Bubble Trouble

I realize it is March and people are starting to catch the Madness, but I have listened to some of the most non-sensical basketball discussions over the past two days from people who clearly have not watched a game of college basketball all season long.

Frankly, this has not been a great college basketball season outside of Tennessee. I understand that people are not as fascinated with Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo as they were with Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. I know it is tough to keep up with so many teams, players and games (which, by the way, is part of my theory of why people like football so much - it takes a weekend of commitment instead of seven days).

BUT, if you have just now decided to get interested in the college basketball season, please do not pretend like you have been watching all along (by "you" I mean professional sports commentators, not you my loyal reader, unless you are such a commentator). I listened to a national hack spend a solid minute touting Memphis' win AT Georgetown. The game was at Memphis, not Georgetown. It is a pretty simple mistake except for the fact that this game was the biggest non-conference game of the year until the Tennessee-Memphis game a couple of weeks ago. The most casual basketball fan should have remembered the game.

Let me give you some "tells" for when someone is talking out of their backside right now about college basketball:

1) Mention the coach, but no players - it is easy to talk about Rick Pitino's Louisville team, but tougher to mention names like Padgett or Caracter.
2) Mention the style of play, but no players - UCLA is the one this year. "They play tough defense and value each possession." How about the fact that they have Darren Collison leading the team and Kevin Love down low dominating the block?
3) Mention the tradition, but no players - Kansas always stumbles in the tournament. Michigan State is always a tough out. Duke is, well, Duke.

See the connection - if you watch a few games, you know about the players. If you don't, you fall back on coaches, style of play and history to make empty comments.

I actually don't care if these guys have been keeping up with college basketball all season. I mean, with the combine and NFL free agency and the draft just two short months away, it is an awful lot to remember even if your entire career is talking about sports besides just football. What bugs me, however, is how so many are trying to pass themselves off as knowledgable now that the Madness is here.

Just admit it - you don't care about college basketball until March. You don't. That is fine. I can forgive it. I don't care about horse-racing until the Kentucky Derby. I don't care about tennis until Wimbledon. But let's call a spade a spade. You have no clue about 98% of the teams and players right now. You don't recognize a single player on Duke's roster. You have no idea how Florida, Kentucky and Maryland landed on the bubble. You hope nobody is noticing, but we are. I am.

Rant over.