It’s the first day of the 2023-24 men’s and women’s college basketball seasons and storylines abound: Can LSU women and UConn men repeat? Will transfers like Hunter Dickinson (Michigan to Kansas) and Max Abmas (Oral Roberts to Texas) lead their teams to victory? How will the new head coaches at major programs fare this year?
To celebrate the men’s season getting underway, the NCAA March Madness account collaborated with Bleacher Report — the same site responsible for the iconic Team USA graphic following the 2019 Women’s World Cup win — for another picture.
College basketball is BACK
The road to Phoenix begins today pic.twitter.com/o3EDJjqy3V
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 6, 2023
Not only is the Final Four in Glendale, which is decidedly not Phoenix, why are players and mascots riding on Star Wars speeders to [checks notes] the Roman Colosseum? The question here is about whether the graphic is meant to have us all confused deliberately.
Unsurprisingly, college basketball fans had questions.