Top 25 Of.....WHAT? Cupcake Beaters?

Let me preface everything I am about to rant about here with this comment: I don’t do college basketball.

It’s nothing personal against those who do. I don’t hate the college game. I don’t begrudge anyone who cares to follow it. It’s just not my bag.

I don’t fill out March Madness brackets. I don’t gush over how pure the college game is. I don’t know who starts for Duke and I don’t know who coaches two-thirds of the teams in the Top 25.

Ahh, the Top 25.

Forgive me, but does it really matter who is in the Top 25, who is out, and who is ranked where -- in December? Or January? Or even February? Isn’t the National Champion crowned via a tournament in March? And aren’t those seedings drawn, sometimes not even taking into account a team’s ranking in the polls?
December is a funny month in college basketball, in my eyes, because it just seems to exist to give teams an opportunity to pad their non-conference records with cupcakes. How the pollsters can place certain teams above others when they’re playing schools like Middle New Mexico State or Peoria On The Hill is beyond me, especially when they’re winning by scores like 115-52.

Michigan State, I think, is ranked up there somewhere. Tom Izzo’s boys are supposed to be hotshots, and that’s okay by me, because I always want our state’s schools to be successful. Just because I don’t care to join in on the fun doesn’t mean others’ enjoyment should be ruined. Michigan is racking up the wins too, I believe. But then again, December used to be a clean sweep for the Wolverines back in the day. Looks like Tommy Amaker is taking U-M fans on a pleasant trip on the wayback machine.

Of course, I suppose if we didn’t rank teams there wouldn’t be as much to talk about.

I think the other reason I can’t get into college basketball, or college anything for that matter, is I need more time to get to know the players and where they play and what they’re good at doing on the basketball court, or the football field. But there are so many schools and so many players and they come and go so frequently that, to me, Duke is Duke, Indiana is Indiana, and so on. I can’t name you three players on any college team. They’re just school names, with faceless players filling out the uniforms. Oh, I may know of a stud here and there, the "Rolls Royce players" Dickie Vitale crows about, but mostly they are unknowns.

I’ve had this argument before with people, but I’ll say it again, and I will again say it with no malice intended nor any disrespect: if you want to enjoy the highest quality level of any team sport, turn to the pros. Period. If you like the rah-rah, sis-boom-bah stuff, then college athletics is your cup of tea. No harm done. Now can’t we all just get along?

I know I am in the minority -- at least of people who’ll admit it -- when I say I prefer an NBA contest to a college game any day of the week. I am tired of defending the pro game against the hackneyed argument of "All you need to see of an NBA game is the last two minutes." To say that is to dismiss all the great, athletic plays you’re liable to see during the other 46 minutes. But I know I am talking to a wall a lot when I say that.

But let me add that I also think things like Power Rankings, etc. have no place in the NBA either, because again, who cares? The six-week tournament that runs into the middle of June is its own "power ranking."
To me, college basketball in November and December, before conference play, is like spring training baseball. It doesn’t really count. A case could even be made that the games in January and February aren’t all that important, either, though that might be a harder argument. It’s all about March -- you know, that Madness stuff?

Hey, if you can tell me the only part of an NBA game that matters is the last two minutes, then.....
fair is fair.

No harm, no foul.