Soccer is completed and the NBA is coming off of a horrific All-Star break. That solely means one factor — it’s the time of the 12 months when the plenty begin taking note of school basketball. Nonetheless, many “fans” might be in for a impolite awakening once they understand that the lads’s sport isn’t that thrilling.
Choice Sunday is on March 17 this 12 months, giving Individuals lower than 4 weeks to brush up. And whereas CBS might be unveiling the lads’s bracket stay on their community, I’d advise of us to concentrate to ESPN, as they’ve the ladies — who’ve the entire sport’s stars.
In a world through which Caitlin Clark, JuJu Watkins, and Angel Reese have been the largest names, don’t be a Kenny Smith about it.
When you’re an off-the-cuff school basketball fan or one which misplaced your love for the game because of the switch portal, the additional COVID season, one-and-dones, or the mixture of this stuff tearing away on the continuity of packages and conferences — I get it, so let this be a mini-guide for you.
First up, let’s begin with the coaches
When Coach Ok left the sport no one had ever received extra school basketball video games than him. Within the two seasons that he’s been retired, his report has been damaged — twice. In January, Stanford’s legendary girls’s head coach, Tara VanDerveer, broke Mike Krzyzewski’s record. Earlier this week, UConn’s legendary girls’s head coach, Geno Auriemma, also passed Krzyzewski. Now we wait and see who will retire first and find yourself with the record, as Coach Ok is solidly in third — without end.
Daybreak Staley remains to be the perfect coach on the ladies’s facet as South Carolina is a juggernaut, as the ladies’s Elite Eight and the Ultimate 4 are destined to be a number of the finest school basketball we’ll see all season.
Now to the gamers
Clark is the most well liked identify in all of faculty sports activities. Watkins quietly may very well be higher than Clark, however performs for a lesser group and doesn’t have the identical All-American enchantment. Paige Bueckers remains to be a serious bucket and is coming again for a fifth 12 months, hoping that UConn will lastly have a wholesome season that isn’t ruined by accidents. LSU has a number of characters and deserves a actuality TV present. And South Carolina is undefeated and has a freshman named MiLaysia Fulwiley who comes off the bench and does Kyrie Irving-like moves in games.
Each participant who’s deserving of hype in school basketball is a girl this season, not a person. The lads haven’t any stars. UConn and Purdue have been the perfect of the bunch all season and neither group has a player that NBA scouts are drooling over.
Now to the drama
A number of weeks in the past, a sure group of individuals obtained mad when a school basketball, Crew USA, and WNBA legend named Sheryl Swoopes made a really logical and clever remark about Clark, and the way she wouldn’t be capable of dominate the professionals as a rookie like she’s doing in school. That sure group of individuals misplaced their minds and began attacking Swoopes as if she had been a JV All-Star. It then led to a story about it, causing even more drama online.
And on the lads’s facet, Rick Pitino went from hypocritically calling for a salary cap for players because of NIL, to publicly ripping a roster he recruited and saying, “This has been the most unenjoyable experience I’ve had since I’ve been coaching.” He even doubled down on it.
Rick Pitino gon’ Rick Pitino. Children, Google your head coach’s multiple scandals earlier than you go play for them.
The season has been so underwhelming on the lads’s facet that the Fab Five reunited in Ann Arbor, however it nonetheless won’t be sufficient to save lots of Juwan Howard’s job.
This upcoming weekend is when school hoops begin taking middle stage, as video games might be extra outstanding on community TV on the weekends. The standard suspects will nonetheless be there however received’t be as acquainted, as coaches, gamers, and packages you’ve by no means heard of might be receiving extra consideration than you’re used to. It’s a cause why most of your power needs to be dedicated to the ladies’s facet. As a result of when you’re really a fan of faculty basketball, then you definitely’re going to shortly understand that watching the lads is type of wack.
