It might sound cliché, but there really is nothing like this time of year.

The arrival of daylight saving time annually welcomes one of the world’s greatest spectacles – college basketball.

My time spent in the student-engulfed media section of Food City Center always carries some of my favorite parts of being in this field. For starters, I got my first call to the so-called big leagues when I joined the men’s basketball beat a year ago. It was my first taste of what true professional journalism looked like in a major college sport, and I learned some of the most valuable lessons about how this stuff really worked.

From a fan perspective, I think there’s a beauty to college hoops that no other sport can capture.

There’s a certain niche trait about the game. It’s tuning in to a 10 p.m. tipoff on a random Tuesday in November to catch a battle between Gonzaga and Creighton. It’s naming as many March Madness Cinderella legends as you can in a contest with your buddies. Where else can a guy named Doug Edert make history? It had to be in college basketball.

The personalities are on another level. At the broadcasting desk, you’ve got names like the great Dick Vitale and Bill Raftery. Roaming the sidelines, figures like Dan Hurley, Rick Pitino and John Calipari give the game the swagger and emotional vibes that make it so special. Who had Amir Khan, a team manager for McNeese State, garnishing NIL deals because of his pregame boombox antics? If you know college basketball, you probably weren’t surprised.

Then, you have the atmospheres. Whether it’s a rocking Allen Fieldhouse or the close quarters of Cameron Indoor Stadium, these settings make for some of the premier scenes in all of athletics. It’s camping out for seats in Krzyzewskiville or waiting in long ice cream lines inside of Rupp Arena. Nothing can compare.

So yes, aside from doing my actual job covering the Vols in one of their most highly anticipated seasons in school history, you can find me in my apartment taking in the beauty that is college basketball. The quadbox on my TV will be rolling, and I’ll be loving every second of it.

Let the madness begin. Man to man!