Enough is Enough: Waking up Embarrassed to be a College Basketball Fan

Being a college hoops fan used to be easy.  It was the cleanest brand of basketball in existence, and the NCAA Tournament was one of the biggest sporting events in the entire calendar.  While the NBA floundered with officiating scandals, poor quality of play (even at the Olympic level) and a general lack of watchable teams in the mid 2000’s, college basketball was far and away the best choice for basketball fans to get their fix.  No more.

College basketball is a shell of its former self, and mainly because it has no backbone to protect it.  First, the NBA instituted a ridiculous age requirement in 2005 that required the top high school players to play a year of college ball before turning pro.  This effectively turned the NCAA into a farm system for the NBA, once coaches figured out that recruiting the top players meant a one-and-done, but resistance to the one-and-done recruits meant they might be out of a job.  College coaches became like steroid users in Major League Baseball- the slimy coaches (we all know who they are) dove head first into the one-and-dones, and the result was even those who may be opposed to giving full scholarships to a 6-month student athlete were forced into it by the demand of their profession.  These past 3 years have been like the early 2000s, the dying days of the ‘Roids era (we hope), where even the best hitters (A-Rod, Manny?) started juicing to maintain their superiority over the playing field.  Just like a natural 25 homer guy wasn’t going to be forced out of a job by an inferior player willing to juice, college coaches have delved into the one-and-done business predominantly because if they didn’t, their employers would replace them with someone who would.  Winning is money in college sports, where graduation rates and upstanding citizens are worthless if they aren’t coupled with lots and lots of wins and revenue.

With one-and-done players, the college game was diminished in two major ways.  First, and more simply, the teams are tougher than ever to relate to.  College hoops fans really are just “rooting for the laundry” at this point.  Taking a look back at some of the National Champions from 2000-2010, it’s hard to imagine those teams looking anything like they did had the players and coaches been enslaved by the one-and-done process.  Those teams didn’t just have seniors, they had senior classes.  At most they had a couple of freshmen contributing on a nightly basis.  They were a team that was forged over years of building a

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program, recruiting good players, and molding them into a basketball team.  The Florida team that won back to back titles with the same starting five (left) in 2006 and 2007 was easy to root for as a Gator fan or alum, because you knew who those guys were.  You watched them play together for multiple years.  Fans/Alums of Kentucky root for…who?  High school kids taking a pit stop on their way to the NBA?  Why?  What loyalty does playing 35 games against your will for a University show?  What makes Anthony Davis a Wildcat other than the jersey he donned for the sake of his draft stock?

The second problem the one-and-done has presented has been in the quality of play.  I feel like my father does when he complains about the 1980’s Celtics and Lakers ruining the NBA for him, since no team can play the way those teams played (pre-salary cap, league at all-time high for talent, etc).  But the quality of basketball on display in recent March’s has been rubbish compared to what I grew up watching.  The one-and-done has produced a universal offensive system for college basketball, in which a player can have one of three roles- the driver, the dunker or the shooter.  The drivers can’t shoot and the shooters can’t drive.  The dunkers can dunk, and occasionally catch the ball.  The result is the game is played within 5 feet of the hoop, as guards barrel aimlessly to the cup, while three shooters stand still on the outside waiting to hoist up a three point shot.  The dunker hovers near the rim and points up as to signal for an alley-oop whether or not he’s being guarded.  It looks a lot like the NBA offense, with the only difference being the NBA offense is run by NBA players and the college offense is run by amateurs.  Pick-and-rolls are only run if they result in pull-up threes, lobs for dunk attempts, or a drive down the lane with no cutters in sight.  It’s terrible.  Look at the scoring numbers ofthese teams in the tournament.  Direct from Jason Logan's piece- Low scoring games "have been more common in the past three NCAA tournaments than any time in the last ten years."  I didn't even look that up before I wrote this.  That's how obvious it is.  Despite the NBA age rule theoretically placing 15-20 freshmen "NBA players" in college this year, 2013 marks the second time since 1952 that the national scoring average dipped below 68 points.  Syracuse’s 2-3 zone is being vaunted for being “timeless” when in reality it’s better than ever because college offenses are so inept that even a 2-3 zone seems impossible to crack.  A 2-3 zone!  Jim Boeheim plays the same defense that I played when I was 6 years old, and it works against the best amateur basketball players on earth.

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The one-and-done and dollar-driven style of play has made the college game a watered-down version of the NBA.  It’s no secret that I haven’t watched nearly as much college ball this year as I have in years past, and I think it’s becoming painfully clear why.   Even the officiating is succumbing to NBA-like results.  I actually turned off last night’s Louisville-Wichita St. game because I couldn’t handle it.  As Louisville fell behind by double digits midway through the second half, it was as if a switch went off and the officials decided to swallow their whistles.  Louisville turned to their trademarked press defense to try and make a run, and the result was chaos.  The Wichita St. players were being absolutely mugged up and down the court (see above).  It was like watching a piranha attack or something- I’ve never seen such a savage press defense.  From the 11:45 mark when they trailed 49-41 to the 3:03 mark where they took the lead for good, 62-60, Louisville was called for 3 fouls.  Three.  Wichita St. was called for 5 in that same time span, and they weren’t even pressing!  It was an abomination.  It was the first game I ever had to turn off because the officiating was so bad- and I’m sure I watched one or two Donaghy games before he got busted.  To commit three fouls over nearly nine minutes in a full court press is worthy of sainthood.  That would translate to just under 14 fouls a game.  I’m not accusing the referees of fixing the game or anything, but there’s no question that something happened where they decided to let the bloodbath ensue and even the game up a bit.  In that nine minute span, Kevin Ware could have come off the bench to play, used a crutch like a pro-wrestler might (see below for dramatization), and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it go uncalled by the officials.  It was unbelievable.

It would be easy for me to sit here and complain that college basketball is being ruined by college football, realignment, and greed.  But that’s the easy way out.  College basketball is ruining itself.  Even if it isn’t as big financially as football, it’s the second biggest piece in the NCAA pie and it’s not carrying itself as such.  College baseball doesn’t care about what MLB says, college football doesn’t care about the NFL, and college hockey sure doesn’t care about the NHL.   So why does college basketball let the NBA define who the players are, what style will be played, and even become a model for the officiating of the game?  Last night’s Louisville win was the culmination of a long struggle for me to pinpoint what made me turn back to the NBA for the majority of my basketball.  If I’m going to watch an NBA game, I’m going to watch LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony play it.  I’m not watching college basketball for those guys, I’m watching it for the 2006 and 2007 Florida Gators.  And teams like that are gone.  And as a fan, I’m on my way.  You have those moments as a sports fan that make you feel like an idiot for investing time, money, and emotion into sports.  The only moment this compared to for me was the Seattle/Green Bay debacle on Monday Night Football this year, where I literally could not turn off the TV because I was in such shock.  The wrong team had won simply because of the refs… that was it for me as far as irrevocable sports sins.  When the integrity of the sport is tarnished, how do you remain a fan?  You don’t take a guy/girl back after he/she cheats on you and breaks your heart.  The NFL got the memo and brought the real refs back.  What’s college basketball going to do?  I fear the answer to that question will be nothing at all.