William Rhoden writes a good article in the NY Times about how college basketball is as exciting as ever and having players stick around has something to do with it. This pretty much sums it up:
"As you look around the country at tournament games this season, a trend is emerging: senior leadership. The top four seeded teams--Kentucky, Duke, Stanford and St. Joseph's--are not loaded with pro prospects. What they have is solid senior leadership. That's the good news of this season, that college basketball has found its level. Not the C.B.A., not the N.B.A. College teams can't beat Olympic-caliber foreign teams and they struggle against touring teams like the Harlem Globetrotters. What these teams do is play pretty exciting basketball among themselves."Maryland senior center Jamar Smith made the following observation:
"I go to a lot of Washington Wizards games, and when I'm in Philadelphia, I go see the 76ers...You watch the crowds there compared to the crowds in college, it's totally different. If you think an N.B.A. crowd is better than a college crowd, you got to be crazy."I couldn't agree more.
