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Stephen F. Austin coach: Millennials 'don't even watch college basketball'

"A lot of our guys didn't even know who those cats (Texas Tech players) were because they don't watch the game. They're on their phone and doing that kind of stuff.
Courtesy USA Today Sports

Millennials could be a threat to college basketball, to hear it from Stephen F. Austin coach Kyle Keller.

“…the Millennials today, they don't even watch college basketball,’’ he said Thursday night after Stephen F. Austin lost to Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA tournament. “A lot of our guys didn't even know who those cats (Texas Tech players) were because they don't watch the game. They're on their phone and doing that kind of stuff.

“I hate to say it, but as much as you or I or anybody in here watches the games, they don't. Or the NBA. They might watch the slam-dunk contest in February on TNT or whatever, but that's about the extent of it.”

Keller said he has no choice but to understand the behavior of Millennials, a generation with birth years spanning from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

“If I don't read it and study it and learn and try to figure these kids out, I have no chance to coach… Because the way I was taught as a child was, ‘Hey, you are going to eat what is on your plate, if not, you're going to sit here.’ I had to sit at the kitchen table one Saturday afternoon because I didn't want to eat green beans or salmon patties.

“So we have a lot of green beans on our team meals, and I tell that story to our guys. But you have to adjust. You'd better learn to give and some take with these kids, I think.’’

He offered no insight on Generation Z, which follows the Millennials.

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