Tourney Central 3/11/2005
Life is different here on First Round Day. While the quarterfinals and semis match up teams with 20 or 25 wins, the opening games usually feature squads who willed their ways to 10 or 11. Aside from the occasional Wagner or Oakland, everyone knows that virtually none of the competing teams will win the tournament.. so expectations, aspirations and attendance figures aren't the same.

Good Morning Hoops Nation December 1
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- It's the first of December. Do you know where your college basketball team is? (Arkansas State, by the way, is here in town.) More importantly, do you know what it is? So much of this right now, at this point of the season, is involved in figuring our what is real and what is trompe l'oeil.

Game! Of! The! Night! Dec 01 - Belmont at East Tennessee State
Some would say that starting the conference schedule early is like skipping the December holidays and going straight to the January post-holiday depression. Ridiculous, I say! Meaningful basketball should know no season.

Bringing The Band
In conference tournaments, the sevens and the eights and the nines don't figure they'll be staying long. They usually send a bus with the team, the staff, a couple of cheerleaders and the mascot suit in the lower stow-away.

With The Points
If I had my way, every mid-major college game everywhere would be sold out, no matter who was playing. All paying customers would stay to the end, and "beating traffic" wouldn't have any place in the lexicon. Observers would become fans by picking teams based solely on heartstring tugs, and then they'd loudly cheer them on to victory.