OT: Should the NCAAM BB season be pushed back?
Dan Wolken at Fox Sports makes a proposal to push back the Men's NCAA Basketball season to start around New Years and have March Madness moved to May Madness. Since football is king in the U.S., I don't mind pushing back the season to kind of get out of it's way. Just wanted to get the boards' thoughts....
January 30th, 2012 at 2:33 PM ^
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^
It's difficult to get into basketball while football is still going on for me. It would also close the gap in time for relevant college sports from five months (beginning of April-end of August) to three (beginning of June-end of August).
January 30th, 2012 at 2:41 PM ^
The author of the article convinced me. I agree that the Tournament would be a success no matter when it takes place (even against the NBA and NHL Playoffs, which drag on for almost two months anyway). As much as I can't stand the NFL, it is the be-all/end-all of American sports, and college basketball's regular season always takes a back seat to college football.
The biggest strike in my mind to this proposal would be the loss of holiday tournaments. While only the most die-hard fans watch the holiday tournaments (such as myself), they do seem to be a nice getaway for the players on the teams. Who wouldn't want to be a collegian and get a subsidized trip to Maui, Orlando, Puerto Rico, etc. (although Alaska in November seems like a stretch).
January 30th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
I'm all for it. The span after the end of March Madness until football starts again is painful.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:49 PM ^
Why compete with the NBA/NHL playoffs when nothing else important is going on in march
January 30th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^
100% In favor of this! You'd think it would be better for the students as well, so that their season is only going on during one (standard) semester.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^
Doesn't school end in April? How do you factor that in - some of these guys likely get summer jobs, no?
January 30th, 2012 at 3:40 PM ^
and some of their girlfriends too, if they're at bama.
January 30th, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
It would also cut down on time for pre-draft workouts. Players would almost have to declare as soon as the season was over if they wanted to be included in the draft unless, of course, they pushed the draft date back as well.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:58 PM ^
summer classes too...
January 30th, 2012 at 3:07 PM ^
Exams would be during the conference or NCAA tournament, depending on the school. And the thing we'd be freeing are basically the creampuff section of the schedule. By the time conference play starts, there's only NFL playoffs (one week of regular season) and crappy bowl games. And the pre-season tournaments are mostly centered around the Thanksgiving holiday.
This is not a well thought out idea.
January 30th, 2012 at 3:07 PM ^
So if this happened, the earliest we would want Selection Sunday would be April 15--any earlier and the conference tournaments would be on the same weekend as the Masters. The latest we would want Selection Sunday would be May 2--any later and the championship would be on Memorial Day weekend. That means that Championship Monday would be no earlier than May 7 and no later than May 24.
No matter when it is in that span, the conference tournament or NCAA tournament would conflict with finals and commencement at about 80 percent of the schools in the NCAA. I don't see schools going for that.
January 30th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^
I hope they do they this because then April and May ould be a lot better sports wise.
January 30th, 2012 at 3:28 PM ^
That's a bit much, but it'd be nice to push the start of the season back a week or two so we don't have to play conference games during the holiday break.
January 30th, 2012 at 3:31 PM ^
Most college student athletes do go to school part time year around
January 30th, 2012 at 4:26 PM ^
I like it the way it is, after football is over I get an extreme dose of basketball.... so much that I don't mind seeing it for awhile.
January 30th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
cuz the weather is still bad and I can enjoy all the games. Spring vacation usually starts in April and by the time May rolls around I am outside. Can't waste time watching games when there is work to do outside. Keep the season as it is.
January 30th, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
March Madness sounds better than May Madness.
January 30th, 2012 at 5:46 PM ^
I'd still be calling it March Madness if they moved it to May anyways.
January 30th, 2012 at 6:50 PM ^
How about April Absurdity?
January 30th, 2012 at 6:06 PM ^
No way you could have the tournament during finals for all the players. The tournament is better in march where there is nothing else competing against it and I think having a season that goes into the summer would lose a lot of fans. A lot of people are connected to the school during the course of the year and kind of leave it behind during the summer for internships/jobs/travel/ etc. there is way more distractions from watching sports all day in the summe then there is in march.
January 30th, 2012 at 10:52 PM ^
That is nothing but dumb.
January 30th, 2012 at 11:07 PM ^