College Hoops Heating Up For This Guy

I know college football season is still going, and quite frankly, there are some great storylines to come and games I'm looking forward to seeing as we approach rivalry weekend.  Especially with the possibility of mass chaos erupting with some well-deserving teams being left out of the BCS championship. I would like nothing more than to see the BCS blown up and follow the playoff system first introduced by Sports Illustrated a few years back.

However, to me, nothing is quite better than the college hoops season. I'll admit that some of the early games didn't really excite me as I've been tied up with football and as it does every year, the seasons seem to start earlier and earlier.

But here we are just before Thanksgiving and the last two nights have drawn me to the tv.  With remote in hand, I was in pure bliss with all of the incredible games going on:  UConn - Michigan State, Duke-Kansas State, UCLA- Villanova, Kentucky-Washington - which by the way was played at full tilt in a tiny, but packed to rafters, Lahaina Civic Center in Maui.

The problem that plagues most early season games is that you rarely see a good, quality matchup.  Teams will stack their pre-conference schedules with easy wins.  Wins are what matters most when it comes to deciding whether 20-win teams, or 19-win teams, get into the prestigious Super Bowl-like hype machine NCAA Tournament.  Much to the dismay of fans and ticket holders.

But flip on one of these games when you have a chance and you see games being played just as if they were trying to advance to the next round of the tournament or fighting for their playoff lives.  Pride is on the line with these guys and the result is incredible.

One thought that comes to mind while watching UConn-Kentucky being played in a small gym in Hawaii.  Both schools play in massive NBA arenas, but try to picture two historic programs meeting up in some gym, no refs (yes they are actually there), no coaches, basically shirts vs. skins.

Awesome stuff.