March Madness, but not here: How the Gophers basketball struggle creates a disconnect

At 12:40 p.m. Monday, about 18 hours after the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament brackets were revealed, I finally took a look at them.

The bracket reveal used to be appointment television. Now? It barely resonates for me.

Now, if there's one thing I've learned (hopefully more than just one) over the years, it is that ascribing my feelings to other people is foolish, dangerous, etc. Just because I reach a conclusion doesn't mean others have come to that point at the same time (if ever).

Still, I do sense that plenty of you share the same sentiment about college basketball that Patrick Reusse and I expressed near the end of Monday's Daily Delivery podcast: We're just not that into it.

Multiple factors are at play, but for me it boils down to: The Gophers men's and women's programs just weren't relevant this year (or last year), which makes college basketball easy to forget. In tandem with that, the transfer portal has created volatility — and, in many cases, a diminished overall college basketball product.

Twitter polls are unscientific and self-selecting, but slightly more than half of you agreed that the lack of success for the Gophers men's and/or women's teams made you less interested in the NCAA tournament(s) this year.

Specific feedback ran an interesting gamut from:

"Maybe not so much the tourney itself but I had zero interest in watching any regular season college basketball and that was directly related to the gophers being very bad."

"The Gophers being bad makes me watch less college basketball throughout the regular season, but I always come back once the conference tournaments start."

"It certainly is more fun when the Gophers in the tourney but personally, I have a harder time with the college game these days because the high rate of turnover means I don't have time to figure out what's going on and who is actually good."

"The first Thurs-Sunday is always fun to watch the underdogs and upsets, but these days keeping track of a Marvel movie plotline takes less research than figuring out who is good in college hoops."

If I'm being honest, I'm sure I'll watch at least some of the men's and women's tournaments. There is bound to be drama. That first weekend can be fun, especially when catch wind of an upset in the making and click over to see what happens.

But if I'm asking "is it you or is it me, college basketball?" the answer seems clear: It's some of both.