Back in the summer, a decent-sized controversy was sparked by CBS Sports’ decision to add player names to its existing fantasy college football contest. Less than a year later, the Knight Commission has another sport to worry about.

With its new offering, Hardcourt Challenge, ESPN has chosen to populate a fantasy game with the names of individual collegians who make up the teams in the men’s NCAA tournament.

Just like with CBS’ football action, this is not the first time that player names have been used a fantasy college basketball game. Just like in that situation, however, ESPN is far larger a presence than its predecessors in the space.

Will Hardcourt Challenge meet the kind of complaints that CBS’ fantasy college football did? Not likely. The shock felt by those on the other side of this debate figures to dissipate with each new mainstream game that identifies individual college athletes. On top of that, even the most well-meaning student advocate wouldn’t have much of an argument to make in March.

It was silly enough when opponents were lamenting the “awful” decision to name football players and charging fantasy with chipping away at the NCAA’s goal of “enhancing the educational experience.” Could anyone sit there with a straight face during the Pennzoil At The Half show while checking over his or her bracket and lob the same accusations at fantasy college basketball? It doesn’t look like anyone has yet, so maybe potential opponents will realize that fantasy isn’t evil.

As for the game itself, Hardcourt Challenge is clearly designed to appeal to the masses more than the serious fantasy player. There is no draft, just eight “buckets” (or groups) of players, and participants select one guy from each collection. The lineup can be changed after each weekend of games, and scoring combines points, rebounds and assists.

This kind of contest is interesting, because even with fantasy college football seeming to be on the verge of booming, college basketball can prove a bit more unwieldy. Anyone turned off by the 120 or so teams in the top football division will shiver at the more than 300 to track at the highest level of men’s hoops.

The 2008 tournament, however, has introduced us recently to this game from ESPN and a truer fantasy contest put on by Fantasy Postseason. The end-of-season tournament narrows the field down to a much more manageable 65 teams for game operators and presents a made for TV event that has a much easier time holding the attention of the consuming public.

Don’t be surprised if we soon see more NCAA tournament-centered fantasy games, even if full-season college basketball never really finds its footing.