While I am not a huge fan of the NCAA basketball tourney, I will casually follow it.  It’s fun and exciting to see the players play their hearts out on the court for pride.  Add in the atmosphere of the tournament and I easily get emotionally wrapped up in it all.  I do however try to keep my emotions in check when I watch these games because I get annoyed with the game itself.  Here are a few of my reasons I have beef with college basketball:

Why I will watch less NCAA Basketball this March than you:

1)   The Playoff Format

The NCAA tournament is exciting for college basketball fans because of the way it is set-up with the “one and done” format.  Having this format, however, causes a lot more upsets than if there were a series.  Any team can win a single game, but making at least a 3 game series forces true upsets.  I understand that with 65 teams in the tourney, it’s basically impossible to expect 3 game series for each matchup.  Possibly forcing all rounds from the sweet-16 and up could be feasible though.  I just want to force teams to earn upsets rather than win a single lucky game.

2)   The NCAA’s Rules

While I appreciate that the game is different than the NBA, a few of the rules bug me to the point that I can’t watch.  The one I have the biggest problem with is the 1-1 rule when a team is in the bonus.  Missing the first free throw in the bonus is just too much of a game changer in my eyes.  Throw in the fact that NCAA kids are generally worse at free throws than NBA players and can’t handle pressure situations and you can expect a lot more missed 1-1 free throws than I prefer.

The other issue I have is with zone defenses.  The NBA has a defensive 3 in the key rule that prevents a shot blocker from camping in the key, while the NCAA doesn’t.  I personally prefer watching a game when players are moving and driving to the key over a game filled with jump shots.  The NCAA also has a shorter 3-point line that encourages teams to shoot more threes.

3)   Quality of the game itself

People that support college basketball basically like it because its all about emotion, hustle, etc.  But when you think about it, these reasons prove my main point, the players are simply not that good.  The immaturity of most college players in crunch time situations makes it hard for me to watch.  I can’t tell you how many times I see players quickly break down the court and force shots.  It drives me insane!  Throw in the stupid turnovers and fouls and I just can’t take it.

4)   Most of the good players will move on to the NBA

It’s hard enough to follow college basketball when there are hundreds of teams covered on many networks.  By the time I finally get to see most teams play and recognize faces, most of the guys I care about move on to the NBA and I have to relearn players all over again.  It’s just too much of an investment for me to follow college basketball when the players will be leaving so soon.  If players were forced to stay three years like the NFL, that would fix this issue and improve my likeliness to care about college basketball.

I hope my arguments are at least understandable.  I still love going to college basketball games and proudly support my favorite teams, but I only have a limited amount of time to follow sports.  College basketball just doesn’t cut it for me.