It’s that time of year again. The college football season is starting to shake out and we are beginning to get a good feel for who the 5 or 6 teams are that will be in the playoff conversation. The first college football playoff selection voting came out 11 days ago, there are huge games bearing a ton of significance every weekend, and the conference championships are just a few weeks away. But there’s another college sport that has my attention right now. And that’s college basketball.

Now, I’m a big fan of college football. Every August I’m itching for it to start and I always have the tv tuned into a game all day every Saturday. But, there’s just something special about college basketball that I can’t describe. As soon as college basketball season comes around every year, college football takes a backseat. I still watch the big games and keep up with it all, but college basketball is just so much more exciting to watch. Unless it’s a top-10 football matchup, I would much rather sit back and relax to a college basketball game.

After thinking about it, I quickly realized why college basketball is so much more appealing. It’s a regional thing, and I’m from North Carolina. Basketball, specifically college basketball, is king in the state of North Carolina…although you could make the argument for NASCAR. But in this state, when college basketball season begins, a new life begins. Trash talking between friends, family, co-workers, and whoever else you may come into contact with, begins. With North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest, pretty much everyone has a team they pull for. And while North Carolina and Duke are national title contenders every year, NC State and Wake usually have enough talent to beat any team in the country.

Let’s flip to football. North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest are all teams that just aren’t that good in football. Making a bowl game is basically considered a successful season. The main thing these teams are concerned about during football season is beating each other for in-state bragging rights because they are pretty much an afterthought for the rest of the country. And most of the fans of these schools will tell you that. But they’ll also be the first to tell you to “just wait for basketball season.”

Basketball season is where the ACC makes its mark. Basketball season is where the state of North Carolina makes its mark. A Duke loss, even this early in the year, will make a Tar Heels fan’s day. And vice-versa. It’s that great time of year where fans of those two schools are heating up their trash talk, fans of NC State still think they have a chance, and fans of Wake Forest are looking to see if perhaps they have the next Tim Duncan or Chris Paul. For all these fans, once college basketball season is here, college football gets pushed to the side. It was nice to have to keep us all occupied on Saturdays for the last two months, but now the “real season” begins. So, we would like to thank college football for holding us over, but now it’s time for something much bigger. College basketball. It’s a way of life in North Carolina. And it’s back!

Garett

Move Over College Football, College Basketball is Here