I know there’s a lot of crisis PR events going on right now, and a whole lot of things making news, but I’d thought we’d take a little lighter stance here of something that’s still important, but not as serious.
A lot of teams — and a lot of fans — woke up this morning wondering why their favorite college basketball program won’t do the dance in the NCAA, or for that matter even the NIT, like me.
Now, I know that there’s a lot of people out there would cite important stats like RPI, win/loss records and quality games, but they’ll still complain and gripe about the fact that they hoped to watch their team well into March. You know, one or two fans. Maybe some in San Diego where I call home. Again, like me.
Athletic departments will deal with this kind of frustration year round. There’s always a game or a team or a season that fails to meet lofty expectations. When that happens, college athletic departments need to keep on message about developing the student athlete, that their metrics far exceed whatever happens on the court.
Maybe that will appease some of the fans who recognize that they’re living vicariously through a team, when in fact they couldn’t hit a jump shot from right underneath the basket. Maybe.
