Why Love College Hoops?
NCAA Basketball is true sport. The teams are made up of young men who are hungry for victory and success. They aren't wealthy like the players in the NBA. They need to play well to earn any of that wealth. Their hoops team and their college are the two most important things to these players and they don't want to let either of them down.
Any person who has ever gone to a school with a strong NCAA Basketball team knows the effect it has. NCAA Basketball brings students, alumni, and hoops fans from around the country together in celebration of college hoops. NCAA Basketball is a key part of the University experience. It gives a university its identity.
The University of North Carolina is a prime example of what NCAA Basketball can bring to a university. Up until recently hoops was the only game in North Carolina. There was a football team but until the last few seasons they were terrible. North Carolina was, and still is, known for its NCAA Basketball prowess. Great hoops players have come out of the UNC NCAA Basketball program. Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and many more great pros have come from the NCAA Basketball program at UNC. The current group is considered the best in the nation as well. Led by last year's Player of the Year in NCAA Basketball, Tyler Hansbrough, and a group of talented young hoops players the UNC team is the top ranked NCAA Basketball team in the nation. They were voted number one unanimously.
These people become part of the history and essence of a university. However, the appeal of NCAA hoops goes well beyond the players. People may root for the players even after they're gone. It's the hoops team that they love. Their pride for their university is why they continue to root for the same NCAA Basketball team for decades. Players come and go but the schools' colors, mascots, and traditions remain forever.
The game of hoops on the professional level has become about taking one great player and allowing him to win you games. LeBron James has, the last few years, almost single-handedly taken his team much farther in the playoffs than they should have gotten. This isn't the case in NCAA Basketball. It requires a complete hoops team to make a run at a title. Teams that rely on one player leading them eventually end up falling, like Kansas State and their star hoops player of last year, Michael Beasley. They came up against a hoops team that was really a hoops team. One great hoops player won't win you a title in NCAA Basketball.
That's why this site is dedicated to NCAA Basketball. It is a true sport without the big endorsements and big contracts. Players are playing for their teams and their schools. The hoops players in NCAA Basketball aren't thinking about getting traded or signing in free agency. They just love the game and many of them play with no real hopes of playing in the NBA. These young men are true hoops players who play for love of the game.