Basketball Season Already?

This is old news, but it is basketball season. College hoops has been going on for a week, and the NBA has been playing for close to a month. I am going to plead ignorance at this point.

In my advancing age, I have a hard time keeping up with more than one sport at a time, unless it is in the middle of playoffs, or if I have a fantasy team. I haven’t played fantasy basketball in a few years, so I haven’t had reason to keep up with the NBA on a daily basis before the playoffs. I do know my Dallas Mavericks had a four-game losing streak last week.

College basketball is at times the best sport out there. The NCAA Tournament is the best sporting event going. However, I have a hard time getting up for the regular season until conference play starts in January. There will be interesting non-conference games in November and December, but there will also be plenty of mismatches between power schools and schools running on a shoestring budget. Basketball has even more bodybag games than football. But, one of the cool things about college hoops is the sheer amount of “mid-majors”, and the opportunity for them to beat big schools in both the non-conference schedule, and in the Big Dance. I couldn’t tell you who is ranked in the Top 25 at this point, but I did see a headline that Vermont went on the road and beat ranked Boston College. That’s great. I have the most fun following teams on their run to the Tournament. The fun for me is the journey to the Dance. The Dance is just icing on the cake.

Last weekend, as I saw the ESPN ticker, I had to stop and remind myself that those were basketball games at the bottom of the screen. In my football mindset, I didn’t expect Texas to play Alcorn State, because I was watching them play Kansas State.

If college basketball coaches decided to move the start of their season to January, I wouldn’t complain a bit.