Puppet Ramblings: Friday, Dec 4th

David Griggs Rants and Raves about College Hoops

Now that the exempt tournaments are mostly over, Fridays are typically slower days.  That gives me a chance to rant and rave after I wake up and have a few drinks.  Some weeks it might be a few minutes of video or audio that you should DEFINITELY watch or listen to.  Other weeks it will be journaling that you should DEFINITELY read.

First, some important links that you should DEFINITELY check out.  In fact, do this first, and then come back and read the rest of my ramblings.  You need to do both, but in that order!!

Under the Radar.  This is our latest weekly podcast that focuses on the 23 conferences that are not regular multi-bid leagues.  There have already been some great stories this year such as Grand Canyon being undefeated, Monmouth having a fantastic start to the season with wins away from home against UCLA, USC, and Notre Dame, UT Arlington getting some big notable wins, Little Rock being unbeaten, Valpo looking like an at-large team, and so much more.  We cover all that in our most recent edition.  CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!! DO IT NOW!!!

Throwback Thursday.  This is a fantastic new weekly series where John Stalica (@jstalica78) looks back at pivotal moments throughout the history of college basketball.  This week, we go back to the 1986 NCAA Tournament, which is important because it was only the second year the field had been set at 64, and it was perhaps the first time we saw how magical the NCAA Tournament could be in that format.  Two #14 seeds won for the first time ever, and both made the Sweet Sixteen.  Duke had their first deep NCAA Tournament run under Mike Krzyzewski, and faced Louisville in the National Championship game, which still rates as one of the highest watched tournament games of all time.  CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!!

Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day.  Ehh, you know what??  You can skip this one.  Nobody likes Chad very much.  But, here’s the link anyway.  Tonight’s other big games are listed there as well.  MONMOUTH @ CANISIUS, and OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

Call from the Hall.  This is another fantastic series of interviews written and conducted by Jon Teitel.  This week he interviews Ohio State and Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek.  CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!!, and CLICK HERE FOR AN INDEX OF ALL OF HIS PREVIOUS INTERVIEWS

SCHEDULING, AND ATTENDANCE, AND WHY BOTH NEED TO GET BETTER

-Most of the general public, even the part of the general public that likes college basketball, seems to be largely unaware that the season does actually start in November, and that many of the most important games of the year are actually played prior to conference play beginning.  We see the vast majority of games played in front of half empty houses.  Sometimes the buildings are so empty you wonder if the arena manager even remembered to unlock the doors to let the people in.  So, fans need to start buying tickets.  What happens now shapes what happens later.  When you see an early season game between Valparaiso and Oregon, that’s a big game.  It’s a chance for Valpo to get a statement win, and it’s a chance for Oregon to sustain themselves in the rankings.  When a ranked team is hosting an unbeaten team, that’s an important game.  Now, having said that…..

One of the reasons that arenas are empty for a lot of games is because of the sheer volume of games that are terrible to watch.  College basketball, more than any other sport on Earth probably, consists of the majority of good teams wanting to ease into their seasons.  Opening Day in baseball is huge.  For some teams it’s one of the few days the stadium sells out.  The start of the NFL season is a big deal.  College football, for the most part, opens with much fanfare and much anticipation.  College basketball??  Louisville is playing Samford.  Maryland is playing Mount Saint Mary’s.  Villanova is playing Fairleigh Dickinson.  UConn is playing Maine.  It’s no wonder fans don’t anticipate the start of the college basketball season.  There’s nothing to anticipate!!  And, the vast majority of the out of conference schedule is like that.  But…

The smattering of games that are not like that do fill up.  The Big Ten/ACC Challenge games were great.  Virginia went to George Washington and it was a great atmosphere.  Maryland and Georgetown renewed their series, and it was one of the greatest atmospheres I’ve ever seen at a November basketball game.  It can be done!

There are two things that need to happen.  Opening Night of college basketball needs to be a huge day on the sports calendar, and we need to schedule the kinds of games for that night that will give it intrigue.  The way it is now, all that night really does is help out people who are suffering from insomnia.  The vast majority of games put you to sleep.

And…

Any team that generates the response or feeling of “I hate playing that team” is a team you need to play!!  I know the most attractive OOC games to schedule are the national showcases.  But, it’s impossible for any team to fill their entire schedule with those because they need between 11 and 13 games, and there are only so many opponents that would qualify as a national showcase game.  The next best team they can schedule is not a buy game, but rather a game against a team they don’t like to play.  The NFL, NBA, and MLB understand this.  The teams that hate each other are either in the same division, or routinely slated against each other.  If the NFL or NBA were in charge of scheduling college basketball games, we’d see all of the following match ups each and every year…

-Kentucky vs Indiana
-Kentucky vs Cincinnati
-Cincinnati vs Ohio State
-Ohio State vs Xavier
-Ohio State vs Dayton
-Xavier vs Dayton
-Saint Louis vs Missouri
-Kansas vs Missouri
-Kansas vs Wichita State
-Texas vs Texas A&M
-Syracuse vs UConn
-UConn vs Boston College
-Belmont vs Vanderbilt
-Memphis vs Vanderbilt
-Memphis vs Arkansas
-Memphis vs Louisville
-Louisville vs Indiana
-Notre Dame vs Michigan
-West Virginia vs Pittsburgh
-West Virginia vs Virginia
-Maryland vs Duke
-Georgetown vs George Washington
-Creighton vs Wichita State

I could go on, but you get the idea.  ALL of those games would generate a huge buzz, and it would generate it at a time of the season (now) when there isn’t much of a buzz.  Sadly, very few coaches seek out those kinds of games.  But, you know what??  The ones that do are actually better off for it!!  Virginia is perhaps the best example.  They play home and home against regional teams, such as George Washington, Old Dominion, VCU, James Madison, and William & Mary.  They’ve even lost some of those games, yet their program has continued to grow since they’ve been doing it.  Bruce Pearl, who has his flaws but has also successfully built up two programs (Milwaukee, Tennessee) and is working on his third (Auburn), seeks out those games as well.  While at Tennessee he sought out series with Memphis, Middle Tennessee and Chattanooga, and at Auburn he has signed a long term series with UAB.  He understands that it engages and excites the fans, and at the end of the day even if Tennessee or Auburn loses, Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee still wouldn’t command the front page of the newspaper moving forward.  They’d be playing against Sun Belt and SoCon teams on secondary networks, whereas Tennessee would be playing on national television in a power conference, so the Vols were still the “Big Brother.”  And, last but not least, a team really isn’t relevant until they’re someone else’s Super Bowl.  They should embrace that role, not run from it!  Doing so challenges them more and prepares them more for conference play.

So, just to recap, it’s more excitement for the fans at a time of the season where the sport needs to be more excitement, it’s a bigger challenge for the players that prepares them more than most of your boring buy games, and the “Big Brother” teams really have way more to gain than to lose by doing it.  I WANT ALL OF THE ABOVE GAMES TO BECOME REGULAR NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER GAMES!!!  PUPPET MANDATE!!!

OFFICIATING (Last one, I promise)

-Last, but certainly not least, people have been complaining about how tightly games have been officiated.  I get it, but the officials are doing it right.  The game was simply becoming too physical.  College basketball should not look like a combination between a rugby scrum and a rock fight, which is what it was by the time last season was winding down.  In fact, had last year’s NCAA Tournament been officiated the way the game was played throughout the 1980s and 1990s when it was far more popular, nearly every team would have fouled out all of their players in about five minutes.  Too much physicality limits the skill, finesse and the flow of the game.  The referees need to keep calling the fouls the way they have been until the players adjust.  Period.  That is what will make the game better.  Clobbering someone should not be a common defensive strategy.  I know it’s painful to watch for now, and it may take until January before we start seeing the overall benefit.  But, vegetables don’t always taste good either.  In the long run this will make the game so much better.