"This is our game. We are honored to be part of it. We accept the responsibility to help preserve its past and build its future. Because we are the game."

Beginning this month that mantra will be in front of every men's basketball stakeholder -- from student-athletes, athletics directors and coaches to officials, cheerleaders and pep bands -- and while there is no contract to sign, there is an expectation to live by the words.

For the first time, a unified, consolidated and consistent message is being sent to the entire men's basketball community: "We are the game." More than simply a slogan, a logo or a promotion, the message is a collective strategy delivered through print, video and Internet technology that reminds stakeholders how fortunate they are to be part of something as special as men's college basketball. And it is just a start.

Why is it necessary? Because the Men's College Basketball Partnership (MCBP), a collection of about three dozen influential stakeholders charged last year by NCAA President Myles Brand with addressing both the opportunities and challenges that face the sport, believes the time is right to emphasize the game's unique attributes. The "We are the game" strategy is the MCBP's first volley to communicate why the game matters, and why everyone in the men's basketball community is accountable for the game's success.

"This is more than just a promotion -- it's a multifaceted effort that expresses the aspirations all of us have for the college game," said University of Iowa Athletics Director and MCBP member Bob Bowlsby. "I choose the word 'aspirations' carefully because all the best parts of college athletics and all the worst parts of college athletics are present in college basketball. We need to embrace and nurture the best parts and fix the others. This effort begins that process."

The "effort" consists of a "We are the game" booklet, a Web site that serves as a college basketball portal, a new college basketball mark, and a video that supports the book with narratives from basketball legends such as John Wooden, Emeka Okafor and Clark Kellogg. Each men's basketball coach in Divisions I, II and III has received 25 special-edition books for the student-athletes and a copy of the video to show at a team meeting or other function. Schools also have received additional copies of the book for distribution as they see fit.

"The 'We are the game' book is something that we as coaches and student-athletes are going to latch onto," said MCBP member Paul Hewitt, head coach at Georgia Institute of Technology. "For many years college basketball student-athletes and coaches have felt that we have something special. This is a way of recognizing that. One of the things I'll talk to my players about is the fact that
we have a responsibility to continue to lead as
a positive example so more good things can happen for our game. The book is symbolic, but it can lead to something more tangible down the road."

The "We are the game" book and video make it clear that today's stakeholders are advancing a product built on tradition and excellence, that everyone has a role to play in the game's continued success, and that "in our game, education is served."

The book backs that premise by stating: "We are committed to making sure that the educational experience remains central to all we do. And our game is conducted as part of a college or university. We understand that. We know that if our game fails to serve the school's educational mission, it fails to have relevance."

Team effort

The campaign focuses solely on men's basketball. The women's basketball community launched a similar initiative last year that identifies that sport's unique attributes and uses stakeholder commitment to build a brand. Similarly, the men's basketball community wants to send a deeper and more permanent message.

"We have a great game," said Bowlsby, the immediate past chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee. "There is unprecedented interest in our sport. We work from a position of strength as we try to make it even better."

The MCBP strategy is to promote the game's values, encourage buy-in and recognition from the game's constituents, and then work as a sum of parts to resolve problems that can't be addressed adequately by any one of those parts. Some of those problems include shoring up the summer basketball environment, monitoring and improving nonscholastic activities related to basketball and raising the academic performance of the Division I men's basketball cohort. MCBP members say those problems will be easier to address once the basketball community invests in itself and admits that collectively, it is responsible for the future.

That collective approach already seems validated by the very fact that the MCBP produced it. A representative group of constituents that in the past may have worked independently to advance the game, the new-direction MCBP consists of coaches, athletics directors, broadcast and print media representatives, commissioners, presidents, former basketball celebrities and corporate personnel who are now working in unison toward a common goal.

"Everyone admires a good team effort," Hewitt said, "whether it's a team on the court or a team composed of different parts of the NCAA structure -- coaches, athletics directors, administrators -- working together for something positive. These constituents have worked together in the past, but not with the same immediacy of being able to share thoughts in the same room."

While the MCBP is not an NCAA group that operates within the Association's governance structure, most of its members are administrators at NCAA institutions or members of the national office staff. Among the high-profile coaches on the group are Hewitt, Duke University's Mike Krzyzewski, Syracuse University's Jim Boeheim and Tubby Smith from the University of Kentucky.

Other public figures include college basketball analysts Billy Packer and Len Elmore, former Big East Conference commissioner Dave Gavitt and National Association of Basketball Coaches Executive Director Jim Haney. Two college presidents -- Carol Cartwright of Kent State University and Anthony DiGiorgio of Winthrop University -- also dot the roster.

Kentucky's Smith said he's been impressed with the level of commitment from all the various stakeholders in the game, and that the MCBP promotional strategy is the right approach.

"We've got the best game out there -- its popularity in the last few years is proof of that," Smith said. "But everyone, including current and former players, coaches, administrators and commissioners, has a vested interest in college basketball continuing to grow the right way. NCAA President Brand has done a good job bringing people together. That's how you get people involved, by coming up with a partnership like this."

Protect heritage, grow future

MCBP member Jack Swarbrick, an Indianapolis-based attorney and a frequent consultant for NCAA affairs, said the effort protects an asset of "extra-ordinary value" -- not just because of basketball's financial significance to the NCAA, but because the game reflects the values of the NCAA.

"In many ways, basketball is what ties the collegiate community together," said Swarbrick, who also recently chaired a joint task force of NCAA and United States Olympic Committee members to address Olympic sports issues. "Not everyone plays football or baseball, but 99.9 percent of colleges and universities have basketball programs. And financially, college basketball is what enables the NCAA to conduct its business.

"This is as much about offense as it is about defense. We want to improve the game not because it is broken, but because it is something of value that we want to protect and nurture. That hasn't happened recently, not because the stakeholders don't have the best interests of the game at heart, but because the NCAA governance structure doesn't always provide the apparatus to oversee the game or focus on some of the particular aspects. That's what's so unique and extraordinary about gathering all of the different stakeholders within the MCBP."

<FONT FACE="New Baskerville" SIZE=2>Princeton University Athletics Director Gary Walters agrees. Walters, a MCBP member and a member of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, said the timing is right for such an effort.

"We as members of the NCAA are thinking strategically about the placement of basketball within the overall structure of the NCAA. I think that's healthy," Walters said. "We have critically important stakeholders who are concerned not only about the future of the game, but the future role that student-athletes represent in our institutions in reaching their academic and athletics potential."

Swarbrick said with that common goal in mind -- and with the diverse MCBP working collectively on it -- there is a built-in accountability that should keep constituents focused. It may even reduce the instances of bad behavior that have harmed the game in recent years. The feeling is that with more of a family sense about the game, individual members may be less likely to act out.

"We hope awareness of this builds from the inside," Swarbrick said. "We want student-athletes to believe they are part of something special -- their special-edition book is a membership card to an inclusive club. But even if that doesn't resonate immediately with a student-athlete, it sends the message at least that others care deeply, which is why we expect that student-athlete's coach to do certain things and act a certain way. It really is about all of us taking responsibility for the game."

Swarbrick also noted that the promotion emphasizes the collegiate model of athletics, a model he believes is best expressed by college basketball. While the game is part of an educational environment, he said, it competes in an entertainment environment. "This effort reinforces our connection to the academic context in which we exist, but it also distinguishes ourselves from everything else and helps people understand that college basketball is not professional basketball. The public doesn't seem to be as attuned to that distinction as it used to be," Swarbrick said.

The promotion's October launch won't be the only push in the campaign. Swarbrick said the MCBP will continue to collect narratives from stakeholders throughout the year who can express the "We are the game" theme. He said, for example, that video compilations of players, coaches, pep band members, cheerleaders and broadcasters saying "We are the game" could be used in short bursts during college basketball telecasts as a way to keep the message alive throughout the year.

As the promotion builds, Swarbrick said, the MCBP may begin to address other issues such as the way the game is played or the structure of the season. With the NCAA's recent purchase of the National Invitation Tournaments, for example, stakeholders are better positioned to define the entire basketball season, rather than have the focus be only on March Madness.

The fact that this immediate-term promotion could lead to a longer-term growth of the game was meaningful to MCBP members like Princeton's Walters.

"This was a values-driven piece," he said. "It reflects the values we believe in. For me, this sends all the right signals about the role of athletics within higher education, the consistency of mission, the importance of athletics representing a character-building endeavor.

"I was inspired by the whole process. We, indeed, are the game."

The hope is that by the end of this season, more student-athletes, coaches and fans will be saying that, too.

Men's College Basketball Partnership roster

Members of the Men's College Basketball Partnership:

• Mike Aresco, senior vice-president for programming, CBS Sports

• Britton Banowsky, commissioner, Conference USA

• Jim Boeheim, head men's basketball coach, Syracuse University

• Bob Bowlsby, director of athletics, University of Iowa

• Carol Cartwright, president, Kent State University

• Gary Cunningham, director of athletics, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Jim Delany, commissioner, Big Ten Conference

• Anthony DiGiorgio, president, Winthrop University

• Len Elmore, attorney and ESPN television analyst

• Lee Fowler, director of athletics, North Carolina State University

• Doug Fullerton, commissioner, Big Sky Conference

• Dave Gavitt, president, Dave Gavitt, Inc.

• Dan Guerrero, director of athletics, University of California, Los Angeles

• Jim Haney, executive director, National Association of Basketball Coaches

• Michael Hansen, director, Nike

• Paul Hewitt, head men's basketball coach, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Tom Izzo, head men's basketball coach, Michigan State University

• Clark Kellogg, television analyst, CBS Sports

• Ernie Kent, head men's basketball coach, University of Oregon

• Mike Krzyzewski, head men's basketball coach, Duke University

• Craig Littlepage, director of athletics, University of Virginia

• Burke Magnus, vice-president/general manager, ESPNU

• Reggie Minton, associate executive director,

National Association of Basketball Coaches

• C.M. Newton, consultant, Southeastern Conference

• Robyn Norwood, reporter, Los Angeles Times

• Billy Packer, television analyst, CBS Sports

• Judy Rose, director of athletics, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

• Kelvin Sampson, head men's basketball coach, University of Oklahoma

• Tubby Smith, head men's basketball coach, University of Kentucky

• Jack Swarbrick, partner, Baker and Daniels

• Gary Walters, director of athletics, Princeton University

• Kevin Weiberg, commissioner, Big 12 Conference

• John Wildhack, senior vice-president, ESPN

• Willis Wilson, head men's basketball coach, Rice University

• David Berst, NCAA vice-president for Division I

• Myles Brand, NCAA president

• Tom Jernstedt, NCAA executive vice-president

• Greg Shaheen, NCAA vice-president of Division I men's basketbal and championship strategies