Is this a good reason to enjoy college basketball as opposed to the NBA?

I was having a conversation with a guy about why he prefers college basketball rather than the NBA.

He said did not like NBA because there was an emphasis on man-to-man defense, the 24-second shot clock, and players were allocated six fouls before being disqualified.

This form of basketball was "street ball" in his opinion -- not the pure, team-oriented game that young adults play at State U.

Any thoughts on this assessment?

 

If the NBA played like it does in the game's final five minutes at all portions of the game and season, I'd be a huge fan.

The game just doesn't seem important to those guys until after Christmas and until the fourth quarter.

It's like watching thoroughbreds jog at half pace around a track.

In college games, I get the feeling that every game matters to them. I like that everyone in the country has a chance to compete for a title. I like the pageantry at which most probably roll their eyes.

It's just a great experience to sit courtside at any Division I college basketball game. I can't say the same about every NBA game.

 

Do you think that maybe playing an 82-game season compared to a 30-plus game season could have something to do with the lack of enthusiasm pros have compared to college kids?

 

I'm sure it does, but why would that matter to a consumer who's choosing where to get the most enjoyment out of his time and money?

 

Of course the brutal schedule NBA players undertake has a lot to do with injuries and stamina. But that doesn't account for a lack of enthusiasm. NBA players play games like it's their jobs. I don't see that with NFL players. Intensity ratchets up, if anything. In the NBA, the whole thing seems so labored that if a guy actually plays with heart every night like Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant or Shane Battier...we praise him for playing hard.

Nobody ever praises NFL players for simply playing hard. In the NBA, that's above and beyond expectations.

For what it's worth, MLB has the same problem. Playing every night seems to sap the intensity of players. I'm all for reducing the NBA schedule down to 60 games and getting the season done by April or May and taking MLB down to 154 again.

 

It's all about race.

 

I think that could be a small element, but hardly a completely adequate explanation. African-Americans and international players make up a solid majority of the college basketball players as much as they do the NBA game, don't they?

 

I think ucacm was jerking your chain and drew out more than you'd like.

 

I figured so. I can never resist replying, though.

 

Sure, when you have chattel whose fate you completely hold in your hands, they'll always perform. Dance for me! Be my monkey!

 

Be My Monkey would be the title of the worst love song ever.

 

It upsets your friend that players are allocated six fouls before fouling out? The 24-second shot clock upsets him? That's really something that concerns him? Was he originally upset when they stopped doing jump balls after every made basket? Does he rail about the disappearance of short-shorts, and why don't guys play in crew-cuts anymore, like Rick Mount?

I love college basketball, high school basketball, and, I'm on the record in the UConn thread as talking about how much I enjoy watching women's basketball. Any kind of basketball I'll watch. But watching the NBA is a superior experience, at least for me, and I know that's the minority opinion. The level of play is just so much better. And part of that "not playing hard" is that they make it look a hundred times easier than the college guys out there. They can actually chew gum and dribble 94-feet without falling all over the place. They can break a press without making it look like some monumental achievement.

Put it this way: The difference between watching the pros compared to college is just about as big as watching college men compared to college women. The ball-handling, shooting, passing, defense, and coaching are so much better that it's jolting watching a college game and NBA one in the same day.

And I do say that as an admitted NBA homer, and as a sad guy who spent part of his night watching the Hornets and Pistons battle. Bottom line: You can prefer college basketball. Your friend's reasons for preferring it are ridiculous.