Here are two Duke articles, one about how
Coach K develops leaders, and his leadership skills, and the other
about how  Elton
Misses March Madness. Â
"Sometimes, it doesn't seem like March," Brand told the New
York Journal.News. "The veterans are saying the season is winding down, but it doesn't seem like it is to me because there's no tournament to play. There's no finale."
This reminds us of the conversation Carrawell recounted with
Brand, where Brand said he was making a lot of money and Carrawell said yeah but
your team sucks. Or maybe Carrawell said it and Brand responded. Either way it's
true.
This brings to mind the single greatest reason why the NCAA
can still be viable: they have not just the greatest tournament of all time, and
that's almost certainly true, but the college game at times can be mythical. Obviously it still has a hold on Elton's imagination, and whatever the NBA might do, or anyone else, will still seem like minor leagues because it's not the NBA.
College ball, by definition is not the NBA, and more importantly, colleges have
built-in audiences for several reasons: 1) alums who follow their teams; 2) the
teams rarely move (Wake Forest is an exception to this), and 3) they have deep
roots in their states and regions. It's hard to imagine anyone competing with
Indiana, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Carolina, Alabama, or New Mexico. The market for
teams like that, which would be highly transient in nature, will be places like
the CBA has long since defined: Quad Cities, Rapid City, places with few
entertainment alternatives. Alaska would probably be a smart place.
Speaking of Alaska, here's
a site where you can follow the high school tournament there. As we all
know, Alaska has been really good to Duke, and as we also know, there is a
passion there for hoops which in some ways equals Tobacco Road.