Hoops opener lacks intrigue, but offers plenty of yawns
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- We've had a countdown clock on our college basketball page for the past month or so, one designed to mark the start of the season. On Monday afternoon the digits all turned to zeros, and that's when Maine and Richmond tipped off inside FedExForum.
I was there.
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| If it was up to Memphis coach John Calipari, things would be very different on opening day. (Getty Images) |
"It's 32 exactly," said Memphis assistant John Robic. "There are 27 on this side, five on that side."
And this is how the college basketball season began.
With a game between Maine and Richmond.
On a Monday afternoon.
In Memphis.
It was sad, really, dismal and depressing. And as I sat there in the stands -- with Section 105 all to myself -- it occurred to me that there has to be a better way to do this, a better way to get things underway than with some irrelevant game between two insignificant teams. I mean, Opening Day in Major League Baseball is a celebration, and the NFL kicks off with Peyton Manning against Reggie Bush coupled with a performance from Kelly Clarkson.
But college basketball starts differently.
There is no Kelly Clarkson around.
There isn't even a Sanjaya.
The best we can do is a doubleheader with an opening game between two teams nobody knows and a closing game so one-sided that UT-Martin assistant David Draper turned during an early timeout and offered some insight into how the Skyhawks could upset Memphis.
