It’s March and yet I feel like I’m lonely in madness.
For as long as I can remember, my life has been run by March. I say that in the sense that I am fully aware that life goes on for 11 more months, but something new comes alive when the date line starts with “3.”
I had four full days to experience the first and second rounds of the Men’s Tournament. Instead of absorbing it in full, I took a nap midway through the second day of the first round. On Saturday, I did the same.
NIL is a blessing: I’d be the first person to say that. These players bring in big money to their respective schools because of their performance on the court.
However, this has, in many ways, been a drag. We have had a few upsets, but outside of that, if you are a casual fan tuning in on these games, the NCAA overall looks a bit dull.
With this being said, Thursday’s first-round games in primetime were the most highly viewed in history, with an average of 12.2 million people watching. That number dropped to 9.4 million in the second round, still making it the most-watched weekend in 32 years.
You could easily credit that to growing interest or maybe to the immense number of people working to make things more interesting with skin in the game.
I don’t think these numbers tell the whole story or deserve to be taken at face value. Everyone’s idea of “watching” college basketball is different.
Paying the people who deserve to be paid has resulted in the creation of top-heavy leagues with teams that can only be classified as “super.” This is an observation that fans of college basketball have long pointed out as a big issue in the NBA.
Do upsets still exist? I’m not brave enough to say no.
McNeese proves that point, led by no other than Quadir Copeland, who the Syracuse faithful came to know and love until they lost in the second round to Purdue. A similar story for Colorado State: The best storyline reminiscent of a Cinderella we have going into the second weekend is Arkansas.
It is Arkansas’s 12th appearance in this century and its first under John Calipari. I’ll go out on a limb and say most fans of the game would agree with me when I say a (less than popular, albeit) NCAA National Championship-winning Coach taking a team to the Sweet 16 doesn’t hit quite like that Jim Valvano Cinderella run did in 1983.
Arkansas can make it to the Elite 8 and they still won’t be a Cinderella in my eyes.
Overall, the beauty of March Madness is knowing it is anyone’s game. But the best brackets in so many pools right now are likely close to scratch. The reality is that not everyone seems to be able to win any game. A harsh reality, easy to predict, but harder to accept.
The programs pouring in the most money are the programs with the most money, which often translates to the best talent. And nothing guarantees that talent to return the next year. Fans of the game have lots of homework to do to stay in the know all off-season.
Seven of the 14 SEC teams that made it into the tournament will play in the Sweet 16. Granted, they are coming off an expansion, but that’s the future college sports is heading toward. Who gets left behind in the process?
The SEC’s tournament resume this year breaks a record set by the ACC nine years ago. You can play all of the uplifting music you want and say all of the inspiring words in the right order, but it might be time for them to start considering pulling those “premier conference of college basketball” commercials. Leaning too hard on history always leads to ruins.
If you really want to get into the premier conference of college basketball, why don’t we open up a conversation on the Big East? Syracuse fans love to say, “I miss the Big East.” Well, the Big East hasn’t gone anywhere. In many ways, it’s the same conference it was when it ignited college basketball and ESPN synonymously. The focus remains on hoops.
Headlines came out this week following the Round of 32, where an SEC Athletic Director said the following about the focus the Big East places on basketball spending:
“It’s a problem. Villanova and St. John’s can pour $10 million into basketball if they want. The SEC isn’t going to be able to do that because we cannot sacrifice the cash cow of football.”
The Southeastern Conference received $840 million in total revenue in Fiscal Year 2024. That’s without considering private donors. This is what I mean by it’s March, and I feel lonely in madness.
I find it hard to see the legs on which that argument stands.
Similarly, when it comes to this year’s basketball success, the BIG 10, which entered eight, will be represented four times this weekend.
The two biggest football conferences are the two best performers in basketball, a trend I predict to continue. And I’m willing to bet one of them will hoist a trophy in April.
Nothing will pull me away from my TV this time of year. I’ll still watch games religiously, even if the majority of games are instantly not close and lack the entertainment value that brought me to love this tournament.
I only seek to point out observations. I have no answers. No one does. That much is abundantly clear. But if, for whatever reason, you are also experiencing madness due to all this uncertainty, I guess that’s enough. It’s best not to venture into the Wild West alone.
