It seems every winter I try to get into college basketball and always hear "Why watch the regular season?  Only the tournament is important" from friends, family, and sports writers.  For the most part, it's true and I never really care about college basketball until brackets are announced and the NCAA Tournament offically begins.

Maybe Joakim Noah was right.  Maybe we - the mass population and the sports writers - don't really know as much college basketball as we all like to think.

I know I don't know as much as I would like.  I wish I could write a great blog with predictions, forecasts, and previews for the NCAA tournament.  Sadly, I place little to no importance on the regular season and don't follow many teams outside of Duke, UNC, UConn and Boston College.  Even those teams are a stretch: I look at scores and unless it's a great matchup, I rarely sit down and truly watch the game.

Who had George Mason in the Final Four?  Who had George Mason winning more than one game in their bracket?

Honestly, who even knew where George Mason was?

Joakim Noah made a believer out of me.  No, not a believer about his own personal talent (even though he is a pretty damn good player).  Noah convinced me to follow the regular season and not focus as much on the tournament.

While he may not win on Monday night, he did win in this aspect.  I'll be willing to bet a lot more people watch the regular season next season not only to watch Noah, but also to find that sleeper team like George Mason or Wichita State.  I know I'll be.