Ok, so I can dream right? There is likely no way in hell this is going to happen, right?
The truth is, I support the NCAA tournament and what it does for college basketball but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here: March Madness will never be as good as NCAA football. Period.
Don't get me wrong, I love me some March Madness. I fill out multiple brackets and always get pissed when my upsets aren't right, but that's the problem. I only pay attention to college basketball when it matters. And right now, it matters plenty. Sure, there is parity and it provides a larger pool for many small schools to slip on the Cinderella shoe for about a week, but people only get hyped about the tournament because...ITS THE TOURNAMENT!
I barely watched a single regular season game of college basketball. Back in the days of covering college ball, I watched a lot of the games live and showed interest but merely from a professional standpoint and not as a fan. Now, I only watch when the tournament is on.
The most memorable moments from the season will all fall into this one little niche. All the big shots from the regular season don't matter. But if you hit the big shot in the big game? You're immortalized. If Christian Laettner his the same shot against Kentucky in the regular season, do we remember?
Probably not.
But the same cannot be said about college football. Every week is a playoff. From the time that the first second ticks off until the final bell sounds its a total all out war. Lose one game and you're likely out of the national title hunt. And while it pains me to use this as an example, imagine if Michigan lost to Appalachian State and then was like "Ah, screw it! We'll still make the playoffs." The problem is, Michigan's season ended the minute that kick was blocked. The grave was packed shut the next week when Oregon anally rendered them into oblivion.
When Florida lost to Auburn, it essentially ended their run at the national title. Auburn was a paltry 3-2 at the time and had lost to the University of South Florida weeks prior. College football is important because every week the fans and the teams put their hearts on a platter and hope the come back whole by the end of the game. A playoff would simply not work because it would destroy what makes college football so great: Weekly sudden death.
Enjoy the brackets and the madness. If Belmont wins though ... I totally called it first.
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