It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. College GameDay is a college football institution, and the people at the world wide leader decided to use the same formula for college basketball. What works for football just fails miserably for basketball. So before you get up early on Saturday to check the crew out we have a few reasons why it's just not the same as in the fall.
It's Too Contrived
College football has a strong tailgate culture and that's one of the main reasons for the success of the football edition. It's great seeing 10,000 Auburn faithful outside cheering before they play Florida. There's something genuine about the enthusiasm and GameDay only adds to the energy. For the basketball edition all the energy is sucked out of the formula and replaced with what might as well be recording of cheering. They fill the arena with a couple of thousand fans (nerds?) hours before the game. The show airs from 10am-12, and the game, which is always the prime time ESPN broadcast, does not start until 9pm. No matter what Digger and the crew want to tell you there's no way that those people are staying. The moment the show is done the TV whores in the seats are right back to some place where they can start drinking, so their enthusiasm during the broadcast is far from genuine.
It's Not Even the Game of The Week
The football version does not decide until days before Saturday where they will be traveling, but the basketball edition has its games picked weeks in advance. Football follows great match-ups like California and Oregon or Kansas and Missouri this season. Imagine if they picked their games weeks in advance, do you think game day would have been at that Missouri-Kansas game? Doubtful. Now look at this past week's basketball location: Southern Illinois. The Salukis have been a powerhouse in the MVC for years, but this year they limped into this contest at 4-4 in the conference while their opponent Creighton, another perennial MVC power, came in at 5-3. This match-up does not exactly stir excitement in the average college fan's heart, but nonetheless at 9 am central time Digger, Bilas, and company were there in full force prepping you for this one. The final score? A sloppy 48-44 victory for the Salukis to move to 10-10 for the season.
Digger Is No Corsoe
Oh, the WWL held strict to their formula with this one. Corsoe has been a major hit on the football edition so why not take an old basketball coach from the studio and make him part of the broadcast. Enter Digger Phelps and his color cooridination. Digger flat out sucks compared to Lee (and Lee's pretty annoying himself at times). First, Digger doesn't even fain impartiality, choosing Notre Dame, where he coached, as often as he humanly can. Then there is the point of his tie-to-highlight combo. Does he have OCD or is the queer eye for the straight guy crew working for him? Lee may do lines of coke before he goes on stage but it's way better than Digger's awful voice and highlighter.
Bilas Isn't Herbstreit
Don't get us wrong, we love Jay and Hubert, but does either really look like hes going to go out and enjoy himself on campus like Kirk does? Jay and Hubert are just too innocent to fill the void that Kirk leaves. Neither is obnoxious enough and they certainly wouldn't leave a path of destruction at every sorority house like we know Kirk and those sweet highlights do.
The next two weekends are good match-ups, but that doesn't make up for how bad College GameDay is as a basketball program. Luckily it's only 7 months until this. Sadly we have two months left of this:
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