could be real good if everyone comes back, but that is about it. Duke will be Duke and UNC will be UNC, but the rest of the league isnt very good.

There was also a lack of excitement in-and-around the arena. Oh, there were still people wearing their school colors, but the buzz/excitement never really showed up. There was not much playful banter among fans in the concourse. Even after two very good semi-final games and a thrilling final, it didnt feel special. Not in the way that that ACC tournament usually feels special.

As I have watched the games in the NCAA tournament, the one thing that jumped out at me (other than Duke losing) was the number of empty seats visible in the stadiums. There have been several articles the last few weeks supporting the decline in attendance at college basketball games. So maybe the ACC tournament isn't an anomaly. Maybe college basketball is going through a transition period.

When I read the report of Austin deciding to turn pro, I wasnt even surprised. Here is a good young basketball player, though not one ready for the NBA, and I am not surprised by his decision to turn pro. Even more so, when I read stories of Shabazz or Amile, I wonder if they have any desire to see their jersey hang from Cameron Indoor Stadium. Do they have dreams of being listed among the Duke greats, or do they consider themselves rentable commodoties? Will their college choice simply be a one year job interview for a prospective NBA team? And if so, does that even change my mind about whether I want them to choose Duke?

I am starting to read stories about Kentucky potentially being one of the best college teams ever, and yet the very nature of the one and done player somehow tarnishes any talk about this particular Kentucky team. We have three very good teams in this year's final four (and a not too bad Louisville team), and yet it seems like college basketball has fallen behind Tim Tebow and Tiger Woods on the sports page. The Final Four is somewhere around fantasy baseball draft advice right now.

There was a feeling several years ago that Coach K intentionally stayed away from recruiting kids who had already made up their minds that they would be one and done. There has been a lot of hand wringing on these boards about our recruiting the last few years and whether we land the type of athletes needed to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament. (Would we even be favored to win the Patriot League next year?) I don't know what Coach K or Duke see for the future of the program. Are we more willing to take the one-and-done players to sell our brand? All I know is that college basketball as a whole is in a weird place. I won't make any value comments, but I dont think it can survive here. Attendence is down, I would guess tv ratings are down. The quality of the product is down.

I want my college basketball back. I want to root for Seth Curry for four years instead of Anthony Davis for 6 months. I want the best conference tournament to be special again.

I quoted your entire entry because I agree with it ALL. I used to love to get to know other teams, the personalities of their players and the interaction among ours and theirs. It's gone. In addition to our own, I could name you a few Carolina guys, but that's really it besides somebody at State named CJ Leslie. Nobody stays around long enough to waste your time getting to know. But, you know? The same is pretty true with the NBA. Whole teams used to have whole personalities that made their marks and were memorable. Now they all just melt into one big blob. I watch our guys because I love them and I know they are the kind of people I want to represent us win or lose. If that ever fails, I won't even watch that.

I tip my hat to your post.
Love, Ima

[Faustus]

While we've opened the subject, I might as well slip in a related rant of my own about the decline of general interest in college basketball, where I think another factor has been the collateral damage of football money and conference expansion. In the past, the more geographically compact and manageably sized, generally 8 team conferences worked so much better for basketball, with the home-and-home round robin schedules that fostered familiarity and greater knowledge of the players involved. Years ago almost any resident of the Carolinas could name the top scorers and rebounders of every ACC team and certainly had favorites and most hated players. I couldn't name a single player on Boston College's team of this past year.

Now we have 14, 16, maybe even 20 team conferences. TCU I think technically was in THREE conferences at one point in 2011. But in football, at least there are divisions (although I can't even tell you which ones are in Duke's, except for UNC). In basketball in some of these conferences, certainly ours, there are no divisions, and if you're bad, you're down there somewhere around 12-15th place. At that point, where you can't even see the surface of the water above you, you simply quit caring. Your season is probably effectively over by mid-January. The glitzy team in your conference may not even come into your arena that season anyway, may not for several years straight. There is no electricity at your games.

Add to the above observations, which I also agree with wholeheartedly, the fact that we rarely get to see freshman players evolve and grow over four years as they (quite understandably) depart as soon as their number is called, and we have the current situation, with skyrocketting season ticket prices, of former intent followers of college programs that are mired hopelessly in 13th place in a conference that changes members every few years and with players who breeze in and out without leaving much of a dent in our memories, former followers and fans who have lost any emotional investment and involvement in their college team anymore. [Holy Cow - that was a single sentence - sorry.]

Quite understandable that the tournament in Atlanta had so many empty seats. True, at so many schools this year, VT, BC, GT, Maryland, Clemson, Wake, there was nothing for their fans to get excited about this year - a huge portion of the conference. But it's the very gargantuan size of conferences these days that makes it that much harder for any one of these teams to rise from below and likely will help perpetuate the haves and have-nots of college bball. Adding Syracuse and Pitt to the mix is in no way going to make Wake's path out of Utter Darkness any easier. They instantly drop two MORE slots in two years, in all likelihood. So I think it's both greed for football tv money by college presidents and ADs as well as NBA's grabbing anyone with an "upside" for themselves that is seriously hurting the current state of college basketball.

Sigh...

[weezie]

While this adds nothing to the discussion of the state of college basketball, the empty seats in ATL may have had something to do with the difficulty of getting to and around the city by car. We had zero interest in going to the tourney this year. Now, Tampa is a great venue! Bars, beaches, spring baseball, golf, fishing....we'd make a full week of it if the ACC ever goes back there.
And, while Gboro is the favorite of so many people here, I'm a tad tired of it, too. We all expect Duke to be booed but the level of venom is over the top. I guess I'm just getting old but I don't need any mouth-breathing light blue idiots screaming into my face just to prove their fan loyalty.

[Matches]

It's always been tough filling up seats for the ACCT in Atlanta, even when Ga. Tech has been good. The ACCT really ought to be in NC.

No question early entry has gutted college basketball though. The quality of play is just nowhere near what it used to be, because most of the NBA-ready upperclassmen are in the NBA instead of college. Teams rely more and more on freshmen, many of whom are very talented but few of whom are polished players. Many fans have stopped following the regular season entirely and started just tuning in for the NCAAT, and another large chunk doesn't pay attention until after the Super Bowl.

I still love the college game because IMO it's played with more passion than the pro game, but definitely there are times when it's hard to watch.

[Billy Dat]

I think the original post represents the feelings of many, but I think rtnorthrup is blending some issues that need to stand apart a bit to be understood.

RE - The ACC
I think the ACC has been waning for a number of years, and I think a big reason is the coaching turnover. You said that aside from Duke and UNC, you don't know the players but the fact is that UNC and Duke are the two programs most impacted by leaving early for the NBA. Aside from the crazy talent Paul Hewitt used to recruit to Tech, who often were one-and-done, most of the other programs have had the same players for 4 years - they just aren't very good! It'll take a while for these new coaches to get a foothold and ramp up their squads to NCAA tournament level. Gottfried got off to a good start, Tony Bennett seems like he's building a program (yes, they are boring). Hamilton has FSU in great shape. If Turgeon, Larranaga and Brownell can take their programs up a notch, and Boeheim and Dixon make a good transition into the league, the ACC will be popping again. Think about the Big East, they were the toast of college hoops for the past few years but way down this year. Soon, they won't exist anymore. Prior to the Big East's re-emergence, the Pac 12 (then 10) was ruling college hoops. Before that, it was the ACC (remember us having 4 top 5 teams in 2004?) The ACC in a cyclical down.

Venues -
Live attendance at all live events, save for pro football which is a national obsession and pro baseball which doubles as "quality time outdoors", is struggling as people prefer to sit home and watch events on their 50 inch high def TVs with the internet in hand. I wish events like the conference tournaments and NCAA venues would follow the MLS formula and start going smaller. Mark Titus, writing for Grantland.com, suggested Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Palestra in Philly, Allen Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse and other historic college hoops arenas as NCAA first and second round venues. It won't happen because there is too much money at stake, but it would be so much better than having half empty domes.

Atmosphere -
Unfortunately, I think we've reached a point where people don't know how to cheer unless prompted. It's a combination of "real fans" being priced out and replaced by corporate entertaining, the assault of jumbo tron led cheering prompts, everyone being focused on their smart phones, short attention spans, and a strange form of inhibition that makes it ok to text naked photos of oneself but not ok to scream for your team in a public setting. We may have passed a tipping point here - I don't know how to get it back, but the atmosphere at most live sporting events is pathetic.

The quality of NCAA ball -
I'd prefer the rule that a kid can go straight to the pros but if he goes to college, he has to stay for 2 years. That will make it easier for coaches to build better teams and for fans to get to know the players better.

I think your original highlighted a lot of real problems - I just don't think they are all connected. I think the ACC is in a temporary trough and that college hoops has a longer term talent issue, but I think the problems with venues and the game-time atmosphere at those venues are problems shared by all spectator sports.

[Billy Dat]

Here's an interesting Chuck Kolsterman article about this year's Kentucky team that addresses some of the dissatisfaction with current college basketball:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7744477/john-calipari-anthony-davis-kentucky-march-final-four-means-college-basketball

"Let's assume they rampage through their final two games. It will disprove a lot of lingering suspicions about what does (and doesn't) work. It will mean that winning a title with freshmen and sophomores is not only plausible, but logical and inarguable. That realization will knock the system out of balance. Right now, there are always two foolproof arguments against the Calipari ideal — it reflects badly on the university, and it breaks down in moments that matter most. No one is going to emulate a program with a bad reputation if the end result is the same as doing things the way they've always been done. But that argument evaporates the moment Calipari climbs a ladder and cuts a net. If Kentucky is simultaneously the most straightforward finishing school for future professionals and the best place to win a national championship, there's no reason for a blue-chip high school senior to go anywhere else. Calipari will dynastically dominate with a revolving door of sheer horsepower, and the only way other schools will be able to respond is by becoming exactly like him.

Now, I'm not suggesting that every single college will turn into a clone of Kentucky, because that's impossible. There aren't enough good players in America for that to happen. But Calipari's scheme will become standard at a handful of universities where losing at basketball is unacceptable: North Carolina, Syracuse, Kansas, UCLA, and maybe even Duke. These schools already recruit one-and-done freshmen, but they'll have to go further; they'll have to be as transparent about their motives as Calipari is (because transparency is the obsession of modernity). If they resist, they will fade. And the result will be a radical amplification of what the game has already become: There will be five schools sharing the 25 best players in the country, and all the lesser programs will kill each other for the right to lose to those five schools in the Sweet 16. It will skew the competitive balance of major conferences and split D-I basketball into two completely unequal tiers. Final Four games will look more and more like sloppy pro games, and national interest in college basketball will wane (even if the level of play technically increases).5 In 10 years, it might be a niche sport for people like me — people who can't get over the past.

Kentucky totally deserves to win. But I sure hope they don't."

[SoCalDukeFan]

The conferences and many of the schools get most of their money from football. Hence, they give football top priority. Conferences seem to be able to do whatever they want and they want to do what will help football.

The NCAA gets most of its money from the tournament, so it grows and grows.

The basketball regular season has been severely diminished. The conference tournaments also. In many cases you have your seeding before the tournament, so why go out?

The NBA did not like drafting unproven high school players, so its one and done for many.

If you thought attendance at the ACC Tournament was down, look at the PAC 12. They are now moving to Las Vegas, I guess hoping that fans will go to Vegas and drop in on the games between blackjack games.

Apparently the NCAA can do nothing to control the conferences or the NBA.

Maybe they should require that the top seeded team from each conference is the conference champion which would add some value to the conference tournaments and perhaps to the season.

SoCal