tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post7259981453913489794..comments2023-10-31T06:31:41.395-04:00Comments on Bottom of the Barrel: Mike Celizic Has Written Another Ridiculous ColumnBengoodfellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-25299858213914566412010-04-04T13:25:08.416-04:002010-04-04T13:25:08.416-04:00Kent, it just annoys me. Like Duke being great is ...Kent, it just annoys me. Like Duke being great is great for college basketball simply because many people don't like them or love them. This game against Butler is going to be 95% of people against Duke I bet. <br /><br />I don't care about the ratings and I am not a Duke alum (I never applied there...which doesn't mean I would have gotten in or anything if I had applied there), but I don't think college basketball is better with their involvement in the Final Four. Obviously, I prefer it when they are involved, but I don't think everyone should love it. <br /><br />MSU is a very elite team. 6 Final Four appearances in 12 years...yeah.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-72390409311259216852010-04-04T10:14:22.314-04:002010-04-04T10:14:22.314-04:00I go through the same sort of articles every year ...I go through the same sort of articles every year during football season, about Notre Dame. The default article for lazy sportswriters is "I hate Notre Dame but the game needs them to be good." You rarely hear actual alums arguing that college football is better if Notre Dame wins. It just adds one more story, and even that is balanced out with the equally ubiquitous "Is Notre Dame through for good?" articles.<br /><br />Hard to take a sportswriter seriously who doesn't consider Michigan State an elite basketball program.KentAllardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-11701430843982547302010-04-02T23:00:38.484-04:002010-04-02T23:00:38.484-04:00Rich, I agree in general as well, but as you expla...Rich, I agree in general as well, but as you explained, I think college basketball is different. I think there are 324 D-I teams. <br /><br />Casual fans in college basketball are fine, but I just find it hard to believe a person who finds the rest of the tournament exciting wouldn't find the Final Four exciting as well. You make good points. <br /><br />Martin F, Duke was the underdog for a while with Dawkins in 1986, but they are the bad guy now. Which is fine. <br /><br />Big 12 has their own network, which means they don't get the play on ESPN that other conferences get. If they didn't have that network it might be easier to get play. I think teams are going to become more regionalized as well. It is going to be hard now for fans to latch on to a jersey for a specific player since they know that player may not be there long. <br /><br />Michigan State is the elite team in the Final Four as far as I am concerned...I know others may think differently.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-5242829299877600892010-04-02T17:30:53.542-04:002010-04-02T17:30:53.542-04:00Duke, and a lot of the "popular" program...Duke, and a lot of the "popular" programs are living off a time before the one and done, and even the straight out of high school days. Duke became popular as an underdog, at least to the rest of the nation, with the what, the Dawkins lead team in 86? Came on strong during the prime years of NCAA basketball, and since nobody can establish multi-year stars anymore, I think has maintained it's popularity like the other name schools. <br /><br />Mich St should in theory be more popular because of all it's recent success, but since it's become more about rooting for the jersey then the players in it, it's hard to establish a relationship with casual fans. It doesn't help that the ACC and Big East are the personal favorites of ESPN and so much of the media in general. When was the last time Mich St had a dozen games on the way Duke, or UNC -CH do? they might be a regional fave, but in this day and age, I don't see a team gaining national popularity for more then a year or two at a time since their is no player continuity.Martin F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14565240074256943063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-74303803669313755942010-04-02T16:10:05.748-04:002010-04-02T16:10:05.748-04:00The public usually wants superstars and celebrity....<b> The public usually wants superstars and celebrity...<br />To get the casual fans involved, you need the biggest names. </b><br /><br />I have to agree with this statement in general, but disagree with respect to the NCAA tournament. <br /><br />In professional sports, where there are 30ish teams, so knowing who the superstars are isn't really a big problem for even the most casual fan. For instance, even the most casual fan could tell you who Peyton Manning is. So when the final games come around, fans will watch pretty much if they expect it to be exciting. For a casual fan, "exciting" means that there's someone they know playing.<br /><br />In the NCAA tournament there are 65 teams; even neglecting the number of teams that don't make it (aren't there like 150 division 1 basketball teams?), that's a lot than in the pros. So for the most part the casual fan doesn't know about 95% of the players and so they watch because the games are exciting.<br /><br />Casual fans would watch to root for the "underdog." There'd be a ton of "one game" Butler fans if they played Duke in the championship.FormerPhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12837594679660975599noreply@blogger.com