Flaws Make College Ball a Lot More Fun to Watch

This weekend’s men’s Final Four is the last call for a college basketball season still intoxicated by the crazed overtime buzz of the regional finals.

Interest is up. Television ratings are up.

It’s a giddy time for the college game, which, by necessity, has hit upon a success formula pioneered by Paul Tagliabue’s NFL, which holds that any sport ridding itself of dominant teams and promoting parity will enchant the public with a diluted product as long as the games are closely contested and the outcomes unpredictable.

The concept worked wonders for the NFL’s popularity, until the New England Patriots began to chafe under the parameters of enforced mediocrity and reeled off three Super Bowl championships in four years.

Men’s college basketball has been diluted against its will, with the NBA raiding the best and the brightest from the high school and college ranks.

College coaches squawked for a while, but today, the result is an annual tournament devoid of dominant centers and super teams, turning the competition into an entertaining series of flawed but evenly matched elimination games -- better ratings through lesser talent.

“When you take a look at the college game right now, it has never been healthier,” CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer said during a Thursday conference call. “It’s never been more fun to watch.

“It’s never been more competitive. You’ve never seen so many kids playing this hard. You’ve never seen coaches able to get the attention of their teams to know that it has to be a team and not an individual. You’ve never seen coaches in a position where they no longer have to take any baloney from the so-called superstar athlete. They’d just as soon not even have them in their program.

“And what is really interesting, and there have been some leaders of this of the major programs, they don’t recruit a guy that’s a one-year player anymore, or that’s even thinking about that.

“So all of a sudden, you’re a kid, you’re the eighth man on the squad, and you’re being treated the same as the first guy on the squad. That’s why we’re seeing, I think, a culture of this college game that’s back to team play, energy, listening to the coach. And I think that the fans really can relate to it. There are no prima donnas in the college game anymore.”

No, all the prima donnas have already moved on to the NBA, where, Packer said, they are “baby-sat while they eventually [learn] to be players.”

What to do about the current state of the professional game? Give Packer enough idle time -- there were no NCAA tournament games from Monday through Friday -- and he will usually manage to find an opinion.

Thursday, Packer came up with a rather, um, novel way to improve the NBA game while slowing the drag on 19- and 20-year olds jumping to the pros:

Use fewer players.

“Personally, if I wanted to make any major change in basketball, it wouldn’t be about changing the court or anything about the court,” he said.

“I think at the highest level, the game should be played four on four, as opposed to five on five. And I think you would see much more skill that could be used and I think it would be a great sport to watch.”

Four on four? Really?

“At the NBA level, the game should be played four on four,” Packer reiterated.

“You know the original game was played nine on nine because [Dr. James] Naismith had 18 kids in the class. So there’s never been any reason why the game was five on five.

“And now, I’m sitting across the table here from Clark Kellogg. When you look at the size of Clark and his wingspan, Naismith never intended for guys 6-foot-9 to be able to run, jump and show all of the aspects and skills of [modern] basketball. If you made that game four on four, you would be able to exploit the skills of the game as opposed to the positioning of people who have the size to lean on somebody who can play.”

It’s a concept to consider, Laker fans. Four on four would certainly open up the floor for a player of Kobe Bryant’s abilities and instincts, giving him one fewer teammate to ignore.

Today, CBS televises the men’s national semifinals, Illinois-Louisville at 3 p.m., followed by North Carolina-Michigan State at 5:45 p.m., with the winners meeting in Monday’s final. All games, unless otherwise noted, will be played five on five.

Also available for viewing this weekend:

*

TODAY

* Lakers at San Antonio Spurs

(Channel 9, 5:30 p.m.)

Four on four, huh? Might be worth a try for the Lakers, who have struggled more than they could have imagined trying to master one on five.

* D.C. United at Chivas USA

(Channel 7, noon)

In this corner, the new kid on the block opens its first Major League Soccer season against the defending league champion, trying to avoid getting its block knocked off.

* Galaxy at Columbus Crew

(FSNW, 4:30 p.m.)

And in the other corner, the Galaxy, having fired a shot across Chivas’ bow with its Landon Donovan signing, swaggers into Columbus for its season opener. These games count in the standings, but they are mere prelude to the first game on the schedule that really matters -- Chivas versus Galaxy, Home Depot Center, April 23.

SUNDAY

* Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

(ESPN2, 5 p.m.)

Last year, Major League Baseball opened its regular season amid strange circumstances -- in Japan. This year, they’re even stranger. On the marquee, for the first time in 86 years: “Defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.”