Talking NCAA B-Ball here. We spent major denaro for Coach Alford, and so far he's "gettin' it done" this season. Took down the Cal Bears, then those pesky T A&M Aggies. Got Dayton and Creighton in our sights. Then it's on to the Conference Wars. Should be quite a battle among UNLY, BYWho, SDSU and UNM. Yea, I know, the "rest of the country could care less...but all four will be playing mid-March, boys and girls!!
On a happier note - UCLA has lost 5 in a row. This is after losing their season opener to UC Fullerton!! Four of their losses have been double digits, including 27 to Portland. Wonder how long it take for the wolves to howling for Howland's head and hide!!!
is that the regular season is virtually meaningless. There is not one big game in college basketball prior to the conference tournaments in March. Unless your fan of a specific school, there isnt really a game that you have to watch. Duke/North Carolina or Villanova/U-Conn may be solid games in early January, but the outcome really doenst matter. In most years, these schools are all going to be in the NCAA tournament (when the real season begins) Unfortunately, if a school goes 30-3 and then flames out in the second round of the NCAA tournament, the season is considered a bust.
Conversely, college football has the exact opposite problem... the regular season is paramount and the Bowls (except for the one national championship game) are rendered meaningless.
I agree with you on the NBA and NHL. The regular seasons are too long and often meaningless. With so many teams making the playoffs, a team can coast along and qualify in the middle of the pack..they can still make a run towards the finals. Hockey is full of low seeds making the Cup and the NBA has seen an 8th seed make the finals (the 1999 Knicks). A team that doesnt qualify for the playoffs in either sport is simply just bad.
MLB, while its a long season in terms of games, the regular season is important because so few teams qualify for the playoffs. You cant just coast through the regular season; you have to play a peak level.
NFL, is only 16 games. EVERY game is essential. 11-5, in some years is not good enough to qualify for the playoffs.
I just feel that the NCAA, because of the importance they place on March Madness, makes the regular season virtually useless. You dont need to be a 1 or 2 seed to make the final four...History is full of teams that struggled in the regular season making a deep run and other 30-2 teams, loose in round two.
The regular season is how teams get positioned for post-season play. Sure, you've got bow-wow games, but that's the nature of the beast. A bad regular season translates to spending March at home.
... in contrast to college football, it stands to reason that conferences/schools (maybe, the NCAA body, too) are trying to take steps toward drawing more attention to these the regular season games.
As we all know the season is broken into the non-conference schedule, conference schedule (games and tourney), and the big dances (NCAA and NIT). The introduction of the cross conference challenges (ACC v. BigTen, SEC v. Big East, etc.)has helped, in my opinon, to increase attention, which helps to foster more widespread knowledge of different teams, players, etc. These early NCAA B-ball games are swimming in a pretty large sea of sports activity, particularly college and professional football in the middle to the end of their seasons. If given the choice between these at that point on the calendar, it is a pretty easy decision. This however, does not automatically present an inherent problem, as you state.
Regarding a sport's regular season games as being meaningless, it can be argued that interest in these games is indirectly proportionate to the number of games in that given regular season. The more games, the less interest; the less games the greater the interest. By this reasoning, the college football regular season would generate the most interest.
basketball regular season is too long. I remember when a regular season was about 26 games. Now you have over-saturation, with some teams playing between 35 and 40 games.
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