I didn't like NCAA ball until.... well, until I went to college. While some of the players are performing for the scouts, most aren't good enough and play with heart, leaving it all on the court. For many of them, their basketball careers end at the college level and it shows by the way the play. You aren't going to see a spectacular highlight reel, but you will see 5 hungry players play team ball.
Normally, I would agree simply because of the lopsidedness of the outcomes, with the higher ranked teams usually controlling, and dominating, from wire to wire. Then a year like this one comes along and wrecks thay whole thesis. This season has seen more hotly contested games and upsets than any tournament in the last twenty years. Nearly every game has been a nailbiter as brackets around every office in the nation get relegated to the shredder. A March like this one warrants a dedicated following for years to come. I could never really get into it because I went to a small liberal arts school and I have trouble rooting for teams that I have no reason to be loyal to. This ultimately led to another reason to follow the NCAA - it enables me to scout future Rockets!
That math does not compute... even if a team goes all the way to the NBA finals the most they can play is 117 games... so I take that times 48 minutes a game.. then divide by 40 to get the number of total minutes played and I get 140 games... whereas the NCAA guys play between 35-40 if they make the finals of the tourney... hence 140 is no where close to 8 times 35
Eh, yeah. I just came up with the 8 on the fly really. I didn't even compute the minutes which are big forgetting that college is 40 vs. 48 minutes for the NBA.
Anyone that genuinely believes that "College players give maximum effort all the time, NBA players do not" should undergo forced sterilization.
I agree with the OP. College basketball for me is about as exciting as watching golf, I just don't find it exciting. The product quality is extremely inferior to the NBA, it just feel like JV basketball at best.. Talk about passion and how great is the 100% effort college students give. Personally, give me the NBA playoffs, talent is oozing out of every player and the intensity is unmatched. March madness is like march sadness for me, specially in comparison to the upper echelon teams of the NBA going head to head.
Go to nbadraft.net and get familiar with some of the players. I used to not like college ball either, mainly because I didn't know anyone. Reading the scouting reports on these guys makes you want to watch to see if they really do have game.
I think watching college basketball is fun because you get to see intense rivalries, player development, and follow teams you have likely rooted for your whole life. I think it's more of a tradition. It's hard for someone to just pick up watching college ball unless they start at a younger age, or until they go to a school that is good at it.
Well i didnt use to like college bball either until i actually sat down and watch it. It is mad exciting so many buzzer beaters its insane. And the tempo changes like that! Sure at times guys rush things and get a little sloppy, but thats part of the learning experience. Love it.
no they don't. threads like these are where all the BS cliches come out. they play for the love of the game, it's a team game, they give it their all every minute, it's a 5 man game, it's so intense, blah blah blah. yeah, of course if all you watch every year is the tournament, then it does seem like they play hard all the time. so do nba players in the playoffs. and the nba even benefits from having series because teams can just play their game, whereas in the tournament lots of times teams play tentatively or make decisions they usually wouldn't because of the one and done nature of the tourney. sometimes that adds to the game, sometimes it takes away from it. it's like people think nba players come from some strange pool of talent completely separate from college players. there are selfish guys, there are unselfish guys, there are teams that play together, there are teams that don't, sometimes everybody comes out fired up, sometimes a team gets rolled by 20 and looks like they'd rather be at a party, sometimes they play as a team, sometimes it's just the guards dribbling a lot. and if people think playing for the love of the game is a motivator, then i'd say money is a pretty good motivator as well. the number of guys with big contracts who cruise is far smaller than the number of guys who are either a) big time competitors who play hard no matter what (look at the rockets the last few years), b) guys who would love to see that minimum contract become a 3 year guaranteed contract, or that $3M contract become a $5M contract, or that $7M contract become a $10M contract, or that $10M contract become a max contract or c) both. most all professional athletes play hard because there's always someone waiting in the wings who would love to have your contract/your roster spot. college players play hard. pros play hard. i can understand maybe liking the style of officiating better. in terms of being right and wrong, college officials are worse, but there is less star treatment so if that is one of your pet peeves, i can see that. i hate all of the charges college refs call so i get frustrated seeing that over and over. i like college basketball, but the reason i can't like college ball more than nba ball is the talent differential is just too damn big. you realize just how ridiculously good nba players are when you watch the tournament. the number of basic mistakes college players make again and again is so frustrating, the plays they don't make that would be routine in the nba are hard to get excited about, and the general lack of cohesion that comes from having to rotate players through 4 years careers (that can be as short as 1 year) just takes a certain polish off the game that i love about the nba. and that doesn't even get into getting to watch the superstars in the nba.
anyone who believes that one's opinions about sports should result in forced sterilization should be sodomized by christian laettner.
I understand your where you are coming on this and once felt the same. Being a student at Texas Tech, there is not much to get excited about in the form of Basketball. So, I've found myself only going to games in which we are playing an opposing team with a player that will transition well into the NBA, such as: Durant, Beasely, Griffin, Udoh, etc It makes the draft much more exciting having a small grasp on what these guys are all about. Beyond that, if you can't enjoy the tournament, there is something wrong with you.
college players give alot of effort out there. nba players have the " im already paid, so i wont try hard" attitude, and you can tell by the way they play.
College basketball is the one of the best things in my life now, much better than the NBA, NFL, and even college football. I used to hate college basketball. Boring offense, no creativity, no talent continuity... then I went to Duke. :grin:
I don't understand the "college kids play harder" thing. if you don't think nba players play hard, you're fooling yourself. yes, there are some instances where a star player will give up on the court (tmac) but nba players play hard. they just make it look easy.
