I have never understood the need of NBA or college basketball fans to dismiss the other style of basketball. Lately, Tas Melas of the Basketball Jones podcast has taken to complaining about college basketball because he, apparently, doesn’t like it that people are talking about college ball. He doesn’t care about it. He doesn’t like it. It isn’t enough that he doesn’t have to watch it, he has to complain about the game. As someone who enjoys college basketball, I have found his complaining offensive. And as a college basketball fan, I know I am biased toward my sport. I like the NBA too (which is why I listen to their podcast daily – plus, they often make me laugh).
Only an idjit would say that college basketball is quantifiably better than professional ball. Since I am only semi-idiotic, I can clearly state that professional basketball features the best players doing amazing things routinely. However, basketball fans who dismiss college hoops are like meat eaters who will eat steak but not burgers. They are made from the same things and are relatively comparable. There are a few ways in which college basketball is superior to the NBA, and here are three (if you know of others or would like to tell me how great the pro game is, feel free to comment below):
1. Different styles of play
In the NBA, style of play largely relies on personnel and the differences are much more subtle than in college games. To read about the nuances, you can check out Zach Lowe’s excellent columns on Grantland. If you are more of a casual fan or like your style differences to be jarring, then you can watch different teams like VCU (which gambles for turnovers on every possession), Louisville (relies on a press), and Wisconsin (yes, the Badgers slow the game down, but their swing offense is interesting). College coaches employ different defenses to throw new looks at opponents. Most true zone defenses do not work as well in the NBA because there are too many good perimeter shooters.
2. Less complaining
I commented on this in an earlier column, but it seems like half of NBA possessions try to play to the referees. There is a lot of flopping and calls of “oh, and one!” (Michael Redd, I miss you.) Professional players play with a sense of entitlement, which means that they should be entitled to go to the free throw line every time down the court. It is tiresome. You’d think they want to show a little, you know, professionalism. In college, this complainer role is almost exclusively played by the coach. Most coaches complain about every call, but the players do not (for the most part). It’s rather refreshing.
3. Shorter games
Maybe this is just me being selfish, but I like the length and pace of college games better than pro games. If it were up to me, I’d only have TV timeouts at the five, ten, and 15-minute marks of college games, but I understand that the colleges need to buy books and pay those exorbitant salaries of tenured professors (that is what the basketball money goes for, isn’t it?). I love that I can watch an entire college game in less than an hour with judicious DVR fastforwarding. Professional games take longer, have more breaks, and are not really the better for it.
Perry Missner is a college basketball enthusiast who writes for RotoWire along with several other fantasy outlets. He welcomes your comments on Twitter at @PerryMissner or via email at [email protected]
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