By FRED SEELY
JAX SPORTS NEWS
We almost have
reached the bottom of college basketball. We aren't there yet, but it's in
sight.
If you are a
college fan, you're in the wrong town, pal. You may have two Division 1 schools
but they aren't making it easy for you to watch their games and, considering
the opposition, you probably won't want to bother.
The main
culprit is Jacksonville University. It has a bad team, a terrible home
schedule, poor promotion, plays in the near-worst conference and a dumpy place
to play in a not-so-hot part of the city.
Don't let the
University of North Florida’s appearance in the NCAA tournament last year fool
you. It has a so-so team, a terrible home schedule, poor promotion, the same
near-worst conference and an arena that's nothing special.
Playing
downtown? No games from these two. If you must see basketball in the Veterans
Memorial Arena, you'll have to settle for an NBA exhibition and a doubleheader
involving women's teams.
The bottom is
upon us.
Let us start
with JU, which has been in a 45-year slide from the best team in college
basketball to one of the worst (the Dolphins were ranked 343rd of
351 Division 1 teams last year by the respected Sagarin system.)
Consider:
• They have
moved all their games to Swisher Gym, a 50-year-old facility that looks like it
was built years earlier.
• They play in
the Atlantic Sun Conference, rated by Sagarin as 33rd of 35 last
year. The A-Sun has a continually changing cast; it's where teams start, and
flee as soon as possible.
• In addition
to their no-name conference schedule, their non-conference list of worse. It's
hard to imagine driving over to Arlington, hunting a parking place, and then
paying to see (in order of appearance) Florida College, Thomas University,
Florida A&M, Marist, Bethune-Cookman, Florida Memorial and Trinity Baptist.
You've only heard of FAMU, Marist, Bethune and Trinity. And you know none of
those are any good. Of this list, only three teams are Division I and none of
those are much: Marist (No. 314,) Bethune (No. 330) and FAMU (No. 350 and
next-to-last.)
Now, UNF.
They got to a
reasonable level last year (No. 151 Sagarin,) went to the NCAA tournament last
year and are trying to ride that wave, but consider:
• They only got
into the tournament by winning the A-Sun tournament, which meant beating (in
order of appearance) Stetson (No. 335,) Lipscomb (No. 300) and USC Upstate (No.
181.) Their NCAA experience lasted one game, losing to Robert Morris (No. 176.)
• Their home
schedule is a tad better than JU's but certainly nothing to drive halfway to
the beach, park in a big garage and pay good money to see. They's bringing in
(in order of appearance ) FAMU, Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edward Waters, St.
Francis (NY), Trinity Baptist, Coastal Georgia, Florida International and
Austin Peay. Like JU, the Division 1 pickings are slim: FAMU, St. Francis (No.
161,) Florida International (No. 253) and Austin Peay (No. 318.)
• And, they
play in the no-name A-Sun. Kennesaw State, anyone?
Now, time for a
quiz. Of all the non-conference teams coming to town, how many of their
hometowns can you name?
A few are easy:
FAMU (Tallahassee,) Edward Waters (downtown Jacksonville) and Bethune (Daytona
Beach) for sure, and you should know Trinity (it's part of the megachurch on
the west edge of Duval County.)
That leaves
Florida College, Thomas University, Marist, Florida Memorial, Texas Rio Grande
Valley, St. Francis, Coastal Georgia, Florida International and Austin Peay.
Eh? Give up?
(In
order of appearance: Tampa; Thomasville, Ga.; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Miami;
Edinburgh, Tex.; Brooklyn; Brunswick,
Ga.; and Clarksville, Tenn.)
We all know
that this is an incredibly unsophisticated basketball town. Always has been.
Football is king, particularly college football. It took a near-NCAA championship
by JU to fill the old 8,000-seat Coliseum.
JU tried playing in the 14,000-seat
Arena for a few years and it added to the embarrassment, as most games were
seen by 500 or so desultory souls.
UNF got more
people to come but remember: this is an on-campus facility and games are
something for students to do, other than roam around the Town Center.
So …
• If you really
have nothing better to do, or
• If you are
addicted to college basketball, or
• If you want
to throw good money after bad, and
• If you want
to see bad teams, everyone of which was outranked by 150 other schools last
year,
Then …A season ticket
at UNF is $140, at JU it's $135.
Such a deal.