Sunday Was The Most-Watched Elite Eight Day In 5 Years, Showing Once Again That Everyone Who Screamed About Men's College Hoops Dying Is An Idiot
Let's play the hits. Numerous times this year I heard the following:
1. There are no stars in the men's game, no one cares about it.
2. NIL and transfer portal ruined the sport, people aren't watching it.
3. This Tournament has stunk with lack of upsets, buzzer beaters etc., no one is going to care.
4. No one wants to watch Zach Edey
5. Overtime Elite, G-League Ignite and everything else has killed college basketball.
Think that's about them all. Meanwhile we have the highest rated Elite Eight game in 5 years when a dude named Zion and K choked away a trip to the Final Four. Not bad for a dying sport! It's almost, ALMOST, like none of it matters. The NCAA Tournament is the greatest sporting event in the country behind the Super Bowl and we're seeing it play out.
Shit, you could argue that right now is the most watched college hoops as a whole has ever been. We have the men's numbers, you know the women's numbers are going to be huge too with Juju vs Paige and Iowa vs LSU. It's almost like people love the Tournament no matter what. As for this year, it's also clear. There's one man who everyone wants to watch.
That's a star if I've ever seen one. It's almost like the Tournament helps makes stars. It's also almost like people just love to scream about college hoops dying because they are in their own echo chamber. We hear how it's the worst NBA Draft ever, who cares? That has no impact on college basketball games. Sure, high level talent might be down but that doesn't mean we won't have college stars and elite teams and great games. Let's be honest, we don't watch the college game for high level talent. That's for NBA fans who want to tune in to a random college basketball game.
The regular season is different, no shit. It's also part on the sport for the schedule. More than half the season is battling football, you don't win a battle against football. No one is saying the sport is perfect, that'd be equally as dumb, but to constantly scream this sport is dying is the dumbest thing you can say. Let's just all agree to stop saying the sport is dead in January when we're out of things to talk about.
