NCAA Tournament Schedule (Why are they SO stupid)

[katester44]

Had to put this in writing somewhere...The NCAA tournament schedule is so completely non-sensical!!!

After watching games that started at 9:45 EST on Saturday and Sunday - you realize there is zero consideration given for younger fans of the game. My son and I have watched nearly every televised Carolina game together this year - the exception being 9:00 start times on school nights (very rare).

So what does the brilliant NCAA do - they schedule Carolina for a 9:45 start time on Saturday night in the round of 32. And than for the sweet 16 game against Indiana - they are rolling out a 9:57 start time, assuming the first game doesn't run late or go into OT. If MLB can start its playoff games at 1:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon, I would think the NCAA could do the same. A 9:57 start time will be tough enough for adults to stay up for..can't imagine how younger kids (you know the fans that you need to keep growing) will make it that late.

It is one thing to start a game at 9:57 PST, but c'mon, have some common sense NCAA!!! With the age of some of these college coaches..have to figure they will be struggling to stay awake just like the rest of us.

 

[katester44]

After sitting through the games on Friday night, what an ABSOLUTE joke!

I took my son to Philly on Friday for the Sweet Sixteen games at Wells Fargo. As Carolina fans, figured the chances of seeing them in the tourney were slim at best, so you pony up and go when you can.

Tons of kids in the arena, with tons of energy for tip off of WISC/ND @ 6:57. When Carolina/IND tipped off almost 3+ hours later at 10:05, those same kids were either sleeping on their parents shoulders or running on Sour Patch Kids and Coca Cola.

When we left the arena at just short of 1am...that was a problem! The refs didn't help matters either by calling 20+ fouls in the second half, including 4 in the last 90 seconds with the benches cleared and Carolina up 20. Don't even get me started on the concession prices!!!!

Considering they had another set of games going on in Chicago, a time zone away - it would have made far more sense to have those games as the later starts.

Just my two cents! On the plus side, my son and I had a great time!!! Plus his favorite player drained 4 straight three balls to open the game, doesn't get better than that!!

 

[Beachbum]

You are hitting on the reasons why I have lost 95% of my interest in the tournament these days.