Originally Posted by
thedukeman
I disagree that people are watching players because their college team is recruiting them. I think you are overestimating this select group of "college basketball fans" you are referring to. The same ideas you typed would be applicable to highschool athletes. People who live in the same state or area as the players and want to watch them play. Regardless, I think people just want to see the next crop of elite athletes. It would seem silly to make high school mixtapes and host aau tournaments if only fans of the colleges athletes were considering were viewing. There is clearly a much larger audience than that. In many cases, it is correlation rather than causation as you suggest. Many fans support a college team, or nba team, because of the exciting players they have and fans enjoy watching. These fans support the team because of the players, not the college. I can't say much on the history of basketball but as it is today it has grown to be much larger than a college-specific game. Especially considering the rise in europeans players.