Exhibition Season Launch!!

The season officially begins on the second Friday in November, which is November 13th this year, and we will be having a big time launch for it.  But, the first basketball game of any kind that is open to the public will be played tonight between LSU-Alexandria and Southeast Louisiana.  You can even watch the game online.  It’s a game that doesn’t count, and it’s a game that would be of very little intrigue even if it did count, but it is a game.  It’s the first game of any kind that has been open to the public since last year’s national championship game.  While this isn’t our big kickoff to the season, it will be a soft launch to the season.  With the exception of Christmas Eve, there will be a college basketball game every day between now and the day after Selection Sunday.  The link below will take you to a list of all exhibition games, and I must say, many of the names of the lower division schools were giving our auto-correct feature quite a workout as we typed up this list….

FOR ALL OPEN EXHIBITION GAMES, CLICK HERE

I’m personally not a huge fan of the exhibition part of the season in its current format.  Although I’m always excited when it gets here, the only reason I’m excited is because for the first time since the end of the previous season we are provided with some semblance of college basketball.  But, it could be, and should be, better.

Teams are allowed two exhibition contests.  They can choose to have either a closed scrimmage with another div1 team, or a game that’s open to the public against a team from a lower division.  Closed scrimmages generally go for three hours and can be set up any number of ways.  Sometimes teams play a regulation game and then work on situational stuff after that.  Sometimes the two schools will have two games going on at once.  Sometimes they’ll play several games of ten or twelve minutes.  It’s very controlled, and I get why coaches like doing that.  What I don’t understand, or agree with, is why teams MUST do that if they want to play another div1 team.  Every other major sport with the exception of college football allows for preseason exhibition games against other teams.  Even other college sports such as soccer allow teams preseason exhibition games against other div1 teams.  I understand some coaches like the idea of a closed scrimmage, and that’s fine.  But, why not at least give them the OPTION of opening it to the public??  If VCU and Virginia, who are playing in a closed scrimmage this year, decide they want to play an exhibition regulation game and open it to the public, then why the hell can’t they??   Same with Xavier v Illinois, or Purdue v Dayton, or SFA v Texas, or any other number of games that, while not counting for anything, would still be somewhat intriguing to fans.  You know what isn’t intriguing??  Seeing a div1 team smash the hell out of a lower division team.  The lower division team wants to get paid, and the div1 team wants to work on their weaknesses.

Now, before I get carried away, there will be a handful of cases where div1 teams lose their exhibition games.  But, generally when this happens, it is because said team is more concerned with working on improving their weaknesses than they are in winning the game.  Some coaches have been known to run teams to death in practice the day before, or even the day of, their exhibition games.  The reason??  Coaches want the players to have to play the game when they’re tired.  Syracuse lost an exhibition game to a div3 school one year, and played man-to-man defense the entire game.  So, even if div1 teams do lose these games, rarely are they losing under circumstances where they went out there and treated it like a regular season game that needed to be won.  So, even if the lower division teams play tough and win, it’s generally still of very little intrigue.

One of the rules that is no longer in place was that schools were allowed to schedule games against non-college teams.  This was the days of the Phillips 66ers, Athletes in Action, and other various all star teams.  Even the Harlem Globetrotters played regulation games against div1 teams, and managed to beat some highly ranked teams.  Athletes in Action fielded several teams, but their A team, or #1 team, or whatever the hell they called their top team, was very good.  I believe there was one year where they ended up beating three teams that later advanced to the Elite Eight.  Duke, and some other schools, would play pro teams from other countries, and would even face off against another country’s national team.  I think this was far better than what we have now.  The reason??  Teams could challenge themselves, and they could do it in front of an actual crowd, but with no brushback or downside if they lost.  Not every team chose to do this because a lot of them just wanted someone they could walk all over, but a lot of good teams did, and I think it was better for the fans, the players, and coaches.  I mean, nothing against the div2 and div3 teams that serve as exhibition opponents now, but not much is gained by div1 teams beating the brains in of lower division teams who are getting paid.  Some schools will want to do that, and that’s fine.  Others will want closed scrimmages against other div1 opponents, and that’s fine.  But, if schools want an open exhibition against another div1 team, or against a strong and competitive team that isn’t a college team, then that should be fine too.  Shouldn’t it??

But, the good news is that tonight, and every night until Selection Sunday with the exception of Christmas Eve, we (sort of) have college basketball!!