Growing up on college basketball in the mid-’90s, I always loved Big Monday. If you fall in my age range (27 to 33 years old), you probably did too. I loved how the sport was so relevant on the national scene. Was it all in my head? Who knows. These days, it’s hard to argue college basketball’s slow slip into the background until late February.
I still do love Big Monday, though, even if it’s not the same kind of love. I’ve grown older. The relationship has changed. Maybe I’ve changed. The most important thing: It still feels important. Like, if you miss a Big Monday game, you’re out of the loop. ESPN, in that sense, has successfully brainwashed me.
Maybe some of it was the promos. (Plenty of Goulet below.)
We get Bilas-Raftery-McDonough back, which is great.
What’s not? Ron Franklin being cut loose from the Monday broadcasts in favor of Brent Musberger-Bob Knight. ESPN should’ve kept Musberger-Knight on Tuesday/Wednesday games. Franklin now is relegated to Wednesday and Saturday duties.
It’s a fairly light slate nationally tonight, so all eyes will be on the two games on the tube. Villanova-Louisville and Oklahoma State-Oklahoma get the ball rolling tonight on The Juggernaut. Next week, I’m really intrigued by Syracuse-Notre Dame and Texas-Kansas State.
Regardless, my Mondays for the next two months will be occupied with appointment television. Enjoy the late Robert Goulet. These videos should be put in a vault and preserved for all time, as they will never be topped.
