First of in the interest of full disclosure; college football and college basketball are the two sports I follow the most. I have read about college basketball's declining interest in general and at the Convo in particular.

However, this really hit home when I went over to check something on ESPN today. I noticed that even though college football is over there still exists an icon of college football, but there is none for college basketball. You have to scroll down to some sort of miscellaneous index. I get that the NFL, NBA, NHL, college football and soccer icons would be there, but the fact that college basketball is lumped in a miscellaneous icon with auto racing, horse racing, cricket, CFL etc is a bit disconcerting.

I also get the fact that with college basketball's one and done rule, a lot of talent leaves early but it is still appealing to me. Perhaps one and done might explain the dwindling support in general and from the Ozone in particular. I honestly don't know. Even with Ohio State's marketing prowess and their big start including beating #1 Michigan State and playing Maryland on national TV, I was of the understanding that the game against the Terrapins was not a sellout. Is March Madness all that is left for college basketball's ratings, street cred and social media commentariat? Perhaps a lot of young people have many choices and college basketball is just losing it's social appeal. I am just throwing it out there, I honestly don't know.

My opinion: money. ESPN invests obscene amounts into college football, and the NFL, so that's what you see on their "news" website. Simple as that. I don't see a decline at all. Yeah, maybe in attendance, but that's an issue in many sports.

Kids on break, yes. You are aware of what the weather was like last night, right?

I don't get that. I walked from Franklin Avenue to the Convo and never missed a home game. Level 2 doesn't mean you can't walk to an entertainment venue. Hell..I'm going to the Xavier Game today just to laugh at Xavier preppies. I could care less about the game but the food and beer are free.

I don't want to get in to a Trump caliber discussion. Just how I rolled. Now get off my lawn :)

I am so tired of Friday Night college games. There are way too many on our schedule. That is definitely a factor in the declining crowds. Among other things.

My .02

One-and-done's have turned the elite programs into minor league NBA teams. They may be very talented, but they're all 18 and 19 year old kids. Gone are the days of seeing 21/22/23 year old men wearing Duke/Kentucky/Kansas jerseys. Makes it hard to learn to love OR hate these teams. Most times people just love or hate the tradition, or these days it's the head coach - but not so much the players themselves.

Combine that with the transfer rules (including grad transfers) and the NCAA has created wildly volatile and fluid rosters. It's almost impossible to be a fan of a group of players on a team and watch them grow/play together for multiple seasons anymore. There's the coaching carousel too. Plus conference realignment. Makes it hard to develop that rooting bond/interest with the team - because even if the name on the front of the jersey stays the same - the teams you're playing against and the names on the back of the jerseys are different virtually every year. If you aren't a die-hard fan of a team (like those of us on message boards) you start every fall saying "Who are these guys?" "We're playing who?". Nobody for kids to latch onto and hold their attention from year to year as they grow up and turn into season ticket holders.

Combine those two things and you have a much younger group of players, and much less chemistry between players due to lack of time together/new systems and coaches etc - and the level of play across the board in NCAA is way way WAY down. Like - hard to watch sometimes bad. Which means even less casual observers get drawn in.

I also think NCAA has expanded D-1 way too far. There's currently 351 D1 college basketball schools. In what world is Incarnate World, Sacred Heart, Longwood, Mississippi Valley St, Texas A&M Corpus Christi branch, South Carolina Upstate regional campus, Presbyterian, New Jersey Institute of Technology in the same stratosphere as Michigan St, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Louisville etc. I'm not naive. I know it's all about the $$$, but these are NOT D1 schools - and it's watering down the competition.

Not only is the NCAA expanding D1 way too far, causing the difference between the top and bottom to be so wide it's funny - but the gap between high majors and mid majors is widening. Again it's all about $$$. Mids are doing their best, but can't keep up with the Jones'. That's not the fault of the big boys, but it IS the fault of the NCAA for not even remotely trying to level the playing field. If they aren't going to - then why even bother playing in the same division? It's two different worlds (maybe three if you consider the low end). Might as well just split apart.

If you're a fan of a 2nd tier mid-major or even worse one of those 3rd tier low end D1 schools - is there any reason to get excited about the basketball season if A) You don't know all the players B) You don't know half the teams on your schedule C) You don't know the coach and D) You know you have literally 0 chance of winning against the "big boys"? Answer - you don't.

EXCEPT ---

March Madness. One magical month. And guess what? NCAA basketball gets front and center attention - even on sites like ESPN - during March Madness. Office brackets hum with discussions of whether 14 seed North Dakota State might just be a sleeper to watch. Everybody has a chance, and everybody is relevant, and every game matters. For one month. And therefore everybody cares. From networks to websites to office coolers to message boards to Johnny Casual Fan to iPhone zombie college student.

But the sad thing is. Now it's the ONLY thing that matters. November-February are essentially NFL pre-season football. Nobody cares. March, however, is NFL playoffs football. It's must-see TV. Even with younger teams and decreased level of play.

But you don't build loyal fans who buy season tickets year after year and attend games in Level 2 snow emergencies on Tuesday nights - when only one month a year matters, and 9/10 years your team doesn't even take part in the party.

It's why I say on here every year. Literally nothing matters except the MAC tournament. We could go 0-28 for all I care. Win the MAC tourney? Means you're playing in March. That means people care. That means people will watch/attend. That creates buzz. That means it's a successful season. Go 28-0 but lose in the MAC? Ho-hum. Nobody cares. Move onto next year.

One thing to add here: the on-the-court product's declined pretty substantially over the last few years. If I recall correctly, there were some officiating changes last season designed to open up the game a bit more, but on the whole I think for various reasons college basketball's on-court product just isn't very strong right now.

The first few things I'd do to remedy that are pretty simple. First, move the three point line back. There's really no good reason that the college and NBA games should differ from one another there. A longer three point line would improve spacing and let perimeter players get into the paint more, and show off/further develop a wider range of skills. More space is a good thing.

Second, the college game is too physical and perimeter defenders are allowed to get away with much more than NBA players are. Combine that with the above, and the game becomes about who can make more contested threes.

Lastly, the one and done rule's hurt college basketball. The best programs lack continuity. The Kentucky's and Dukes of the world are basically integrating 5-7 new rotation players every single season. While I am opposed to requiring players to stay longer, and hate the NCAA, I think college basketball would be greatly improved if the NBA had a functioning minor league system and the best players, the guys who are guaranteed lottery picks, were able to skip college altogether and college programs focused their recruiting efforts on players who were likely 3-4 years away from a pro career.

350 is too many D-1 teams. I agree. They need to make a dividing line, like football had D-1 and 1aa (aka FCS). Then SIU-Edwardsville can have a shot at playing a 1aa basketball championship against CSU-Bakersfield. These schools have no shot at an NCAA D-1 basketball title as it stands.

I know that won't make more students show up to the Convo, but it just seemed like a good time to mention the idea.

Agree here, but I'd tweak it. I don't think you need a minor league system.

We live in a free capitalistic America (for now). You shouldn't be able to tell 18 year old kids that they CAN'T go earn money in the NBA. So - do away with this stupid one-and-done rule. Go back to allowing kids to jump straight from HS to the NBA. (Yes that means the NBA actually has to provide mentoring programs for these kids to teach them how to stay out of trouble and not blow all their new-found money or get into trouble as an 18/19 year old - the real reason the NBA favored making them go to college for a year so they could "grow up" a year and let the NBA off the hook).

But, for every LeBron James and Kevin Durant, or more recent examples guys like Anthony Davis or Marvin Bagley III - there are 20 guys who will declare and NOT be ready. They might not even be worthy of a first round pick.

So...make it so that if a player declares for the NBA draft and doesn't become a first round pick (aka not a guaranteed contract) - whether that's a 2nd round pick or not drafted at all - then they are allowed to reclassify as an amateur and open up recruiting to go to NCAA. If you're good enough to be a lottery pick at 18 - go play in the NBA, but there's only a handful of those every year. Everybody else come on down.

NBA Draft is in June. Open up a recruiting schedule from mid-June to mid-August to recruit those reclassifiers. Would it possibly delay other recruits? Yeah possibly - but the recruits don't have to wait until August to see if Kentucky really wants to offer them if they have an offer to Butler/Dayton etc already in hand. My guess is people would make a big deal about this, but we'd realistically only be talking about a dozen or so players each year.

Next, what you say is - if you go the NCAA route, instead of this crazy 1-and-done structure where there is ZERO continuity for anybody - go back to a minimum of 2 years in NCAA before you can be eligible to be drafted again. No different than the 3 year limit on NCAAF.

Finally, I tweak the transfer rules to go back to forcing a player to sit a year - INCLUDING grad transfers. Again, it's a free country. Don't like the coach/new coach/school/academic program - you're certainly free to change your mind. Player movement is inevitable. BUT you don't get to hop skip and jump wherever you want. You sit a year. That will bring more 3-5 year guys back into the fold from all the transfers. One year older. One year stronger. One year smarter = better basketball product on the floor. Grad transfers is the same thing. They "claim" (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) that's it's about academics. Certainly if a guy graduates in 4 years and still has eligibility left - and wants to pursue an advanced degree he should be able to do so. No problem with that. But want to play athletics while doing it? Fine - but sit out a year. The vast majority of graduate academics programs (supposedly the reason you are transferring) are two year programs anyway. Sit out that first year and focus on your studies. Second year - suit up. And force the "student-athlete" to actually attend classes and maintain a decent gpa during the first year of grad school too. No "specialized studies" masters degrees where Bowling 450 on Friday afternoons counts for your degree. My guess is you'd see less grad transfers this way. Means more 5th year guys at their original schools. Again more continuity, more talent, better product.

That would have a trickle down effect on all of college hoops. The 1-and-dones are all gone. Those few elite guys will just go straight to pros. The big boys can then go after the guys who declared but weren't lottery picks and those 5 star guys who didn't declare - and are guaranteed at least 2 years with them to actually BUILD a team. The mid majors and lower tier guys get significantly less roster turnover as well (less transfers) and the entire product level goes back up significantly.

You can do all this while allowing guys to go make their $ AND let the NCAA still get their $ too. Much like free market economics - it's not a zero sum game.

Obviously your post was tongue in cheek, but - and I'll preface this with I'm the biggest soccer hater there is, I don't even think it's a sport but rather more like glorified cross-country - HOWEVER, based on number of participants in youth leagues (which turn into college athletes and fans) and eyeballs already in attendance at games and on TV, then expanding our soccer program probably isn't the worst idea in the world.

They have a championship Archery team.

FYI...England's Premier League relegates the bottom 3 finshers at the end of each season and promotes the top 3 from the next highest division. Some teams have bounced back and forth.

Are we sure this isn't personalized somehow? The icons showing at ESPN for me go - MLB, NCAAM, NFL, NCAAF, Golf, NBA, ...

This is perfect for me, probably even in that order. But to your point, it has NCAAM on it.