Chase Swaringen

In lieu of the holiday season, I’ve decided to take a little time to talk about what I’m thankful for this college basketball season.

College Basketball is Back

I’m thanking my lucky stars for it. College basketball is the complete package of a sport. Never in any other sport will you see so many games, so many upsets, and so many athletes. The game has everything and unless you just aren’t a basketball fan in general, it is almost impossible to not get caught up in the hype of it.

Big Ten Coaching

Obviously this was a crazy offseason of coaching hirings and firings. However, the Big Ten conference really made some noise. The conference already has legends like Tom Izzo and blossoming stars in Chris Collins. Add Archie Miller and Brad Underwood to that mix and you have the most elite coaching of any conference. As usual there will be many close conference games that will be won and lost based on coaching decisions and there’s no doubt it’ll be a pleasure to watch these coaching duels unfold.

Grayson Allen’s Maturity Level

Grayson Allen is to college basketball what The Joker is to Batman and I’m sick of it. For three years Allen has been tripping players, throwing temper tantrums and getting negative press for his immaturity, but apparently Allen has finally settled down and become the leader the Blue Devil’s need him to be. If true as he’s shown so far, Allen could be set for a monster year statistically, which would make him all the more interesting to watch considering he won’t be suspended for doing something malicious.

The Champions Classic/PK80/Early-Season Tournaments

Tournaments with big matchups early on in the season make for a whole year of close games and exciting plays. Instead of rolling over cupcake teams to a 14-0 non-conference record, teams that take chances in these tournaments gain valuable experience against top-tier teams, which ultimately results in even better conference games. Not only is the quality of the games better but sports apparel companies tend to pull out all the stops and create some awesome jerseys to show off their brand. (Don’t believe me? Check out the PK80 jerseys)

Teddy Valentine

The king. The goat. TV Teddy. Hands down the most electric referee in NCAA basketball. If you ever want to see passion for a job, watch as Teddy Valentine calls a charge or a blocking foul. All jokes aside, I’m not that thankful for Teddy V as he is always ruining college basketball games with odd calls at strange times and making every matchup a free-throw fest. It’s more just the animation he brings the gaem.

Gus Johnson/Bill Raftery/Dick Vitale

As someone who hopes to be a sports broadcaster one day, I idolize these guys. Gus Johnson has a plethora of amazing calls in both basketball and football, Bill Raftery never fails with a pun, and I’m actually just glad Vitale is still around the game even though he mostly just babbles into the microphone at this point. Either way, because college basketball is such an action-packed sport, the announcers always get really into games, which makes for some great YouTube clips later on.

If you haven’t watched any college basketball this season, do yourself a favor and throw a game on with some friends or family and you’ll be thankful you did.

From everyone at Student Union Sports, have a great and happy Thanksgiving.