Clarion Content

The college basketball season, as viewed from here, is the perfect length. It starts to move to the front burner the week after the Super Bowl ends. This year Super Bowl XLV, or forty-five to those of you who don't speak Roman, was played on Sunday, February 6th. The Final Four will be played this weekend, Saturday, April 2nd. An intense eight weeks, spine-tinglingly exciting, it fits and feels right.

By the time we tune in fully to college basketball, it is the heart of the conference season, internecine rivalries and battles. It is a short four weeks then, bang, into the conference tournaments. There is very little competition from other sports during this time of year. Baseball is still in Spring Training. The NBA and NHL are slogging their way through eighty game seasons. Golf has yet to have a major. While, college basketball is at a fever pitch for the whole eight week season we follow.

Conference tournament week, around the middle of March is a phenomenal lead into the Big Dance. All of those conference tourney games are potentially single elimination. VCU has made the best case possible for expanding the NCAA tournament. Any school that lost one game too early in their conference tournament is looking at VCU and thinking, we could have been them. Who is to say what would have happened had Alabama been permitted into an expanded field? Alabama beat Final Four participant Kentucky and is in the NIT Final...to state just one hypothetical.

An expanded NCAA tourney can only make the college basketball season better. They could lop off a week of regular season games or add a week to the Big Dance. VCU has already proven how stiff and deep the competition is. The NCAA tournament, Final Four weekend and Championship Monday, end in excellent synchronicity with the start of baseball season (which is still too early, witness the snow descending on the upcoming opening MLB weekend). The NBA playoffs ramp-up at just about the same time.

The net, net, pun intended, college basketball fills its niche between the end of the NFL season and the start of baseball season perfectly. Expanding the tournament can only increase the excitement. We can't wait for the Final Four games this weekend.

Labels: baseball, college basketball, sports