A common myth surrounding sports is the supposed superiority of College Basketball to the NBA. People are enthralled by the scintillating buzzer beaters, the Cinderella Runs in the Tournament and overall excitement of college basketball. And why shouldn’t they be I mean everyone likes to be excited but excitement doesn’t always means something is necessarily better. Take cinema for example, every year some big budget blockbuster film like Transformers comes out and the general public(even me) is amazed by the beauty of the CGI and special effects. But does the CGI put that movie over a wonderfully acted movie like The Departed(My personal favorite)? The answer is no, while the excitement and explosiveness of College Basketball may seem attractive it does not beat the pure dominating fundamentals of the NBA and here are the reasons why.
Pace: One of the major drawbacks of College Hoops for me is the pace of the game. Too many times when I’m watching NCAAB do I find myself watching a game of pass and dribble around the defender. The 35 second shot clock in college really inhibits me from really enjoying a College Basketball game. It significantly lowers the potential possessions in game and while it’s not completely fair to compare the pace between the NBA and College Hoops(NCAAB games are 8 minutes shorter) the fastest paced College Basketball team(Central Arkansas 76.4) averaged 16 less possessions than the slowest paced NBA team.
Winner:NBA Note: This argument is a little flawed because of the discrepancy in game length between the two. You could argue that on a per 48 minute basis possessions in college basketball would be higher.
Quality: The quality of College Basketball is one thing that can’t be denied, it can be just god awful sometimes. One of the season’s most exciting games, Louisville and Notre Dames’ 5 OT Thriller was such an eye sore that I almost couldn’t bring myself to watch the finish. It all goes back to the excitement factor of College Basketball, at the end the fans don’t care that neither team shot over 41% for the game as long as they witnessed a thrilling finish. While most of College Basketball scores at a pretty efficient rate(90 schools shoot better than 45%) most of that has to do with the lack of possessions and field goal attempts compared to an NBA game.And sometimes it’s not even about the FG%, sometimes I just like seeing guys making the right decisions out there, and you don’t see that a lot in College Basketball understandably so as these kids are still learning the game so not everything is going to be perfect but it’s just not how I like Basketball. I love seeing perfectly executed man on man defensive schemes not teams playing zone all game(Looking at you Boeheim),I love seeing guys with refined offensive games not broken jumpers waiting to be fixed in the pros, I love seeing how a post player reacts to a double team and so on. The lack of fundamentals in the College ranks perturbs me from ever truly becoming a true College Basketball fan.
Winner NBA
Talent Level: This really isn’t fair for College Basketball as the NBA has the best collection of players in the world. The majority of players in the NBA were stars on their respective College Teams while each year the NCAA produces maybe 15-20 prospects actually ready to make an impact right away. I don’t think I really need to go in depth to tell you about the superior talent that the NBA possesses.
Winner NBA
Competitive Balance: The NBA since it’s inception of Modern Free Agency has been maligned for it’s lack of Competitive Balance when it comes to championships after all only 9 different franchises have won the title since 1980. College Basketball, however, has seen 19 different schools win the big dance in that same time span. Of course both teams have powerhouse schools/teams that will most likely always attract the best recruits/free agents, the NCAA seems to have the advantage in the balance of competition
Winner: NCAA
Playoff System: For most sports fans whether they be casual or hardcore March Madness is the most exciting time of the year for them. The Bracket making is something anyone can participate without really possessing any significant knowledge about it.The inspiring Cinderella runs make the tournament even more exciting. Almost everything with March Madness works and it’s the catalyst for their balance in champions. A single elimination tournament is a huge deterrent to creating dynasties, which isn’t always a good thing.(In it’s history only 8 times have teams gone back to back, NBA has ten. Note:March Madness has been around since 1939 while the 1st NBA Finals occurred in 1950) Now while March Madness can be ultra fun I have to play the contrairian by saying that it isn’t perfect. I know it’s purposely structured so that anyone can win but I just feel like there is too little room for error in a game where anything can happen. The 7 game format for the NBA is perfect as it almost always guarantees that the “better” team advances as you don’t beat a team 4 times without being better than your opponent(injuries aside).Upsets are great all but sometimes can result in some ugly matchups(See 2011 NCAA Final).
Advantage: Slight edge to NCAA
College Basketball has been one of the most successful entities in sports for decades. Some much of it appeals to the general public. I personally have no problem with it but I do have a problem with people saying it is somehow better than the NBA. The NCAA Tournament is the only thing that could conceivably be better than anything the NBA has to offer and even that is flawed to some degree. Anyone with a keen basketball eye can see that the fundamentals of the NBA game are miles ahead of the NCAA’s. Not saying College Basketball is horrible but that to me at least it’s entertainment value is not on the NBA’s level.
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