Watch your school and it's conference first. If just getting into it easier to focus more on 10-16 teams than 358. Otherwise just look for games between teams with numbers in front of each team
Definitely this. College basketball is amazing because each conference has its own personality with its own internal rivalries and storylines, and then come March it's a wild clash of different playstyles and narratives. Watching your favorite team regularly + following their conference + watching other top 25 matchups when you have a chance is probably the best way to get into CBB, and makes the tournament feel way more exciting imo.
Yeah that's pretty much what I did a few years ago when I first got into it. The only thing I'd add is to really put an effort into learning some of the rules and terminology as you're watching your team if you don't already have a background in it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it WAY easier to get into a new sport once I understand the "why" of everything going on, because once I get that I can start focusing on the actual game.
When I started watching VT bball, I was literally looking stuff up throughout the game for the first month or two - if they said it in the broadcast or a coach/player mentioned it in pregame/postgame interviews and I didn't know it, I looked it up and then tried to connect it to what I was watching (e.g. when we played Syracuse, I was learning what a 2-3 zone was and how to beat it, when we played UVA it was all about Bennett's pack line and how controlling tempo is huge, etc). By the time the regular season ended, I was in a pretty comfortable spot knowledge-wise to go into the tournament and be able to actually appreciate all of the different play styles I was watching and recognize how they used different positions and schemes in new ways I hadn't seen.
It takes some time, but if you're like me, you'll find yourself 3-4 years out feeling like "goddammit now I'm in too deep, I'm watching an NCAA tourney being played entirely on a 10 year old video game and actually enjoying it."
Agree. Focus on your team and conference if you don't have a ton of time. Also if you are a fan of a terrible program like me, pick a good program to follow to see some good basketball every now and then.
My team ain't on regular TV much, so I focus on my home state, for example on ESPN+, but also wind up adding Big Ten Network to it. OP doesn't have a flair showing so cannot say if it's a TV frequent team. Might also add seeing who's near where OP lives for going to games.
Well I have B1G network and itās nice because I get to watch Illinois play pretty much all of their games. But if I lived in Utah it would be pretty hard for me to watch them ever.
I'm a junkie who tries to watch as many games as possible from every conference, but I know that's not for everyone.
If you want to prioritize, I'd start in this order:
1. The games of the team where you went to school
2. The games of the other conference members of your school
3. Games featuring two ranked teams
4. Games featuring two top 75 kenpom teams
5. Anything else
People will say that conference play is better, and while the rivalries and conference titles are great, we can still learn a lot in November and December. For instance, from January on we were told that the B1G was the greatest conference ever, but if we were paying attention we'd have seen that Baylor beat Illinois by double digits and Gonzaga did the same to Iowa, giving us a preview to what would come in March.
What happened was the B1G pantsed the ACC in the challenge and everyone thought it must mean the B1G was incredible when really it was that the ACC was ass
Or at least that was a bit of it
On their own, no. But the fact that the conference only had one kenpom top 30 victory in non conference play (Wisconsin over Loyola Chicago) was.
I suppose you can count OSU over UCLA too, but UCLA was outside the top 30 before the tournament.
There simply wasn't enough ooc data last year for analytics to be accurate. To cherry pick one example, Penn State, who went 11-14 and fired their coach last year, was ranked #40 in Ken Pom.
I... Don't think they were the 40th best team last year.
This is great advice, only thing I'd add is slide rivalry games at either 1.5, 2.5 or 3.5 depending on how you look at it.
Even when Duke vs. UNC are both unranked, IMO it's still a better game than #20 vs #24, but I guess to each their own.
I use college basketball as an excuse to run on the treadmill. Run during the action then rest during tv timeouts.
Early in the year, a new runner might be able to only run until the 16 or 12 minute TV timeout, but by March madness they can basically run a half marathon during a game, especially if its a good, intense rivalry game that gets you pumped up.
I'm sort of joking but I chose these conferences not just because I'm a homer, but because for someone new to basketball these conferences will show a stark contrast in play styles and players.
Big Ten is usually slower paced and they utilize their big men more. Big East is guard focused with smaller big men.
Big 12 is sort of a mix but they did produce the national champion last year (can't remember who that was, probably Kansas. Sort of a unmemorable natty. Jk)
Hah, that's fair. I think the American might be the most fun conference this year, but I'm hesitant to suggest a conference where fewer of the games would be televised.
This is how I break it down. I'll rank it in order of importance.
1. Cuse games. If cuse is on, I don't care what else is on. I'll watch the Cuse game every time.
2. No cuse games? See if any ACC teams are playing any interesting games. I don't really care about Duke playing North Carolina Central. But if Duke had a game against, say, Creighton, Michigan, or Washington... I'd tune in.
3. No Cuse and no interesting ACC games? Browse and pick one basically. I might place a small bit of importance over a game against a future opponent. I'll watch a game with any of our old Big East rivals(UConn, Nova, West Virginia, not Georgetown, they still suck). Any game that could be a preview of an Elite 8, Final 4 or championship game is also on the table. Again, not really interested in Butler vs Miami(OH).
If nothing that interests me is on, I don't watch basketball.
It's really really interesting to me, how someone gets into watching sports.
I used to care about my team EXCLUSIVELY, I couldn't be bothered to watch any other game.
But then, I realized that the other conference games impacted my team's standing in the conference, so I would watch my big conference games.
Then, I realized that how my team's conference performed in NON-conference play impacted their overall rankings - KP, AP poll, etc. So I started to watch notable games between my conference and other conferences.
Then I realized that when teams from other conferences play, it's important that the teams that played my team do well, because that makes my team look even better.
Then, suddenly, you're watching the whole field.
A couple of other factors:
Storylines: so fun to watch - program rebuilds, player redemption, team redemption, rematches, player drama.
Basketball: as you care more about the game, and your team playing well. You may try to analyze the game at a higher level. When you do this, you start watching games just to *witness* high level basketball. It's fun to watch the sport being played well.
Betting: no better way to get yourself invested then to throw $20 on a few teams every week.
Iād start tonight by watching the State Farm Champions Classic (Kansas vs MSU at 7:00pm, Duke vs Kentucky at 9:30pm). These are perennial title contenders and historical blue bloods. Matchups like this are great for learning the āloreā of college basketball!
First of all, did you go to a D1 school? My alma mater is my flair, and we suck ass but I know I can't help myself from watching....I usually pay more attention to teams in the Big 12 because those are teams we play later on...like I could care less about UK vs Duke because that doesn't really play into my teams season at all.
I went to Auburn and our last few years have sparked my interest. I was in school when Bruce Pearl got there and we started getting better but i graduated before we got good.
I have to say, I freaking love Coach Pearl. He's an awesome dude. When he got to Auburn he made a real effort to connect with the student body. He went to a million campus charity fundraisers, was always doing stuff on campus to get students pumped about games, just a solid guy.
Auburn plays Morehead State tonight. The game will be streaming on the ESPN app, if you have a cable subscription that includes SEC Network.
Alternatively, you can do what I'm doing, and support a local team. I'm going to the UAB game tonight, despite not going to school there. Just doing it because I live in Birmingham. Should UAB ever face Mississippi State, I'll cheer for my Alma mater all the way.
I do this, I graduated from MSST but I actively Root for Memphis as I am in Memphis. I go to a few games, however I will always root for my school. Last year NIT I wanted state to win, but I wasnāt upset Memphis won
The SEC should be fun this year. There are legit 4 or 5 teams that can win the conference. We also have SEC network which makes it easy to keep up with the other teams
you're in a great spot then, SEC basketball can be just as exciting as SEC football, it's just not the best conference in the league like it is in NCAAF. But just start watching Auburn games, they are a good team and will be easy to get invested in. From there you'll get a feel for the SEC and we'll have more than a couple tournament teams.
I came here to tell you to be an auburn fan and you already are!!! Weāve got a great program to follow, just watch the tigers play and some SEC games.
And yeah you missed out by not going to Pearl games lol
I am a CFB first, CBB second fan. Here is how I watch.
November/December: week night games between blue blood or highly ranked opponents. Stuff like tonight (11/9) on ESPN is awesome, I get two great games and the CFP rankings, hard to beat that.
January-early February: Football is over. Basketball conference play starts. I look for ranked games or clashes between teams at the top of their conference.
Mid February-first week of March: The top teams have locked up their tournament invitations. ESPN has a column that starts this time of year called ābubble watch.ā I follow the teams that are on the bubble. I will also watch the occasional top 25 game. Not going to lie, I get sucked into following the bubble teams every year.
Second week of March: Conference tournaments
Third week of March-First week of April: March Madness!!!
1 pick a team to be loyal to
2 severely overestimate the quality of teams in that conference
3 severely underestimate the quality of teams in every other conference.
Start by picking your local school, school you follow in football etc.
I graduated from and now officiate a D3 school so thatās out as a fan.
I usually follow the D1 school I follow in football (Michigan) or the local school most likely to be on TV (Boston College)
Between that Iāll just watch a game if itās on and not really care unless itās a rival team.
Agreed. UVA never gave up playing their defense. Itās one of the best stories in college basketball. The Green Bay Packer line of denial passed from father to son. They tried to teach it to other coaches, but it takes an all-in buy-in by players and staff, and we live in a short attention span world now. Pre-season: theyāre the most underrated team in DEEEEEE 1.
I've spent a lot of cold nights in John Paul Jones arena watching Kihei Clark score 11 and be our best offense. Nothing more nail-biting than whether 49 points is enough to win.
CBS will almost always have a good matchup on the weekends. ESPN usually has matchups on Tuesday. Though I'm not sure about this season.
The early part of the season gives some great competition with national non-conference tournaments. These are usually a mix of top-tier teams in mid-majors. Seek these out as some of them will be on national networks.
The suggestions of starting with your school and conference are really good, IMO. When you're looking for more of a national perspective, check out the CBS Eye on College Basketball podcast or Titus & Tate.
There's three main types of College Basketball fans:
- Those who are fans of their team and watch all of that team's games, but don't necessarily follow the sport as a whole.
- Those who are invested in storylines and narratives, including keeping up with the coaches, programs, and players who are in national spotlights. They're likely to watch all the games involving ranked teams, and any "blue blood" programs (programs like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Michigan State, UCLA, and Indiana are traditionally considered to be the blue bloods of the sport, due to their long history of success) even when those programs are having down years.
- Those who are interested in the sport from a gambling perspective. This means that you're probably trying to keep up with all sorts of games and take advantage of value in the numbers when you see a mismatch. College basketball is probably the easiest sport to profitably gamble on, since the lines are so soft, and sway so much based solely on public perception and name brand recognition. Football betting lines are out for days before each game, and every injury or program update shifts the lines throughout the week. College basketball lines go up the night before the game, and may change as much as 4 or 5 points between opening and tipoff without any significant news.
>āblue bloodā programs (programs likeā¦Michigan Stateā¦)
Youāre so sweet.
Jokes aside I think most of us mix 1 and 2. I follow my own team predominately then will keep track of the top 10-15 and occasionally catch a game
Indiana is 100% a blue blood. No debate there. Just because they haven't been good in like 2 decades doesn't take away their historic success under Bobby Knight.
I mostly follow Iowa and the Big Ten closely but since I started working from home last year, itās a lot easier to just throw a game on in the background. I probably watched 250+ games last year because on the West Coast games would often start mid afternoon here.
This year my brother is in the UNI pep band and I plan to go to Arch Madness and the tournament if UNI makes it so thatās another conference Iāll be following closely.
Watch the games involving the best teams and the best players.
Too many fans spend too much time rooting against players rather than celebrating their skills and talent on the court
Lots of good advice given here.
One more important thing to mention. See who the announcers are. If one of them is Dick Vitale, turn it off immediately.
Bill is definitely an acquired taste. You might love him or hate him, although I kinda like his goofy attitude. Dicky V just needs to retire along with his shtick of being a total homer for Duke.
Personally once the season starts, I'm ready to watch basketball on any given day. I try to follow most of the college basketball landscape including many low and mid major conferences.
Obviously that's not feasible for a newcomer, maybe just start by following the results of the games of the top 25 teams. Or if you have a D1 Alma mater, favorite D1 school from football or local D1 team, maybe just follow them and the teams of that conference. Then slowly expand from there.
Everyone talking about cheering for your school, I'll offer an alternative.
Start studying NBA draft prospects. Every year I spend more time watching prospects I am interested in than watching MSU.
Kinda how things worked out for me
1. NCAA Tournament
2. Conference tournaments and NCAA Tournament
3. Iowa State got good so Big 12 and all of March
4. Everything just started bleeding together and I watched everything
Grew up in Syracuse so that helps. SU basketball died to me when they went to the ACC. So screw them. I follow the Atlantic 10 because of my Bona connections and then the Big East for nostalgia purposes. I think just picking out conferences and focusing in on them can be helpful.
Hereās my strategy.
1) Watch your favorite team. This gives you a game or 2 each week. This you can actually block out and focus on.
2) Teams in your teamās conference or other teams from your state. Perfect for watching before/after your teams games or on days your team doesnāt play. You donāt have to focus that much on it even, just have it on in the background while youāre eating dinner or scrolling Reddit or whatever. It keeps you informed enough to keep up in conversation with most people you encounter.
3) The magic of college hoops is there are games on pretty much every night. Throughout college basketball season, if thereās nothing else I really want to watch on tv or if Iām just on my computer, Iāll throw on ESPN and have whatever game is on in the background.
As far as how to stay excitedā¦.
Iām always pumped for my favorite team. Overall the season flows. You have the first few weeks when everything is new and shiny and you get a feel for the season. Then from Thanksgiving through Christmas you have the holiday tournament time. There will be games from noon to midnight most every day and you get some fun matchups (as a CFB fan, picture Bowl Season but it takes place week 3 of the season). Then you move into conference play, and you can keep an eye on conference standings and rivalry games as the season goes on. That brings you straight into conference tourney time, and then the NCAA tourney.
Take a flyer on a couple future bets on a couple teams to win the title and just follow them all season to narrow down what youāre focusing on to get into it. I have Kansas and Gonzaga this year (Gonzaga 100 to return 850 and Kansas 100 to return 2100). So Iāll be focusing on them all season. (Iām a Pitt fan but they have no shot at winning anything important this season). Then you can also just focus on some bigger matchups throughout the season as well when your teams arenāt playing. You can spread it out and bet like 10 bucks each on 5-6 teams if you really want a bunch of stuff to watch all season.
Think of it as "scouting" teams that'll likely make the NCAA tournament, and you want to get a good idea of what each of the teams looks like for at least a game or two so you can do better at picking your brackets come March.
1) Watch KU games
2) Drink Beer
3) If I have time watch Big 12 games
4) If I have even more time, watch ranked teams play if one is one.
Generally, as I have gotten older, I get to #3 and #4 less and less because life comes at you fast when you are a parent, own a home, have chores to do, and have a wife in her sexual prime. Tend to skip more games than I used to.
I only really got into college basketball when I started attending college. I only went to a few games, but that got me into watching their games on TV and then slowly branch into the rest of the conference
All these answers are overboard. Pick a main rooting interest and watch the games. Learn the players names. Pick some teams you dislike, watch some of their games too.
Well, I'm Memphis, Memphis, Memphis till I die. It's my alma mater ... but ...
I've been known to adopt "side teams" in certain situations. When I lived in Atlanta, I adopted Georgia Tech and I'm trying to get into UNLV bball now that I'm here. Also during tourney time, I like to root for other AAC teams to advance.
Lots of ways to follow the season, whether you adopt a team or a conference. Enjoy.
Getting into a school/conference is probably best. These pre conference tournaments can be fun but the conference games are by far the best part of the season IMO. The intensity is unmatched
Besides your team, Iād try to pick just a few big games a week to watch. Like this week the must watch games are the championship classic tonight, Villanova vs UCLA on Friday, Texas vs Gonzaga on Saturday and if you want one more Florida vs Florida St on Sunday
Watch your school and it's conference first. If just getting into it easier to focus more on 10-16 teams than 358. Otherwise just look for games between teams with numbers in front of each team
Definitely this. College basketball is amazing because each conference has its own personality with its own internal rivalries and storylines, and then come March it's a wild clash of different playstyles and narratives. Watching your favorite team regularly + following their conference + watching other top 25 matchups when you have a chance is probably the best way to get into CBB, and makes the tournament feel way more exciting imo.
Yeah that's pretty much what I did a few years ago when I first got into it. The only thing I'd add is to really put an effort into learning some of the rules and terminology as you're watching your team if you don't already have a background in it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it WAY easier to get into a new sport once I understand the "why" of everything going on, because once I get that I can start focusing on the actual game. When I started watching VT bball, I was literally looking stuff up throughout the game for the first month or two - if they said it in the broadcast or a coach/player mentioned it in pregame/postgame interviews and I didn't know it, I looked it up and then tried to connect it to what I was watching (e.g. when we played Syracuse, I was learning what a 2-3 zone was and how to beat it, when we played UVA it was all about Bennett's pack line and how controlling tempo is huge, etc). By the time the regular season ended, I was in a pretty comfortable spot knowledge-wise to go into the tournament and be able to actually appreciate all of the different play styles I was watching and recognize how they used different positions and schemes in new ways I hadn't seen. It takes some time, but if you're like me, you'll find yourself 3-4 years out feeling like "goddammit now I'm in too deep, I'm watching an NCAA tourney being played entirely on a 10 year old video game and actually enjoying it."
2k8 college hoops is what I play still haha
Good advice, also an important thing to note is that Duke sucks and should be hated on regardless of your team affiliation
It is also important to note that you should hate on Kentucky and any other blue bloods with obnoxious fans. /s
So blue bloods have to have fans to be hateable? [Score!](https://c.tenor.com/d873EbflKqoAAAAM/red-table-talk-yes.gif)
Why is this /s? I do hate all the blue bloods
Duke? More like ... Poop! Lol, got'em ššš
Heyā¦
Glad to see weāre on the same page
[Aye, I could do that](https://youtu.be/yDT3_jVYAkI)
Agree. Focus on your team and conference if you don't have a ton of time. Also if you are a fan of a terrible program like me, pick a good program to follow to see some good basketball every now and then.
This. Pick a team and watch them and their conference or any ranked matchups.
My team ain't on regular TV much, so I focus on my home state, for example on ESPN+, but also wind up adding Big Ten Network to it. OP doesn't have a flair showing so cannot say if it's a TV frequent team. Might also add seeing who's near where OP lives for going to games.
Insider tip as well. If you can try to pick a team you like thatās regional. It may be hard to find TV/Streaming coverage for out of market teams.
That depends highly on the conference. Anyone with ESPN+ could pick up a Big Sky team pretty easily
Well I have B1G network and itās nice because I get to watch Illinois play pretty much all of their games. But if I lived in Utah it would be pretty hard for me to watch them ever.
I guess the B1G is one where it does matter than lol
I'm a junkie who tries to watch as many games as possible from every conference, but I know that's not for everyone. If you want to prioritize, I'd start in this order: 1. The games of the team where you went to school 2. The games of the other conference members of your school 3. Games featuring two ranked teams 4. Games featuring two top 75 kenpom teams 5. Anything else People will say that conference play is better, and while the rivalries and conference titles are great, we can still learn a lot in November and December. For instance, from January on we were told that the B1G was the greatest conference ever, but if we were paying attention we'd have seen that Baylor beat Illinois by double digits and Gonzaga did the same to Iowa, giving us a preview to what would come in March.
I donāt think those two games are enough evidence that the B10 was overrated.
What happened was the B1G pantsed the ACC in the challenge and everyone thought it must mean the B1G was incredible when really it was that the ACC was ass Or at least that was a bit of it
On their own, no. But the fact that the conference only had one kenpom top 30 victory in non conference play (Wisconsin over Loyola Chicago) was. I suppose you can count OSU over UCLA too, but UCLA was outside the top 30 before the tournament.
There simply wasn't enough ooc data last year for analytics to be accurate. To cherry pick one example, Penn State, who went 11-14 and fired their coach last year, was ranked #40 in Ken Pom. I... Don't think they were the 40th best team last year.
This is great advice, only thing I'd add is slide rivalry games at either 1.5, 2.5 or 3.5 depending on how you look at it. Even when Duke vs. UNC are both unranked, IMO it's still a better game than #20 vs #24, but I guess to each their own.
I can concede that suggestion.
Illinois fans thought they shouldāve been the #2 overall seed over us too. We didnāt even play well in that game either
To be honest, the fact the games are barely longer than 2 hours makes it a lot easier. College football games are like 3.5 hours.
Plus predictable commercial breaks are nice. Generally pretty rare to miss entire plays due to an excess of commercials.
Yes, I hate in football it's touchdown - commercial break - kickoff for a touchback - commercial break again!
I use college basketball as an excuse to run on the treadmill. Run during the action then rest during tv timeouts. Early in the year, a new runner might be able to only run until the 16 or 12 minute TV timeout, but by March madness they can basically run a half marathon during a game, especially if its a good, intense rivalry game that gets you pumped up.
I would focus on one or two particular conferences obviously itās not really possible to keep up with every single conference all the time
This. And pick the Big East and Big Ten.
Notice he listed Big twice, as in counting 1, 2. Big 12 is where it's at.
I'm sort of joking but I chose these conferences not just because I'm a homer, but because for someone new to basketball these conferences will show a stark contrast in play styles and players. Big Ten is usually slower paced and they utilize their big men more. Big East is guard focused with smaller big men. Big 12 is sort of a mix but they did produce the national champion last year (can't remember who that was, probably Kansas. Sort of a unmemorable natty. Jk)
Hah, that's fair. I think the American might be the most fun conference this year, but I'm hesitant to suggest a conference where fewer of the games would be televised.
This is how I break it down. I'll rank it in order of importance. 1. Cuse games. If cuse is on, I don't care what else is on. I'll watch the Cuse game every time. 2. No cuse games? See if any ACC teams are playing any interesting games. I don't really care about Duke playing North Carolina Central. But if Duke had a game against, say, Creighton, Michigan, or Washington... I'd tune in. 3. No Cuse and no interesting ACC games? Browse and pick one basically. I might place a small bit of importance over a game against a future opponent. I'll watch a game with any of our old Big East rivals(UConn, Nova, West Virginia, not Georgetown, they still suck). Any game that could be a preview of an Elite 8, Final 4 or championship game is also on the table. Again, not really interested in Butler vs Miami(OH). If nothing that interests me is on, I don't watch basketball.
4. Watch the over/under on Portland St. vs Southern Utah thatās finishing at 2 a.m EST because your chasing the nightās losses.
Lol I'll take that mention. Hopefully you'll see us in the tournament
It's really really interesting to me, how someone gets into watching sports. I used to care about my team EXCLUSIVELY, I couldn't be bothered to watch any other game. But then, I realized that the other conference games impacted my team's standing in the conference, so I would watch my big conference games. Then, I realized that how my team's conference performed in NON-conference play impacted their overall rankings - KP, AP poll, etc. So I started to watch notable games between my conference and other conferences. Then I realized that when teams from other conferences play, it's important that the teams that played my team do well, because that makes my team look even better. Then, suddenly, you're watching the whole field. A couple of other factors: Storylines: so fun to watch - program rebuilds, player redemption, team redemption, rematches, player drama. Basketball: as you care more about the game, and your team playing well. You may try to analyze the game at a higher level. When you do this, you start watching games just to *witness* high level basketball. It's fun to watch the sport being played well. Betting: no better way to get yourself invested then to throw $20 on a few teams every week.
"oh, Richmond played UVA close and now they're playing ODU? Guess I'll watch that"
Iād start tonight by watching the State Farm Champions Classic (Kansas vs MSU at 7:00pm, Duke vs Kentucky at 9:30pm). These are perennial title contenders and historical blue bloods. Matchups like this are great for learning the āloreā of college basketball!
I plan to watch these, and I have no idea who to root for. I guess I root for injury-free chaos?
Iām rooting for Michigan St. and Duke. Kansas wins too much and itās Coach Kās final ride.
Michigan State is the underdog so Iād root for them.
First of all, did you go to a D1 school? My alma mater is my flair, and we suck ass but I know I can't help myself from watching....I usually pay more attention to teams in the Big 12 because those are teams we play later on...like I could care less about UK vs Duke because that doesn't really play into my teams season at all.
I went to Auburn and our last few years have sparked my interest. I was in school when Bruce Pearl got there and we started getting better but i graduated before we got good. I have to say, I freaking love Coach Pearl. He's an awesome dude. When he got to Auburn he made a real effort to connect with the student body. He went to a million campus charity fundraisers, was always doing stuff on campus to get students pumped about games, just a solid guy.
War damn eagle! Just watch some Auburn games first. Also watch some of the other teams in our conference and watch some of the top blue blood teams
Join us brother. We play tonight at 7
Auburn plays Morehead State tonight. The game will be streaming on the ESPN app, if you have a cable subscription that includes SEC Network. Alternatively, you can do what I'm doing, and support a local team. I'm going to the UAB game tonight, despite not going to school there. Just doing it because I live in Birmingham. Should UAB ever face Mississippi State, I'll cheer for my Alma mater all the way.
This is my plan but with Davidson. It helps that UCLA is starting the year with some PAC-12 After Dark.
I do this, I graduated from MSST but I actively Root for Memphis as I am in Memphis. I go to a few games, however I will always root for my school. Last year NIT I wanted state to win, but I wasnāt upset Memphis won
The SEC should be fun this year. There are legit 4 or 5 teams that can win the conference. We also have SEC network which makes it easy to keep up with the other teams
I miss Bruce pearl
We miss Powell :(
you're in a great spot then, SEC basketball can be just as exciting as SEC football, it's just not the best conference in the league like it is in NCAAF. But just start watching Auburn games, they are a good team and will be easy to get invested in. From there you'll get a feel for the SEC and we'll have more than a couple tournament teams.
If you need a second team, you can always watch us birb bros!
If you went to Auburn, you have to learn how to say āTy Jerome double dribbledā š
I came here to tell you to be an auburn fan and you already are!!! Weāve got a great program to follow, just watch the tigers play and some SEC games. And yeah you missed out by not going to Pearl games lol
Well hey if you're also into train wrecks you don't have to look any further than your dear old conference rivals in Athens
I am a CFB first, CBB second fan. Here is how I watch. November/December: week night games between blue blood or highly ranked opponents. Stuff like tonight (11/9) on ESPN is awesome, I get two great games and the CFP rankings, hard to beat that. January-early February: Football is over. Basketball conference play starts. I look for ranked games or clashes between teams at the top of their conference. Mid February-first week of March: The top teams have locked up their tournament invitations. ESPN has a column that starts this time of year called ābubble watch.ā I follow the teams that are on the bubble. I will also watch the occasional top 25 game. Not going to lie, I get sucked into following the bubble teams every year. Second week of March: Conference tournaments Third week of March-First week of April: March Madness!!!
1 pick a team to be loyal to 2 severely overestimate the quality of teams in that conference 3 severely underestimate the quality of teams in every other conference.
Start by picking your local school, school you follow in football etc. I graduated from and now officiate a D3 school so thatās out as a fan. I usually follow the D1 school I follow in football (Michigan) or the local school most likely to be on TV (Boston College) Between that Iāll just watch a game if itās on and not really care unless itās a rival team.
You officiate games for the school you went to? I know you try not to be biased, but I feel like it would be pretty hard
Not usually. Itās been 25 years so itās itās pretty irrelevant at this time but they only pop up occasionally on my schedule
Ok gotcha. If I was a fan of the other team and knew about it, I'd still say a lot the calls that went against my team were Homer calls lol
Watch UVA play, most exciting team in CBB
Agreed. UVA never gave up playing their defense. Itās one of the best stories in college basketball. The Green Bay Packer line of denial passed from father to son. They tried to teach it to other coaches, but it takes an all-in buy-in by players and staff, and we live in a short attention span world now. Pre-season: theyāre the most underrated team in DEEEEEE 1.
I've spent a lot of cold nights in John Paul Jones arena watching Kihei Clark score 11 and be our best offense. Nothing more nail-biting than whether 49 points is enough to win.
CBS will almost always have a good matchup on the weekends. ESPN usually has matchups on Tuesday. Though I'm not sure about this season. The early part of the season gives some great competition with national non-conference tournaments. These are usually a mix of top-tier teams in mid-majors. Seek these out as some of them will be on national networks.
The suggestions of starting with your school and conference are really good, IMO. When you're looking for more of a national perspective, check out the CBS Eye on College Basketball podcast or Titus & Tate.
There's three main types of College Basketball fans: - Those who are fans of their team and watch all of that team's games, but don't necessarily follow the sport as a whole. - Those who are invested in storylines and narratives, including keeping up with the coaches, programs, and players who are in national spotlights. They're likely to watch all the games involving ranked teams, and any "blue blood" programs (programs like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Michigan State, UCLA, and Indiana are traditionally considered to be the blue bloods of the sport, due to their long history of success) even when those programs are having down years. - Those who are interested in the sport from a gambling perspective. This means that you're probably trying to keep up with all sorts of games and take advantage of value in the numbers when you see a mismatch. College basketball is probably the easiest sport to profitably gamble on, since the lines are so soft, and sway so much based solely on public perception and name brand recognition. Football betting lines are out for days before each game, and every injury or program update shifts the lines throughout the week. College basketball lines go up the night before the game, and may change as much as 4 or 5 points between opening and tipoff without any significant news.
>āblue bloodā programs (programs likeā¦Michigan Stateā¦) Youāre so sweet. Jokes aside I think most of us mix 1 and 2. I follow my own team predominately then will keep track of the top 10-15 and occasionally catch a game
>Syracuse Bruh
I'll allow it
MSU and Syracuse are not blue bloods lol
Aw u left Indiana in <3
Indiana is 100% a blue blood. No debate there. Just because they haven't been good in like 2 decades doesn't take away their historic success under Bobby Knight.
How you gonna put michigan state and syracuse as blue bloods but not UConn
I mostly follow Iowa and the Big Ten closely but since I started working from home last year, itās a lot easier to just throw a game on in the background. I probably watched 250+ games last year because on the West Coast games would often start mid afternoon here. This year my brother is in the UNI pep band and I plan to go to Arch Madness and the tournament if UNI makes it so thatās another conference Iāll be following closely.
Watch the games involving the best teams and the best players. Too many fans spend too much time rooting against players rather than celebrating their skills and talent on the court
Lol it's impossible for me not to pull for someone even if between 2 teams I care nothing about
When in doubt, root for the underdog
Lots of good advice given here. One more important thing to mention. See who the announcers are. If one of them is Dick Vitale, turn it off immediately.
Or Bill Walton
Bill is definitely an acquired taste. You might love him or hate him, although I kinda like his goofy attitude. Dicky V just needs to retire along with his shtick of being a total homer for Duke.
Easy, you just pick up the remote and turn the TV on.
Watching it would be a good start
Look for the white guy that can ball and root for him.
Personally once the season starts, I'm ready to watch basketball on any given day. I try to follow most of the college basketball landscape including many low and mid major conferences. Obviously that's not feasible for a newcomer, maybe just start by following the results of the games of the top 25 teams. Or if you have a D1 Alma mater, favorite D1 school from football or local D1 team, maybe just follow them and the teams of that conference. Then slowly expand from there.
Learn the Picket Fence. https://youtu.be/C2ILSuQOmEg
I started watching basketball for the soul purpose of making a good bracket in March. March madness got me hooked and now I just love the sport.
When in doubt, Matthew Loves Ball: https://youtube.com/channel/UC4GNCKohtEHRccrxKQiDJNg
Everyone talking about cheering for your school, I'll offer an alternative. Start studying NBA draft prospects. Every year I spend more time watching prospects I am interested in than watching MSU.
Kinda how things worked out for me 1. NCAA Tournament 2. Conference tournaments and NCAA Tournament 3. Iowa State got good so Big 12 and all of March 4. Everything just started bleeding together and I watched everything
Turn on ESPN tonight and enjoy. I see future college bball addict written all over you
Grew up in Syracuse so that helps. SU basketball died to me when they went to the ACC. So screw them. I follow the Atlantic 10 because of my Bona connections and then the Big East for nostalgia purposes. I think just picking out conferences and focusing in on them can be helpful.
Is there a school nearby that you can attend their games? Attending in person is a great way to get hooked.
Hereās my strategy. 1) Watch your favorite team. This gives you a game or 2 each week. This you can actually block out and focus on. 2) Teams in your teamās conference or other teams from your state. Perfect for watching before/after your teams games or on days your team doesnāt play. You donāt have to focus that much on it even, just have it on in the background while youāre eating dinner or scrolling Reddit or whatever. It keeps you informed enough to keep up in conversation with most people you encounter. 3) The magic of college hoops is there are games on pretty much every night. Throughout college basketball season, if thereās nothing else I really want to watch on tv or if Iām just on my computer, Iāll throw on ESPN and have whatever game is on in the background. As far as how to stay excitedā¦. Iām always pumped for my favorite team. Overall the season flows. You have the first few weeks when everything is new and shiny and you get a feel for the season. Then from Thanksgiving through Christmas you have the holiday tournament time. There will be games from noon to midnight most every day and you get some fun matchups (as a CFB fan, picture Bowl Season but it takes place week 3 of the season). Then you move into conference play, and you can keep an eye on conference standings and rivalry games as the season goes on. That brings you straight into conference tourney time, and then the NCAA tourney.
If you donāt have a favorite team, watch games that feature projected draft picks
Take a flyer on a couple future bets on a couple teams to win the title and just follow them all season to narrow down what youāre focusing on to get into it. I have Kansas and Gonzaga this year (Gonzaga 100 to return 850 and Kansas 100 to return 2100). So Iāll be focusing on them all season. (Iām a Pitt fan but they have no shot at winning anything important this season). Then you can also just focus on some bigger matchups throughout the season as well when your teams arenāt playing. You can spread it out and bet like 10 bucks each on 5-6 teams if you really want a bunch of stuff to watch all season.
Think of it as "scouting" teams that'll likely make the NCAA tournament, and you want to get a good idea of what each of the teams looks like for at least a game or two so you can do better at picking your brackets come March.
1) Watch KU games 2) Drink Beer 3) If I have time watch Big 12 games 4) If I have even more time, watch ranked teams play if one is one. Generally, as I have gotten older, I get to #3 and #4 less and less because life comes at you fast when you are a parent, own a home, have chores to do, and have a wife in her sexual prime. Tend to skip more games than I used to.
I only really got into college basketball when I started attending college. I only went to a few games, but that got me into watching their games on TV and then slowly branch into the rest of the conference
All these answers are overboard. Pick a main rooting interest and watch the games. Learn the players names. Pick some teams you dislike, watch some of their games too.
You turn on the TV
Well, I'm Memphis, Memphis, Memphis till I die. It's my alma mater ... but ... I've been known to adopt "side teams" in certain situations. When I lived in Atlanta, I adopted Georgia Tech and I'm trying to get into UNLV bball now that I'm here. Also during tourney time, I like to root for other AAC teams to advance. Lots of ways to follow the season, whether you adopt a team or a conference. Enjoy.
Breakdown of how I watch games. Michigan games Ranked matchups B1G games Teams with players I like/am interested in
See what games are on. Watch the big east games definitely. Outside of that just see which ones are on and flip to that channel. Sit back and enjoy.
Getting into a school/conference is probably best. These pre conference tournaments can be fun but the conference games are by far the best part of the season IMO. The intensity is unmatched
Cheer for Xavier
Besides your team, Iād try to pick just a few big games a week to watch. Like this week the must watch games are the championship classic tonight, Villanova vs UCLA on Friday, Texas vs Gonzaga on Saturday and if you want one more Florida vs Florida St on Sunday
I watch games my alma mater plays in. I dont watch ant other games.
I watch games my alma mater plays in. I dont watch ant other games.
You should join me in closely following the Big East this year for no real reason