March Madness is Good, but Could it be Even Better?

For most avid sports fans, the month of March is a riveting month due to the excitement of one of the most popular sporting events known to man: March Madness. The great March Madness tournament sets up a tournament of 64 teams and places them in four different divisions where a team must win five consecutive games in order to reach the championship game. The tournament is full of unexpected twists and turns, and even people that don’t like the sport of basketball tune in to watch the craziness unfold.

What separates March Madness from all other sporting events are the upsets. At any time a lower ranked seed may upset the big dogs, so if you like to see David beating Goliath; March Madness may be in your interests. No name basketball schools like Lehigh and Norfolk State have the have the chance to defeat some of the best college basketball dynasties such as Duke and Missouri. March Madness is great because every team believes they have a chance, and every team leaves it all on the court, regardless of what critics say.  If the number ranked team doesn’t come to play there’s no reason they can’t be defeated. March Madness is becoming a game where Cinderella’s rule; so what’s not to like?

Sure March Madness is one of the best, most anticipated sporting events of the year, but it could be even better. The craziness that is March Madness could be even better if all college athletes had to stay for four years of school. This would alter the playing field completely, and players like Kyrie Irving and John Wall would still be playing college basketball wreaking havoc. Some might say that this would ruin the competitiveness of the NBA but I disagree, but the NBA has enough talent to keep college kids in school all four years. If this rule was implemented this year players like Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would still remain in college basketball and that would definitely be fun to watch. Besides for the point of enjoyment, it’s important for everyone to get a good education. These basketball players often forego the college education and go right to the NBA draft. This is at times understandable because some players often have families with financial hardships, so obviously they want to be able to assist them, but the players must also look past their careers in basketball.  Often times players forget about their education so one their basketball career is over they have trouble making money (example: Antoine Walker).  It would be extremely beneficial both for the NCAA and the players to think of a rule that requires all players to stay in college for four years.

With March Madness already tremendously competitive and exhilarating why not just add more fuel to the fire and make NCAA basketball the best sport out there. A daring move like this could potentially catapult NCAA basketball television ratings and fan support. At the end of the day, it seems like the brightest decision to keep all players in college for four years, which will not only make them a better basketball player; but a better person. 

Steve Burrill