Class, What Did We Learn Today?

As we are less than a month away from the start of the college basketball season, I am hoping that everyone in the last five months has learned something which can make college basketball even a better game and more exciting game than it is today.

We also hope that everyone can forget the awful, boring, pathetic, effortless championship game that Butler and Connecticut put on last April. I guess if I wanted everyone to forget, I should not have reminded you. Sorry.

My love of college basketball I would hope is well documented, but I do agree with some of the critics that the game has become a little stagnate and is losing some of its appeal.

Over the last five months of this column, I have made several suggestions, which college basketball should have implemented for the 2011-12 season, but now I am hoping that all you great readers will look at this upcoming season and say, "Crawscorner is right and these changes need to happen in college basketball soon".

In case your new to this column or  missed what I wrote or even need a little refresher here we go with some things I feel are mandatory to improve the college basketball game.

1. Bring back pre-game dunking. Right now it is not allowed once the officials take the court, which is generally 30 minutes prior to tip-off. This is such a stupid rule. Allow dunking in pre-game, just make the penalties the same as they are in the game, if the player hangs on the rim, it is a technical foul. I do not know one single person who does not like dunking, the players love it and it would bring fans to game much earlier, thus allowing more concessions sales, as well as you would attract more kids to the games, which is always good for the future.

2. Correct the timeout situation in college basketball. It is one of the top three complaints from fans about the game and once again, schools need to remember that fans are not your enemy, they are your CUSTOMERS. And please do not blame TV/radio, they need their timeouts to pay for the broadcasts, which I have mentioned many times, so many people who can't afford to attend the games, or have physical limitations that do not allow them to do so and often depend on  these games as the highlight of their day.

Her is a simple way to do timeouts in college basketball. Do not have any team timeouts, just have a 90 second timeout under the 16:00, 12:00, 8:00 and 4:00 minute mark on the first dead ball after these times and allow one 30 second timeout per team per half. I have talked to numerous broadcast people and this more than satisfies their need for commercials and it should more than satisfy coaches to implement strategy. Phil Jackson won a whole lot of championships and so did Bobby Knight, not calling lots of timeouts.

Right now the game is being ruined by the timeout rules, this is a simple solution to a major problem.

3. I was not trying to be funny when I suggested this change. Never play a second overtime, but instead have a free throw shootout. Copy soccer, (No I really didn't mention soccer did I), yes I did. Shootouts are just great and so exciting, but pressure filled and so much fun for the fans. There also is motive in my madness, it might just make free throw shooting better in college basketball, as I have documented, free throw shooting in college basketball has not improved since 1965, SHOCKING.

4. And finally, for all you schools that never get any people out to games or your attendance is miserable, hire a marketing person who has some passion, wants to think outside of the box and cares about the game. There are plenty of great sports people out there looking for work. I am getting sick of the same old promotions, the wringing of hands about lack of attendance and the lack of passion. Get with it schools, it not only your job to educate people, it is also your job to promote athletics. If you need any advice on how to market your product better, please just contact myself, I am willing to help.

Big thank you to both Kevin McCarthy, who runs one of the top three college basketball blogs in the country, http://parsingthewac.blogspot.com and Jonathan Reed, who runs www.bigskybball.com, for their kindness these past few months. And speaking of Jonathan, best of luck in his upcoming marriage in 9 days, we know his bride is getting a great man, cause anyone who has the courage to write a daily blog on Big Sky basketball has to be a great man.

Ok for all you people that want help with marketing, or you just wish to comment on this column, you can email myself at crawscorner@gmail.com or as always, please follow myself on twitter @wchoops.
Thank you for your readership, which is reaching all time highs as we march to opening tip-offs a month away.