Wilbon: college basketball a "boutique sport"

[Marsh01]

I cant get enough college hoops. 50 hours a week I dedicate to watching games. I feel the opposite for college football. Outside of Syracuse I watch probably 1-2 hours a week tops. It doesnt matter because we know who is playing in the title game (you can pick these 4-6 teams every year) so where is the excitement? I watched UNC Asheville 3 times the year we played them and knew that this team was no joke and bam we draw them in the tourney and escaped with our lives.

NBA? Wake me in June. Talk about a butt ass boring regular season. Jesus paint dry painful and waaaay too long.

 

[Garbs]

I think he's being hyperbolic, but other than a few marquee matchups, no other sport has such a long preseaon of boring games with no interest greater than the fans of the two teams involved. The first 2 months of the season are completely lost but for those few made for tv games.

I think they have been doing a good job the last handful of years addressing this issue. Just look at all the new "holiday/preseason" tournaments, tip off marathon, full day of games on thanksgiving etc.

 

[RandygoCuse]

I cant get enough college hoops. 50 hours a week I dedicate to watching games. I feel the opposite for college football. Outside of Syracuse I watch probably 1-2 hours a week tops. It doesnt matter because we know who is playing in the title game (you can pick these 4-6 teams every year) so where is the excitement? I watched UNC Asheville 3 times the year we played them and knew that this team was no joke and bam we draw them in the tourney and escaped with our lives.

NBA? Wake me in June. Talk about a butt ass boring regular season. Jesus paint dry painful and waaaay too long.

I guess I'm somewhat the oppisite (if that is possible).

I can watch a college football game during the regular season provided one of the teams is pretty good. However, it is rare that I watch a college basketball game during the season (unless Cuse is playing). Even stranger is that if if Syracuse football and Syracuse basketball were playing at the same time, I'd be much more likely to watch basketball.

 

[longislandcuse]

I think they have been doing a good job the last handful of years addressing this issue. Just look at all the new "holiday/preseason" tournaments, tip off marathon, full day of games on thanksgiving etc.

Does anybody have the ratings for last nights games? The buzz was pretty huge. I think CBB is heading in the right direction with what you said.

 

[timkay99]

On PTI yesterday, Mike Wilbon referred to college basketball as a "boutique sport", saying that it really needed those mega-matchups from last night to generate buzz, because people don't usually care about it until March. He referred to the huge popularity of the NFL and the "renaissance" of the NBA as taking attention away from CBB.

Is he just completely full of hot air or is there any validity to that?

Opinion.

Dude works for ESPN and the NBA coverage, so he obviously loves it. NFL, yea, that really distracts from the college basketball the one or two day(s) a week they play...

The way everyone likes sports will shape what they view. If you are a passive college basketball fan, then yea, postseason. Newsflash, if you are a passive "insert sport here" fan, then yea, postseason.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I don't agree that the NBA is in some kind of a resurgence. But I would agree with him that college hoops has lost considerable luster the last 15 years. It's not college baseball level. But it's certainly not trending in the right direction in terms of general interest. Hate to say it as I love college hoops.

They let the game get too ugly, just like the NBA did a generation ago. And there is total saturation of games.

The NFL benefits because there is a relative shortage of product, only played around 20 times a year including preseason and playoffs. That makes every game more of an "event".

 

[Alsacs]

The NBA has better talent and better coaching, but for Wilbon to call college basketball boutique sport and not the NBA is hilarious and just shows how much he is in the tank for the NBA. I can't stand NBA basketball because the season doesn't matter we all know now which teams are contenders and the season is pointless. The East is all Miami, Indiana, Chicago, Brooklyn, and the West is San Antonio, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City, Houston. There is no reason to watch the NBA until the second round of the playoffs when maybe 1 of those 8 teams won't be playing. Until the NBA fixes its referee situation and players like Lebron James aren't officiated differently than good players like Paul Pierce its BS. The NBA game is played better than the college game, but I know with the college game the players are playing for the name on the front and the NBA is all about the name on the back. In the NFL you can't name 4 of the 8 teams that will be playing in the 2nd round each year like you can with the NBA. There are good matchups in the NBA, but the crap I see from Lebron James has turned me off the game more and more each year. He is going to be one of the top 3 players of alltime when his career will be over and I can say without a shadow of a doubt I will never root for this guy ever even if he played for my team. His greatness is no doubt and his talent is great, but the way he acts turns me off so much it makes me dislike the NBA unlike a guy like Paul George who I think is good and want to see him do well because I like the way he plays without the entitlement from the referees I think Lebron gets and wants.

 

[NineOneSeven]

The NBA has better talent and better coaching, but for Wilbon to call college basketball boutique sport and not the NBA is hilarious and just shows how much he is in the tank for the NBA. I can't stand NBA basketball because the season doesn't matter we all know now which teams are contenders and the season is pointless. The East is all Miami, Indiana, Chicago, Brooklyn, and the West is San Antonio, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City, Houston. There is no reason to watch the NBA until the second round of the playoffs when maybe 1 of those 8 teams won't be playing. Until the NBA fixes its referee situation and players like Lebron James aren't officiated differently than good players like Paul Pierce its BS. The NBA game is played better than the college game, but I know with the college game the players are playing for the name on the front and the NBA is all about the name on the back. In the NFL you can't name 4 of the 8 teams that will be playing in the 2nd round each year like you can with the NBA. There are good matchups in the NBA, but the crap I see from Lebron James has turned me off the game more and more each year. He is going to be one of the top 3 players of alltime when his career will be over and I can say without a shadow of a doubt I will never root for this guy ever even if he played for my team. His greatness is no doubt and his talent is great, but the way he acts turns me off so much it makes me dislike the NBA unlike a guy like Paul George who I think is good and want to see him do well because I like the way he plays without the entitlement from the referees I think Lebron gets and wants.

Lebron James, what a coward!

 

[jimsonjunction]

I'm a big Wilbon fan, but I think it's a dumb argument - and it's clearly a personal opinion, because he has always been an NBA guy who knows very little about college hoops.

I really hate when people compare other sports to the NFL (most of the time, it's an attack on baseball, in this case it's college hoops). The popularity is definitely higher for the NFL, but imagine if college basketball was shrunk down to a 16 game season. Every game would be a sold-out war, with ratings through the roof. As it is, March Madness occupies that need, and the rest of the season is for the true fans to enjoy (and for a lot of money to be made).

And I do agree with others who say that one-and-dones have hurt the popularity of college basketball. I was watching the Duke/KU game last night saying, "Wait, which one is Wiggins? Which on is Parker? Is Wiggins even on the court?" It's hard to get too excited when the best players in the game are unrecognizable.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Lebron James, what a coward!

Game on! Been way too long since we've had a LeBron-Bash-A-Thon.

Coward, choker, and slacker. Only played 3 quarters last night.

Back to topic at hand: Love all hoops. Great sport. College hoops great, NBA great …. and both are pro organizations. Difference is, better talent in NBA. Room for both.

 

[Eric15]

It doesnt matter because we know who is playing in the title game (you can pick these 4-6 teams every year) so where is the excitement?

Since the BCS started in 1998, 15 different teams have made the national title game. In that same timeframe for basketball, 19 different teams have made the national title game. So it's really not all that different in terms of parity, and if you consider that basketball has triple the number of teams, football is pound-for-pound much more competitive.

 

[Stern]

Wilbon is 100% correct. Regular season is all but worthless and for the mega school (Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Syracuse...etc) its just a warm up till March. Do you think anyone at Gonzaga was happy with last season? 1 seed, great regular season, out the 1st weekend of the tournament. I mean can you celebrate a season like that? Not really! That season is an utter failure

 

[Eric15]

Do you think anyone at Gonzaga was happy with last season? 1 seed, great regular season, out the 1st weekend of the tournament. I mean can you celebrate a season like that? Not really! That season is an utter failure

Agreed, but how is that different from when any high-seeded NBA/NFL/NHL/MLB team gets bounced early in the playoffs? i.e. Green Bay went 15-1 in 2011 and lost in the divisional round.

 

[Flacusian]

Wilbon is in the ignominious position of always having to have an opinion. I enjoy watching him and Tony K. but at the end of the day I really couldn't care less about what their opinions are regarding college hoops. I can only speak for myself and for me nothing is as much fun and captivating to watch as a Syracuse University basketball game.

I can think of no other sport which has such a high level of continuous action and the possibility of a thrilling play happening at any moment. The pragmatic part of my brain tells me that actual amount of playing time in an NFL game is 60 minutes but when you factor in all the time outs, TV breaks, moving of chains, plays under review etc., the game moves at a painfully slow pace. The first time I went to an NFL game I was stunned by what seemed like an endless litany of interruptions and the general overall sense of players just standing around for minutes at a time without doing anything at all.

And although I love baseball... to be honest...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz hit, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz inning over, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz hit, error, zzzzzzzzzzzzz etc. etc. And of course the heart pounding suspense of a pitching duel. (just kidding)

And the NBA. What renaissance? surely I'm missing something here. Talk about things not counting until the playoffs roll around. Sheesh, 1/2 the teams make the playoffs. The shameful dogging it and throwing games to posture for a top draft pick. That is disgusting and is an indication of something which is inherently rotten at the core of the sport.

So Wilbon can throw down a couple dozen Big Macs and wash them down with 10 large fries and a Frosty from Wendys while he pontificates about College Basketball being a "Boutique Sport". What a load of Bovine defecation. Only in America would someone be paid big money to puke up such opinionated pabum. I will continue to get totally stoked every day that the Orange are going to play college basketball and there is no other sport which has the ability to get me so thoroughly captivated as Syracuse Hoops. Besides, why should it matter to me what anyone else things regarding college basketball. There will be many days this year when there will be over 30K screaming fans who feel exactly they way I do about college hoops.

 

[cuseguy]

The NBA season starts in June.

Period.

End of sentence.

 

[PeteCalvin]

I blame Calipari and UK. People are obviously sick of him and those Blue Nation boosters making a mockery of college ball. They can't bear to watch it anymore. They feel dirty.

 

[texascpa]

Lost luster or not ESPN had their highest average rating during the regular season last year ever.

Now that doesn't mean it's not a boutique sport, but ratings indicate an increase in interest, not a decline.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

Unfortunate you feel this way.

Agreed...Every SU basketball game is exciting..

 

[IthacaBarrel]

IB, if you are only interested in college basketball in March, I'm surprised you would spend time reading a college basketball message board. Like I personally don't care about SU lacrosse until Memorial Day Weekend, and I probably don't check out the SU Lax board more than once or twice per year.

(My observation wasn't intended to be snarky in the least.)

My point is the regular season is meaningless as far as I am concerned. I still have season tickets, still go to plenty of games although I don't drive up anymore for the likes of Colgate or Fordham. My point is I still follow the team but the true season for me starts in March. Once I figure Syracuse will make the tournament I consider the regular season pretty much over, just fighting for a seed at this point. I still find the sport entertaining but I just don't get to worked up about any regular season game.

I actually don't spend much time on the basketball board at all to be honest, been posting here a bit more lately but once football season is over, I pretty much don't post very much at all or lurk really