Why I Love Covering College Basketball In THE VALLEYS

(St. Louis, MO) – There are many reasons why I enjoy the way college basketball is played in THE VALLEYS. With the Wainstein Report, conference realignments, pay-for-play, one-and-dones dotting the college basketball landscape, a great place where you can watch authentic student athletes play the game we love is in THE VALLEYS.

Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conference fans know what I’m talking about. There are actually SENIORS in those leagues. You can get to know players and watch them develop. The athletes graduate and go to class.

Southern Illinois Head Coach Barry Hinson told us that one of the reasons the Salukis are playing so many OVC teams in their non-conference schedule is academic. Many of the OVC schools are close to Carbondale and the players can miss a minimum amount of classes. How often do the ‘money conference’ schools schedule around the educational commitments?

Ron Baker WALKED ON at Wichita State! When’s the last time a player of significance did that at Duke or UCLA? Remember Adam Emmenecker? He was a guy at Drake that could barely make the team, persevered and without being a big time scorer won the MVC’s Larry Bird, Player of the Year award. Does that happen in the Big 12? How about in ACC?

I’m not knocking the ‘money conferences’ as much as I’m saying I appreciate the MVC and OVC so much more. Their players have less acclaim and less of a chance to earn a living in basketball when they graduate. As Hinson says “Kentucky’s players were McDonald’s all-americans and my players worked at McDonald’s.”

Coaches like Belmont’s Ricky Byrd wins 20 games and conference titles virtually every year and enjoys the process and is a genuinely humble and approachable man. Jacksonville State’s James Green speaks wisely and from the heart. Indiana State’s Greg Lansing and Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson are as intense as any big time program coach, but their ability to maintain perspective is tangible.

Ball movement, sturdy defense and appreciation for the name on the front of the jersey are all normal in the VALLEYS, not something that is en vogue this season because the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA title again.

Of course we love the ‘blue bloods’ of college basketball! Kansas, Michigan State, Louisville and others are great programs, but as CBS and the NCAA both know, when programs like Eastern Kentucky or Bradley win in March, that’s what creates the ‘Madness’ they are selling.

Here is my one complaint with the VALLEYS. Your conference tournaments are the same weekend! Arch Madness and Music City Madness are awesome but how can I watch them both when you play them simultaneously? I love Nashville and St. Louis, but I can’t be in two places at the same time even for my favorite basketball conferences.

Do Good