Since 2021, I’ve been on the college basketball hype train. It is by far my favorite sports league to watch and keep up with. Not long after I became a fan, my beloved Pittsburgh Panthers made an unforgettable March Madness run in 2023, but that’s a story for another day.
Far too many fans are too keyed in on NBA and NFL action during these months and only pay attention to the beauty of this league once conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament start to heat up in March. College hoops deserve season-long viewership from anybody who plans to tune in come March.
NCAA men’s basketball brings levels of excitement and unpredictability every single night no other college sport or professional league can rival. Each game matters, as teams are competing for one thing: a bid to the NCAA tournament, also known as March Madness.
The nation’s elite that sit toward the top of the country, such as the University of Arizona and the University of Michigan this season, play against each other in high-level matchups to prove their abilities. These schools aim to earn high seeds in the March Madness Tournament, where they compete for a national championship.
Lower-tier schools, like those in the Missouri Valley and Sun Belt conferences, grind out upset wins and fight lesser-viewed yet entertaining battles within their conferences. They compete in hopes of winning said conference’s end-of-season tournament, earning an automatic trip to the NCAA tournament.
Each season is a treat for fans, but this is the year for casual fans to fully jump on the bandwagon. Just a little over a month into this 2026 campaign, we have already seen historic levels of parity, competitiveness, wild finishes and high-stakes matchups coming from all angles.
The fight for the No. 1 spot in this season’s rankings has been nothing short of a war thus far, giving fans high-level matchups nearly every single night to determine who will clinch the spot. Seven weeks into the season, we have already seen Purdue University, The University of Houston and The University of Arizona claim the No. 1 spot at least once.
Schools ranked highly in the preseason and early-season polls can plummet while underdogs climb the rankings to leap highly-ranked juggernauts. The Associated Press poll rankings are put together by a board of analysts and basketball aficionados, giving a fresh look into the landscape of college hoops each week of the season. These rankings hold so much weight because they show which teams can stay atop the nation for long periods of time, and the accumulation of each weekly ranking contributes to seeding in the NCAA tournament.
The anticipation of weekly rankings following each week of play makes college hoops even more entertaining from November to March; however, passion is what makes college basketball special. There is no denying the hunger college basketball players bring to each game, because every single possession truly matters.
Anybody who tunes into the NCAA tournament can see the passion being played with as lower-ranked “Cinderella” teams miraculously win multiple games and put their names on the map. That passion is not only displayed in March. Many fans don’t realize each game from November on plays a key role in each team’s success across the country.
Tuning into certain NBA or NFL regular-season games can often be a snooze fest, as mid-season games between non-contending teams begin to feel pointless, and it seems as though players put in less effort, despite the fact they are paid millions of dollars to play.
You will never see that in college basketball. Each and every player is aiming to play at the next level with full passion every game. Plus, the NCAA tournament is a culmination of what teams have done all season long to earn a trip to that tournament in order to compete for a National Championship.
How teams perform in the marquee opportunities they are given during the regular season contributes to their resume, and a high-level resume with a lofty number of impressive wins earns teams high seeds in the March Madness Tournament, bolstering their chances to go all the way and hoist a National Championship trophy.
March Madness is, of course, the draw for most fans to come out of hiding and tune in, but every fan should be putting much more time into following college basketball, and that will become undeniable sooner rather than later.
Jack Muldowney is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Jack Muldowney about their column? Email/tweet them at jm760224@ohio.edu or @JackMuldowney1.
