I love being able to walk around campus and hear people already talking about college basketball.
No matter if it's Buffalo, Syracuse or North Carolina, the world is aglow with college basketball fever.
How can it not be? ESPN devoted almost an entire day to Midnight Madness, which in recent years has become more show and spectacle than the start of practice. Ask anyone who has watched a college basketball game with me and they will tell you I'm nuts about it.
Why?
College basketball has been a love of mine since I was a young kid learning how to play the game. It has unbelievable comebacks and buzzer-beaters, tradition and myths. Built on pillars of great men, played in cathedrals and containing amazing story lines, from Indiana's candy-striped warm-up pants to the Pauley Pavilion, college basketball has it all.
John Wooden, Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim. Need I say more?
These men are masters of the game in their own respective ways. Not only are they the best at coaching, but also recruiting, teaching and most importantly, making sure their players graduate.
They inspire young men to bring the best out of their potential, on and off the court. They are kings of their domain, living legends we get to watch on a nightly basis. It is theater at its finest; drama and suspense all captured in the form of human expression.
What about those famous arenas? I love seeing games in the historic arenas where the legends we all know and love have played before.
Take Cameron Indoor Arena, for example. The building is so small, if there wasn't a sign outside, you would think it was an academic building. Seeing the Cameron Crazies sit on top of the players, chanting and going nuts the whole game in the house where Grant Hill, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley all played college ball is unbeatable.
The Dean Dome at UNC, where James Worthy, Michael Jordan, and Sam Perkins once graced the court is another example.
The list could go on forever. It almost seems that the preservation of these historic sites reminds us of the historic rivalries born here so long ago. No matter if it's Duke vs. UNC or Syracuse vs. UConn; each game is like life and death.
This brings up the style of play in the college game.
Where else in the world of sports do you see zone defenses and players actually running team-orientated offenses? Nolan Richardson's "40 minutes of hell" is amazing. You can't forget about the box and one, triangle and two or the full court press.
I think this is the way basketball is supposed to be played. True motion offenses like Pete Carrill's Princeton offense, which is all back screens and back cuts, give the college game a unique style of play.
And don't you just love how players rely on each other to win every game, unlike the NBA, where they just stand around and watch guys play one-on-five? They actually play defense and no trash talking.
In the clutch, true stars are born, stars like Stephen Curry, who dropped 40 points in last years NCAA Tournament, or Carmelo Anthony, who put Syracuse on his back to bring home a National Championship. Where else do you see players cry after they lose games?
The list can go on and on, from announcers to the student sections; it's these factors that make the college game a beautiful spectacle.
Tipoff is near.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
