How To Follow College Basketball

During the winter months and into "March Madness", sports fans around the nation love to fanatically follow college basketball. The popularity, and in some cases high stakes of the most popular postseason tournament in the sporting world often makes those who did not pay attention from the start wish they followed college basketball. In fact, the ultra-competitive nature of the games, regional prides, and more intricate defenses cause many fans to opt to follow college basketball in place of the professional game. However, the abundance of obscure, not very well known conferences in addition to the over 300 teams that Division 1 college basketball houses can intimidate the novice fan from starting to follow college basketball. There are many ways though, including the internet, the many television broadcasts, and the Conference Championship Tournaments that occur in every conference (with the exception of the Ivy League) at the end of the year that can help the average fan get up to speed before the big dance and make them feel as if they have been following college basketball their entire lives.

In the age of technology, information and analysis, especially in the world of sports, it's not as hard to come by as it once. Sports websites such as ESPN, Yahoo Sports, and Rivals.com offer an abundance of material that can be useful to anyone who is following college basketball, especially those new to the game. With team pages updated daily, a scoreboard consisting of every game in the nation on any given night, and in-depth articles on some of the biggest teams, games, and conferences on a regular basis, an average fan can easily at least become familiar with a majority of, if not all of the Division 1 college basketball teams without even turning on the television.

Fortunately for die-hard college basketball followers, the sport's growing popularity has given it an almost unlimited amount of airtime on sports networks. During the heart of the regular season, there seems to be at least one televised game every night on either ESPN or ESPN2, and if not, the ESPN family ensured that college basketball fans would never be snubbed when they introduced their very own channel specifically for college sports, ESPNU. The nightly televised games range from huge power conference rivalries such as Duke vs. North Carolina to obscure small schools such as North Dakota State getting their chance to shine in front of a national audience. The ESPN networks are dreams come true for anyone endlessly following college basketball throughout the year.

For those who missed the boat during the regular season but still wish to follow college basketball and catch up on the collegiate world before March Madness officially starts, the conference championships are a perfect opportunity for fans to become acquainted with all the potential postseason teams. College basketball followers can spot the next Cinderella in the mid-major conference tournaments while becoming more familiar with the style of play of championship favorites in their conference tournaments.