COLLEGE HOOPS GETS GOING

Drexel Head Coach Brusier Flint

I love this time of year, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means Christmas isn’t far behind and that coincides with football, both pro and college getting serious and basketball on both the pro and college level heating up. The NBA has already started and the usual headlines and stories have been hashed out, how the Heat and their new big 3 will play together, how will the Lakers look, is Boston too old, we don’t have any of the definitive answers yet but opinions are being formed and the Knicks look as dreadful as ever so there isn’t a ton of excitement in the NBA for me, but there is an oasis in this basketball desert and its college hoops. Some people don’t like college football and basketball because there are a ton of teams in a lot of conferences and a talent pool that isn’t as deep as the pro’s.  I however love college sports. The school traditions, the pride and spirit of the fans and as corny as it sounds there is a certain level of purity in college sports.  This may sound insane given that the Cam Newton scandal is all over ESPN, but I do respect college athletes competing, it’s hard to remember because they’re on TV all the time but they are just kids. There’s something appealing about 18-23 yr olds playing for pride and each other when compared to the egotistical, money driven drama surrounding pro sports sometimes.  Anyway I’m done waxing philosophical about the virtues of college sports.

                Both Philly and NY have a plethora of college basketball teams, not all of them are nationally relevant perennially but they are all relevant locally every year. Philly obviously has the “Big 5” which has now be renamed the “City 6” to include Drexel.  Granted I’m biased, not only am I a Drexel student but I work for the Drexel basketball team as a manager, my personal connections aside the Dragons program is on par with that of Temple, Saint Joes, La Salle and UPenn. Villanova is clearly the top program in that group and plays in one of the toughest conferences in the country, the Big East.  In New York Fordham is trying to re-build their basketball program and Saint John’s has made a step in the right direction in trying to being their program back to national prominence. Iona College is near and dear to my heart, because it’s near to my house. I grew up around the corner from Iona College and went to high school at Iona Prep so I like to follow the Gaels and their progress.

                My next post will be a breakdown of each team and their prospects for this upcoming season, but regardless of their records college basketball promises to be exciting and interesting and is there a better event in sports then the NCAA tournament? College football could learn so much from their basketball counterpoint, just put a playoff or tournament system into football and it could be as awesome as college basketball is.