Imagine: The San Diego State vs. UCLA men’s basketball scrimmage with a title sponsor and ESPN crew on hand to report live on TV the preseason developments of both programs.
Money could be made off of closed scrimmages in college basketball. Programs, especially mid-majors like San Diego State, can gain more exposure.
Spring football games are open to the public and televised live on ESPN and conference networks such as the Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks. Do football coaches care about other coaches noticing how they use personnel? No. It is so far ahead of the season and coaches are mostly infatuated with their programs getting air time. Recruits take note that a program’s spring game is well-attended and airing on ESPN’s SEC Network, for example. That’s dreamy.
Why can’t college basketball scrimmages between programs such as Marquette and Stanford — two teams with an actual matchup scheduled — play in front of the cameras and fans in the seats?
Division I programs have the choice to have a closed scrimmage with another Division I school or have an open exhibition game against a Division II, Division III, NAIA or even a foreign opponent. Division I programs are allowed to have two preseason games that do not count and it is up to each program how they wish to use the two games.
Missouri had a long-standing tradition of playing two exhibitions against lower-division local programs. This will be the first year the Tigers will reportedly try a secret scrimmage against nearby Creighton.
The scrimmages are closed to the public and the schools are forbidden by the NCAA to release information about them. They don’t appear on a team’s schedule yet information is linked and matchups become known every year. Not even stats are allowed to be disclosed but fans still learn about who scored what through social media and message boards. Coaches are not allowed to discuss information about the scrimmages, but that does not prevent reporters from asking about them.
With social media’s popularity, we live in a time when people believe all information should be accessible. In this YouTube generation, we also want to watch things unfold, catch highlights or view with our own eyes breaking information. The words “closed scrimmage” leaves us in frustration. We know these sessions are meant for instruction and do not carry the same setup of a regular game, but neither do spring football games.
“The practice scrimmage may not be included on the institution’s published season schedule and may not count against either team’s won/loss records,” the NCAA rule reads. “Only athletics department staff members and those individuals necessary to conduct the practice scrimmage may be present during the scrimmage. Further, the institution must ensure the scrimmage is free from public view and media are not in attendance.”
What is this, Fight Club? In principle, yes. For those who are not familiar with the film or book, the first rule of Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club.
Coaches argue that with the closed scrimmages – which also include NCAA-sanctioned refs – that they can collaborate with the opposing coaching staff and design a scrimmage that will get exactly what they want to work on. They can go longer than a 40-minute timed game and design segments to work on particulars such as zone defense, full-court press, out-of-bounds plays or late-game situations.
Moreover, the coaches do not have to answer to reporters why they worked on certain areas more than others or used certain lineups, etc.
But those questions will surface anyway as the season plays out. Also, the fan atmosphere can become part of the preparation, especially for freshmen getting their first taste of big-time college basketball. The other available game, an exhibition, is usually against an inferior team in which the players can experience the bright lights, but it becomes more of a dunkfest and laugher by the end.
Wouldn’t it be great to see in a scrimmage two quality teams exercising a late-game situation with fans requested to cheer at the top of their lungs? How about a free throw drill with fans trying to distract the players? Sure, other parts of the scrimmage may not be tantalizing, but for basketball purists it would be interesting to see how the coaches work.
Will it ever happen in which the closed scrimmages become open? Spring football games were not televised in earnest until 2008 when ESPN’s College Game Day crew showed up at Florida for the Gators’ spring game. This year 61 spring games were televised by the various networks, including all off the programs in the Big Ten and Pac-12 by their respective networks.
A decade ago, nobody really gave TV coverage of spring football games a thought, similar to what’s going on now with basketball’s secret scrimmages.
Note to NCAA and its institutions: A potential money-maker is out there, if only you open a handful of scrimmages involving Top 25 programs.
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