Secret Scrimmages and Exhibition Games

[xubrew]

Folks, we are officially off and running!! North Dakota State played.....someone last night. It was a game that no one could watch because it was closed to the public. It was a game that involved a div1 team that probably won't be very good this year, and a nondiv1 team that no one knows about. It was a game that was a mere exhibition and means absolutely nothing. But, the first college basketball game of the year has occurred. So, on that note, HAPPY COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON!!

The first game that the public can actually view is this Sunday. Benedict travels to South Carolina, and it will be on SEC Network Plus. According to the website, admission is free and the first 2000 fans in attendance will receive free t-shirts. In other words, every fan at the game will receive a free t-shirt, and there will be plenty left over!!

Some of these closed scrimmages would be great regular season games. VCU v Florida, Gonzaga v Texas, LA Tech v Oklahoma State, Virginia at Georgetown (my God!!), Providence at Harvard. But....whatever. I know most of those aren't like regular games. They may play two or three twenty minute games, and then do a bunch of situational stuff, but still. It'd be great to actually get to watch some of those teams go at it in a meaningful game.

Instead, the only games we get to see now are huge mismatches between div1 teams that really don't care and are trying to develop their talent, and nondiv1 teams that are looking to get paid. But, at least some semblance of college basketball is now here.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post/_/id/4172/this-years-secret-scrimmages

[Kahns Krazy]

Brew, your love for all things basketball down to undisclosed North Dakota State scrimmages amazes me. Good stuff man.

[xubrew]

Brew, your love for all things basketball down to undisclosed North Dakota State scrimmages amazes me. Good stuff man.

In some ways I like November more than March. For starters, we have the longest expanse of college basketball ahead of us. March is awesome, but we're down to the last few weeks.

With all the exempt tournaments (many of which aren't nearly as good as they used to be because they're not in a truly bracketed format) you get to actually see all these teams that you've read about and heard about, and in many cases you get to see them play on equal terms. There are probably just as many games, if not more, on TV in the second half of November as there are in March.

After that, the season kind of slows down until conference play starts. There are always a smattering of good games in December, but not nearly as many as there are in the second half of November. The majority of games are buy games. Which in a lot of cases aren't all that much more exciting than the preseason exhibition games.