Does anyone else believe that the college basketball season is starting much too early? To my surprise, the first games got underway a week ago – November 9th to be exact. Days earlier, I knew that several colleges had already played exhibition games, but I wasn’t expecting the season get going so early.
Early Start
It seems that the college basketball season has been starting earlier and earlier each year. There was a time when the first tip offs were around Thanksgiving weekend, eventually moving up to the middle of the month. Now, teams are allowed to start practice earlier which means that their season can get started earlier too. Part of the reason for this is that Division 1 teams are allowed to play as many as 39 games each year including playoffs; 41 games under special circumstances.
Honestly, I don’t believe that these are too many games because the NBA schedules 82 contests for their regular season and at some point college players who turn pro will have to contend with a much more rigorous schedule. But, starting the basketball season when there is about a month of football left (even before the bowl season kicks in) seems to be too much of an overlap.
Schedule Change
Some have called for the season to be cut back with the NCAA proposing that teams remove one game from their schedule. I don’t believe this solves anything and it may cause a financial problem for some schools who net several hundred thousand dollars in profits for their home games. Sure, coaches salaries are way over the top, but a lot of other sports do benefit from college basketball programs, men’s and women’s alike.
Instead, why not return the schedule to start around Thanksgiving when schools are off? Between Wednesday night and Sunday, teams can get in three games before heading back to class. Over the next three weeks before winter break, each team can play once during the week and once on the weekend, before playing three games a week again while school is out.
March Madness
Under this arrangement, by the time spring semester starts most schools will have played at least 20 games with just 8 or 9 regular season games to go. Those games can be played throughout January and February and into early March before the conference playoffs begin followed by March madness and the April Final Four tournament.
Of course, no one is asking me my opinion and what I’ve said can be argued and nothing resolved. Then again, if you’ve had your fill of Hofstra v. Kansas, Fairleigh Dickinson v. Villanova, and Clemson v. Liberty already, you’re certainly not alone!
Adv. – While you can’t do anything about the early start to the college basketball season, you can get an early start to your Christmas shopping this year. Before you do anything, download your free copy of a shopping list. Then, check out some nifty tips on what you can buy for your wife, husband, son, daughter or other relatives. See? Shopping is easy when you have online tips to help you get organized and get your thinking going.
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