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Lousy college hoops

If you took the time to watch the Gonzaga-North Carolina NCAA Championship game Monday night, I’m sorry. You wasted over two hours of your life to watch a sloppy, unappealing basketball game. Although it was entertaining at the end, it made me never want to watch college basketball again.

Both teams looked pathetic. UNC found a way to bring home its sixth national title despite only shooting 35.6 percent from the field and 14.8 percent from three. Gonzaga shot a lousy 33.9 percent from the field, making this by far the worst championship game I’ve seen since the Butler-Connecticut fiasco in 2011.

College basketball has become a joke. Sure, there are games that are enjoyable. But, in the end, it just doesn’t have my attention anymore. These Division I athletes struggle to finish around the rim, they can’t hit free throws and their basketball IQ is questionable.

To make matters worse for college basketball, the biggest mistake in sports is the one-and-done rule. Most of these talented basketball players come in for a year and then leave to go to the NBA. I’m not one to say they shouldn’t go and earn their millions, but it makes college basketball even less enjoyable.

As a fan, right when you start to know and recognize these players, they leave and you have to learn the next set of names for the following season. Even if these student athletes were forced to stay for two years, it would help the game become so much more enjoyable than it is now.

There’s a reason college basketball was in its peak in the 80s and 90s. Most of the athletes stayed for three or four years, and the product on the court was spectacular.

Not only has the quality become undesirable, but so has the way the game has been officiated. The refs in Monday’s game were pitiful. But, that’s what college basketball has become over the years ‒ ticky-tac foul calls that lead to star players sitting on the bench and teams being in the bonus five minutes into a half.

I really have no interest in watching a game with 44 fouls called in 40 minutes. Yes, if you do the math on that one, there was more than one foul called for every minute. Yet for some reason, baseball is the sport that’s worrying about pace of play.

One could speculate that all the foul calls caused the underwhelming quality of play. There was no chance for any team to get in any type of rhythm. That might be bailing both teams out, but it also points a finger at how a poorly reffed game can affect the quality of the game.

For me, college basketball is ruined. I’d much rather sit and watch an NBA game where, for the most part, refs let the players decide the outcome and the talent level is significantly better. Sorry college basketball, but you lost a fan Monday night.

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