It's So Damn Stupid That College Basketball's Opening Day Has ZERO Marquee Games
This tweet sounds good just looking at it. Until you realize that there are no marquee games today. I hate it. College basketball is a niche sport until after the Super Bowl. Then everyone gets into it and spends hours breaking down the NCAA Tournament. It's part of the territory. But as someone who lives and breathes this sport I have a massive problem with how the season is starting.
How are there no marquee games? I know the Champions Classic is pushed back a week because of Election Day tomorrow, but why have all these games if we couldn't get a handful of good ones? That's not saying like a Penn vs Iona isn't intriguing but no one is going to talk about that game tomorrow. Same goes with the best game of the day on paper. Vandy vs Memphis. Stack vs Penny. Cool. Both teams are whatever. That's not winning a battle over Monday Night Football.
College basketball used to tinker with start dates all the time. I'll never forget the classic Indiana/Kansas game that happened on a Friday night and immediately got lost because it was football. You have to start the season on a Tuesday and you need games to draw people in. The diehards will watch today, gamblers will watch today. But there's not a game for casual fans to be intrigued by.
I don't even hate that Champions Classic is in week 2. Give these teams a couple warm ups to get into a rhythm so we get decent basketball with 4 names that everyone will watch. But you can't start with this sort of slate. There are too many teams for coaches to not agree on opening with a good one. We used to get it. We used to get like UNC at Wofford. We would get Cincinnati vs Ohio State. We would get Florida vs Florida State. Why not give a couple of those today? Games are on from noon to midnight, which, yes, all the time please. There are over a hundred games, again, yes please. Just give us the marquee ones.
I love the season is here. I'm going to watch 12 hours of basketball today. But I just ask in a world where people want to watch the best of the best play each other, give us a little nibble. I'm begging coaches for next year to schedule a better first game. Don't be scared. Just a couple top-25 games. A couple good mid-major vs mid-major. An enticing mid-major vs a decent high-major. One per each time slot.
PS: I'm going to be doing a new YouTube show 2x a week during football season for college basketball. Talking future bets, best bets for the days and what's going on in the sport. Each episode will be at 11am on Tuesday/Thursday going forward. Here's today's first episode: Be a pal and subscribe
PS part 2: I'm releasing a Hi-Lo bet each day on the Barstool Sportsbook. One over/one under parlayed together. Here's the pick for day 1.