No Rims Damaged By This Column

Maybe we should finish raking the yard before college basketball season begins. The first
week in November is clearly too early for meaningful games. We have visual evidence that,
while the leaves are still falling, too many of the shots are not.

Look no further than the big tipoff to the ACC season. After a several-year-long trial
period, ESPN’s new ACC Network is on the air. So the conference is firing up a slate of early
league games in an attempt to build interest in the network. Some of those games may even be
entertaining. Virginia at Syracuse was not among them. This made-for-TV affair not only
harmed ratings, it probably drove some viewers to cancel their ACC Network subscription, so
they never risk flipping past such inept basketball again.

At the first TV timeout, after Virginia scored to tie the game (at 2!), I texted friends and said “first to 50 wins.” As one later pointed out, neither team cleared even that low bar (Virginia prevailed 48-34). By my standards, we ought to call any match that low-scoring a draw and play it again on a night when the players are actually ready to perform.

The Cavaliers are known for their “pack line defense,” and it certainly works. But shouldn’t a defending national champion also be able to “score the ball” as Clark Kellogg says? That would be Grrrrrrreat! Instead, the main thing either team did with the ball on this evening was turn it over, or clank it off the rim.

Syracuse fans (I grudgingly plead guilty) know that the Carrier Dome (as it shall always
be known, at least until somebody ponies up more $) is undergoing a renovation. It’ll get a new
roof, and perhaps even some fresh paint. But if the builders need any masonry, they can look to
the court inside. So many bricks clanked off the rims, the baskets probably need a fresh coat of
(Syracuse) Orange paint.

Basketball is supposed to be, it says here, a game of movement. Players may get “in among the trees,” but they’re not supposed to grow roots themselves. But on this night the Syracuse players stood so still that the Carrier Dome’s lights would have turned themselves off if they’d been attached to motion detectors.

It doesn’t need to be like this!

A few weeks ago, I watched game 5 of the WNBA championship round (well, I turned it on for the fourth quarter) as the Washington Mystics won the title. That was some exciting basketball. Not only did those women make shots; but after each made basket, the other team sprinted the ball up the court. The defense never had a chance to get set up, and the pace often led to layups. Basketball can be exciting. In fact, it needs to be.

The real threat here is to the rising generation. Boring basketball is a bigger threat to the NCAA than paying players would be. If this is the future of college basketball, most of us will just pull the plug.

The Sports Critic will review a different event each week, explaining the ways that players, coaches and fans let us down. Got a question, suggestion or smartass comment about sports? DM me @TheSportsCriti2.