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Off the Bench with Erik Rhyne |
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Thursday, 15 February 2007 |
College athletics gain spotlight
by Erik Rhyne
What do we do now?
Football season is finally over. The pads, helmets and equipment are locked up until late summer.
The players get to relax, but what do the fans do?
The NBA and NHL are in mid-season, but does anyone actually watch them?
Personally, I do not.
My eyes are inclined to watch college basketball, where every game is
exciting. Whoever is playing on ESPN typically gives exciting games
that can keep you glued to the seat.
An instant classic was found Jan. 16 between Oklahoma State University
and the University of Texas at Austin. It took three overtimes as OSU
forward Mario Boggan made a jumper with 3.2 seconds left to win the
game, 105-103.
Not only is college basketball exciting almost every night, we have the
luxury of one of the best rivalries in sports in our own backyard – the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Last week, the series between the two teams played two nail-biters that help build on the storied rivalry.
UNC won Feb. 7 by six points, rallying to win 79-73 between the men’s teams.
On the following night, the remaining two unbeaten teams in women’s
basketball met in Chapel Hill. The Blue Devils went in and won 64-53
keeping their spot as the No. 1 team and only unbeaten team in college
basketball.
While this rivalry is always a classic, college basketball around the country has been a sight to see.
There are no true powerhouses anymore as underclassmen go to the NBA
from the once unbeatable schools like Duke and UNC. It’s giving the
chance for smaller schools in mid-major conferences a chance to win
those games.
Currently, a fifth of the schools in the Top 25 are not in conferences
like the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Big Ten
Conference, Big 12 Conference or Pacific-10 Conference.
The University of Memphis, University of Nevada, Butler University,
Southern Illinois University and the United States Air Force Academy
can be found at the ninth, 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th sports
respectively.
There is no chance of this happening in the NBA as the gap between the top teams and bottom half is significantly large.
This is the reason professional games can be slow and sometimes the scores are so large.
Before you argue that games in college are the same way, let me assure
you it’s different because of the number of teams. In the NBA there are
30 teams compared to over 110 in Division I college basketball.
Not only is basketball where you can see that college is becoming more mainstream, but you can see it in football, too.
I mean, there is the NFL Draft, which has always been a spectacle, but
now National Signing Day has become something everyone pays attention
to.
ESPN.com has its own page dedicated to recruiting, and on Signing Day,
ESPN2 had more than four hours dedicated to talking to recruits on
where they were going.
College sports, while being visible for many decades, have been brought more and more into the lime light in recent years.
While there is a line between professional and collegiate sports, that line is becoming increasingly blurred by the day.
So I will ask again: what do we do now?
We watch college sports.
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