College Basketball: Why the NBA Lockout Will Result in the Greatest Season Ever

As I turned on my television to tune into Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals, I remember whispering to myself, "Try to enjoy these last few games as much as possible."

So last night I tried to enjoy every LeBron turnover, tried to get the Dirk fever every time he nailed a big fade away, tried to match up the DNA of Chris Bosh with the appropriate dinosaur, and pondered how Mark Jackson got a coaching job. 

It all ended up with another historic Mavericks comeback, which our nation celebrated in an "We just got Osama!" type of fashion. However, all of the praise heaped on this series seems almost worthless, and borderline irresponsible. It seems like, in a few months, this will all be a depressing blur, as we begin our two-year wait for professional basketball to return to us again.

Our relationship with the NBA is at its peak, and the league has decided to hawk a loogie on it. We have never loved a current group of superstars like this group, yet the NBA is taking them away from us.

As fans, we have never been so invested in an NBA Finals, both historically and emotionally, but the NBA is sending out a message that they do not care about our emotions.

The NBA cares more about the economic survival of its teams, which is completely fair, but it seems illogical not to get something worked out, since the league's popularity may be at its absolute peak.

With all of this adding up, it seems like there is little hope for sports fans, sports writers, and even athletes for the next two years.  We just may have to accept that seeing thousands of pictures of LeBron making a desperate attempt to cover up his bald spot will be our lasting image of the NBA for the next few years.

So over the next couple of years, how are we going to get our basketball fill?  How are we going to spend our days if we do not have games to look forward to? How many times can a person view videos of white players awkwardly missing high fives before they turn to insanely depressing SlamBall highlights? 

Do we get to a point where we just quit talking about basketball altogether and pretend to be surprised when a politician does something scandalous? Do we actually begin to pretend to care about actual humans more than games? Will we debate who is the better dancer between LeBron and Jordan passionately? 

The question is not "Will our lives suck without the NBA?" but rather "How can our lives not suck without the NBA?"

I spent the first 444 words of this article doing the kind of fear mongering that would make even Glenn Beck drool to make this point: things actually might be better.

If you already filed for divorce from your wife, if you already made 100,000 "His name is Wiener and he tweeted a picture of his wiener!" jokes, if you already memorized Hot Sauce's Wikipedia page, or if you already started reminiscing about the good old days and put short shorts on, I have to sincerely apologize.

The only thing you have to do to solve your basketball problem during the NBA Lockout is actually watch higher quality basketball.  College basketball. I can already see your face. You are about to hurl your laptop, incredulous that someone actually suggest you watch college basketball.

Ever since the "one and done" era started, you have been completely disgusted with the lack of talent in college basketball. You have been disgusted that even the teams who are supposed to be traditional powers end up sucking more than a Nicolas Cage movie about driving fast. You have been disgusted because, well, you are a professional fan.

You watching college basketball would be like Ryan Reynolds going to the local trailer park to find his next date. You watching college basketball would be an insult to the fandom that you have spent more time trying to establish than your credit rating.  Why would you waste your time on something as stupid as college basketball? 

The first reason you should waste your time on this season of college basketball is that the traditional powers are back and stacked.  Let's start with UNC, who might be the most talented team of the decade.

UNC boasts an absurd eight McDonald's All-Americans, along with solid role players.

They have Harrison Barnes, who might end up being the best player in the country, Kendall Marshall, who might be the best passer in the nation, John Henson, who might be the best defender in the country, and Tyler Zeller, who might be the best post threat in the country. And you cannot forget about Roy Williams, who has almost never had a team underachieve in his time at North Carolina.

Kentucky will once again have one of the more talented teams in the nation, this time with a few veterans, not only freshmen.

Duke has about three Plumlees too many, but they are poised to make another run.

Kansas is rebuilding, but is still expected to contend for a Big 12 title.

UCLA is going to have their best season since shampoo commercial star Kevin Love was on campus, and hell, even Indiana might be good. This is the best season we have had in a while as far as all of the traditional powers being solid teams.

The second reason you should waste your time on this season of college basketball is that we have arguably never seen this much talent in the college game. When Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes, Terrence Jones, Perry Jones, and John Henson decided to come back to their respective schools, the NBA lost out on five of their top ten picks

Even more players who were locks not necessarily for the lottery but for the first round decided to come back for a second season. The most amazing thing is that these players who decided to come back could actually fall in the 2012 draft because of the absurd amount of talent that is coming into college basketball.

Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague, Michael Gilchrist, and Austin Rivers could all jump ahead of the returning players who were supposed to be picked in the top ten of the 2011 draft. When you add all this together, 2012 could end up being one of the more talented draft classes that the NBA has ever seen.

The third reason you want to waste your time on this season of college basketball is because of the story lines.

If Roy Williams wins his third title at UNC, is he a better coach than the great Dean Smith?

If John Calipari wins his first title at Kentucky, is his bad reputation vacated?

Will Vanderbilt be able to go to its first Final Four?

Will this be the bounce-back year for what was once a proud Indiana program?

Is time running out for Coach K at Duke?

Is this the greatest non-conference slate of basketball games that we have ever seen?  Is Dick Vitale going to die if he screams "Awesome, baby!" one more time at the top of his lungs? I do not think we have ever entered a season with this many compelling story lines ever.  I do not think I have ever been this excited about a season of college basketball.

You waste your time on this college basketball season because it is not only going to be one of the greatest seasons in the history of college basketball, but it is also going to be one of the most important.

You watch this season of college basketball because all of the traditional powers are going to be stacked for the first time since the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

You watch this season of college basketball because it is going to end up resulting in the most talented draft class we have had since 2003 (with less Darko).

You watch this season of college basketball because there will be more Cinderellas than at a five-year-old girl's Halloween party, there will be more Dick Vitale screams than any season since 1905, there will be more parity than the NBA could even fathom, and there will be more fun than any you could have with an actual person. 

You watch this season of college basketball because you love great sports, and this season might actually be the definition of great sports. It would be a shame if you let your pride get in the way of something you love.