Sunday, November 30, 2008

Missing out on a fun chance to see college basketball


Anyone with a vested interest in college basketball with access to a nonconference holiday tournament that is passing up that opportunity is making a mistake, and it's a well-noted one.

For nearly all of the holiday tournaments on television this week from Disney World to Maui to Madison Square Garden, there were hundreds of empty seats. And these are not games pitting Nobody University against Insignificant College. We're talking games pitting top-10 teams against each other!

Granted, it's Thanksgiving weekend and the games are played on neutral floors, but I would think people would either make a trip out of it or locals would take advantage of the chance to see high-caliber teams and players. Tickets can't be that expensive and the venues are either historic (like the Garden) or incredibly unique (i.e., the Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney or Chaminade University's gymnasium in Maui).

It's a great experience for teams to play in these tourneys before delving into the conference season and it'd be a great experience for a fan to check out the games in person.

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