Excuse the Interjection: Is the college basketball season too long?

Friday, Jan. 6, 2006 | 8:33 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's take: Yes. March Madness now intrudes on April -- this year's championship game will be played on April 3. How's that for madness? That's probably all that needs to be said on the topic.

Jeff Haney's take: While it's hard to argue the season should be any longer, at least with all those extra games on the schedule, no single regular-season game becomes a do-or-die affair. There's plenty of time to rebound from an inopportune loss.

RK: I liked it better when the regular-season games did mean something to somebody other than the Cameron Crazies at Duke and their leader, Dick Vitale. Now, it's almost to where the regular season is little more than a five-month exercise in jockeying for position within some vaguely named regional bracket.

JH: Maybe that's the trade-off you make when the NCAA tournament grows to be so popular that it transcends the sport, and bracket-tracking becomes everybody's favorite springtime diversion. Villanova-UConn in February is reduced to an exhibition game (or, as you suggest, a contest to determine who receives a higher seed).

RK: Maybe they should just hold a 334-team tournament that starts in December and ends the last week in March and be done with it. At least that way when Southern Utah plays UNLV, it would mean something. Seriously, back in Indiana when I was a kid, every high school team was eligible to play in a giant everybody-in tournament. And it worked.

JH: That's an extreme measure considering not everyone agrees the college hoops season is too long. The folks at Chaminade, for instance, or in Alaska, or with the myriad Coaches vs. Cancer-type tournaments. They'd say the length of the season is just right.

RK: The season is at least six games too long, because ESPN2 needs programming. It's just that simple. There's only so much Jay Bilas one can take, and with the games beginning in mid-November, I've already had my fill.

JH: Just six games? All things considered, that's not too bad compared to the NBA, which some would say is at least six weeks too long.