For as long as I’ve followed college basketball, I can’t recall a single season during which I didn’t hear how little significance came with the sport’s regular season.
“Nothing matters until the postseason.”
“It’s all meaningless until March Madness.”
I’d like to think that they were trying to say college hoops isn’t “exciting” until the Big Dance, because, as much as it makes me feel like someone who asks a dozen questions per Econ 101 lecture, the regular season absolutely matters. The postseason, as its name suggests, must succeed the regular season. It’s where the “post” part comes into play.
Although to a certain extent, I can understand where they’re coming from. Perhaps they, like any normally functioning human being, love March Madness—and, for whatever reason, don’t particularly care what happens beforehand. Maybe they actually couldn’t care less about the early-season tournaments, breakout players and conference championship races that transpire from November until the brackets are released.
I won’t make the argument the regular season is more exciting than March Madness, because it isn’t. The postseason is the most exciting part of the season, no matter the sport—everyone knows that. In fact, over the course of any college basketball season, it’s a given that analysts, writers and the common fan will declare certain games “had a March Madness feel.”
Everyone looks forward to the Big Dance, myself included, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy the regular season while we’ve got it.
Unless you’ve been out of town since Saturday, got back this morning and check the Cardinal immediately upon return, you’re well aware of what happened at the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon.
I’ve watched a lot of college basketball. Like, I spend my Sunday nights looking at the week’s slate of games so I can plan my studying accordingly. It’s whatever. If I’ve seen a more exciting game than Wisconsin’s win over Michigan Saturday, I’m not sure which game that was.
It wasn’t just Ben Brust’s half-court heave that made the game exciting, either.
Remember, Tim Hardaway Jr.’s off-balanced, go-ahead triple would have made for a hell of a finish to a game that was back-and-forth throughout the second half. But Hardaway’s shot dropped, the Kohl Center went dead silent and it was absolutely phenomenal—that dagger punched 17,230 people in the balls.
Not too long before Hardaway’s shot, Jared Berggren drove down the lane and slammed home an emphatic and-one dunk to tie the game, setting the stage for Michigan’s sharpshooter.
The back-and-forth—from the crowd exhausting itself in an effort to lure a miss from Hardaway to the holy-shit-the-Badgers-just-lost feeling after it went down—is one of the most sudden turns of events that I can think of in sports. Perhaps the only quicker turn was the one that happened after Brust connected from just inside half court.
And that atmosphere couldn’t be recreated in the postseason, because March Madness games are played on a neutral floor.
College basketball has the best postseason in all of sports. It has its own month, for goodness sake. Trust me, the regular season ain’t too bad, either.
Amidst the flood of Grateful Red Saturday, Mike Bruesewitz grabbed the P.A. microphone and addressed the Kohl Center crowd.
“Hey fans, way to keep the Kohl Center rocking today—that was awesome.
“You guys make college basketball what it is. I appreciate every one of you.”
Do you enjoy watching college basketball's regular season? What's your favorite part about March Madness? Let Vince know by sending him an email to sports@dailycardinal.com.
