It’s just true modern college basketball is a one month sport nationally

[Alsacs]

I was just watching something on YouTube and this random highlight came onto to my feed and I watched it.

Watch how stacked college basketball was in 1996 in these highlights.
These teams were the norm and they would all be NC favorites nowadays.


The Cuse game is our game at Pittsburgh.

 

[Orangezoo]

It's national for cbb fans but I get your point. Fun fact- one of the hokies players in this highlight reel worked for me for a short bit. Was always fun hearing the real life stories.

My favorite was always running into Pittsnogle from WVU walking into my local car dealership when I lived down there.

 

[joct]

Plus it was so different without a 3 going up every 15 seconds. Actual ball movement, backdoor cuts, inside game, fast breaks and dunks.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

I love Feast Week, but then there's a real lull until conference schedules start in earnest in January. March is obviously March.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

TV coverage is amazing for anyone with cable almost every game is shown. Most crowds I see are good especially last few weeks but like football they’ve dropped a bit in the last few years. ESPN has chosen not to hype it in favor of regular season NBA. Don’t ask me why no more 24 hour tip off marathon.

But after the Super Bowl ends it’s more than a niche sport regular season NBA is boring and your random guy off the street has no clue who’s in 8th place in the East.

Maybe Wildhack leaving ESPN has something to do with the lack of hype lol.

 

[adk(roc)CUSE]

You're point is valid. But for me it's go time from November, really taking off once the Bills are done and conference play starts in January.

 

[kidorange]

TV coverage is amazing for anyone with cable almost every game is shown. Most crowds I see are good especially last few weeks but like football they’ve dropped a bit in the last few years. ESPN has chosen not to hype it in favor of regular season NBA. Don’t ask me why no more 24 hour tip off marathon.

But after the Super Bowl ends it’s more than a niche sport regular season NBA is boring and your random guy off the street has no clue who’s in 8th place in the East.

Maybe Wildhack leaving ESPN has something to do with the lack of hype lol.

I think ESPN has realized they can more easily cover and sell the NBA. These talking head shows get by only having to loosely know about 12 teams and 20 players.

 

[MSOrange]

You're point is valid. But for me it's go time from November, really taking off once the Bills are done and conference play starts in January.

Same with me, especially since every game really is important for us.

 

[SouthernCuse]

Plus it was so different without a 3 going up every 15 seconds. Actual ball movement, backdoor cuts, inside game, fast breaks and dunks.

The passing seemed so much better than I see today, interior passing particularly.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

I think ESPN has realized they can more easily cover and sell the NBA. These talking head shows get by only having to loosely know about 12 teams and 20 players.

Yeah its definitely because in November most people don't really feel like going through the effort of learning about new teams and the bigger the name of the program the more of a guarantee of a brand new team.

But the airtime isn't going anywhere college hoops gets better ratings than whatever comes after it in April especially for the likes of FS1 or CBSSN. Baseball is dying a slow death but teams are getting record local TV deals because their local Fox Sports has to show something. People still like NCAA ball and noone will ever care about the G League. The 4 month regular season warrants the hype there is nothing comparable that takes place daily. Maybe the playoffs for hockey and basketball as pretty much every game is televised nationally these days like every major conference NCAA hoops game is.

Basketball is not on the decline and is only getting more popular especially outside of the US.