College Basketball is the Most Pure Form of the Sport
College basketball is the most pure and authentic version of the sport.
In my eyes, the NBA and college hoops are essentially two different games entirely. This is made clear simply by watching both and noticing how fundamentally dissimilar the strategies, player behavior, and situations are.
Offensive Issues
The biggest discrepancy between the two is the way that offense is played.
In the NBA, it’s all about heaving up 3-pointers, going out of your way to jump into your defender and draw the foul, or the players taking turns going 1 vs. 1 against each other. It’s basically a perpetual movement of somebody dribbling into the lane and kicking it to another guy, he then tries to take his guy off the dribble before kicking it out for a contested 3-pointer. Or maybe a shifty point guard gets multiple screens, before “putting his guy in jail” by leaning back into him and drawing a foul.
Also common are fast breaks involving some casual cherry-picking; the center grabs the rebound and chucks it down court for an athletic player to finish at the other end (getting back on defense is difficult in the NBA).
College basketball features almost an entirely different vocabulary and set of movements. A big guy down low will “seal” his defender and get post position. There’s a lot more emphasis on off-ball movement in college, and players don’t get stuck in these 1 vs. 1 situations as much.
There are fewer fast breaks and heaving up contested 3-pointers, and they seem to run a lot more plays. Players in college actually, um, box out, and, you know, at least try to get back on defense (what’s that?)
The fouling issue in the NBA rears its ugly head here in this context; watching the NBA is a lot closer to watching a free throw competition than it is a basketball game.
Now, the NBA features the best players in the world and offers moments college players simply can’t produce. They shoot the lights out of the ball, are far more athletic, and are generally capable of making plays that college kids can’t.
Watching a 360 dunk or an unbelievable 3-point shot is great, but the college game offers so much more for fans.
The Environment
Something about the fact that they’re not (technically) professionals and are young makes the games more enjoyable; everyone in the NBA appears to be friends with everyone else and most of them already have cushy contracts and know their place in the league.
College hoops also has genuine rivalries; Duke vs. UNC and Louisville vs. Kentucky makes the Lakers playing the Celtics look like an exhibition matchup. There’s so much history behind these teams and universities, and an environment that features a student section and a band will always beat out a half-empty NBA arena.
There’s an obsession with winning in college basketball that just isn’t replicated in the pros. Both sports feature a conspicuous relationship with money and there’s no doubt an ever-present loyalty issue, but college basketball exists as the most pure and true form of the sport.
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