Pro vs. College Basketball?

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by troutman

I think the big difference is the shot clock. In the NBA it is 24 seconds IIRC.
35 seconds in the NCAA. This makes the tempo a lot different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_clock

Related to this, coaching has a larger effect in NCAA, as there are fewer possessions.

This.

The NBA is a one on one league and the product is awful.

I will watch ANY NCAA game before I watch an NBA game. Much, much more entertaining.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

Sorry, I meant to say: "Basketball is a terribly boring game of who can jump higher for 45 minutes. Then the last 3 minutes can be less boring, but if womens curling is on I will watch that instead."

Hahahaha, I lol'd. So true.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Hahahaha, I lol'd. So true.

Depends what countries are involved

[IliketoPuck]

Sweden deserved to win, based on their talent.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by kirant

Depends what countries are involved

Here. Nuff said.

[mykalberta]

The quality is so bad compared to the pros. The only thing College has is the scholarship noose that coaches have around the players force a somewhat more frenzied pace.

With the lack of skill comes lack of fluid play and things in a college game turn more into a hockey game of less set plays and more on the fly wheeling and dealing.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by kirant

Depends what countries are involved

Whatever they were playing on TSN on last weekend - team Sweden 1-3 were all smoke shows compared to Canada's duds.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

With the lack of skill comes lack of fluid play and things in a college game turn more into a hockey game of less set plays and more on the fly wheeling and dealing.

Which is exactly why its awesome and the only time I watch Basketball is MM.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Both suck. Least entertaining sport I've watched.

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by octothorp

There are a lot of small rule differences that I like in the NCAA: most importantly, fewer timeouts, which leads to a better pace, particularly late in games. No sport kills any feeling of urgency in a close game as much as the NBA basketball.

Surely you are kidding???

Have you ever watched the last ~1:30 of a close NCAA game? It's commercials after every foul followed by a timeout.

In NCAA, as far as I know, each team has 5 timeouts, which can be used at any time. Compare this to the NBA:

Each team is entitled to six (6) charged timeouts during regulation play. Each team is limited to no more than three (3) timeouts in the fourth quarter and no more than two (2) timeouts in the last two minutes of regulation play.

NCAA is so much slower in the late goings of a close game.

Edit: I honestly hate how slow both NCAA and NBA at the end of close games, but to me, NCAA is so much worse.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by TopChed

Surely you are kidding???

Have you ever watched the last ~1:30 of a close NCAA game? It's commercials after every foul followed by a timeout.

In NCAA, as far as I know, each team has 5 timeouts, which can be used at any time. Compare this to the NBA:



NCAA is so much slower in the late goings of a close game.

I agree - my biggest pet peeve with both NCAA and NBA is the number of time-outs at the end of the game. Plays can be drawn up in practice. Don't waste my time.

Also, you don't need to high-five every team-mate after every free throw.

[CaptainCrunch]

And if your going to foul a guy to stop the clock then foul him damnit.

Don't tug on his jersey, give him an automic elbow, or beat him to death with the mascot, but golly here we are now . . . entertain us.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Both suck. Least entertaining sport I've watched.

Well, there is baseball.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

And if your going to foul a guy to stop the clock then foul him damnit.

Don't tug on his jersey, give him an automic elbow, or beat him to death with the mascot, but golly here we are now . . . entertain us.

The team that gets fouled should also have the option of carrying on the possession, instead of taking the foul shots. Make the defenders defend, rather than just slapping everyone to stop the clock.

[driveway]

What makes the single biggest difference between the NCAA game and the NBA game is the skill level of the players.

This may seem obvious, but it's what has the most impact on the game. Because of the rules of Basketball, a highly-skilled offensive player will, more often than not, score - regardless of how talented or complex the defence is that's being played against that player.

At the NBA level what this means is that skilled players can 'take over the game' in a way that's simply not possible in any other sport. Kobe, playing slightly above his average level of play, can drop 35 points on ANY player, ANY team in the league. This has a huge impact on how defences are set up. For example, the zone is a legal defence in the NBA, but no one plays it consistently because the shooters in the league are too good, and the big men too good at running the pick-and-roll. A zone defence would be cut to ribbons. So you see almost exclusively man-to-man coverage. This promotes one-on-one matchups of skilled players. Team-defense does not have the same ability to control the pace and outcome of a game as it does in the NCAA, unless you're dealing with a very talented and deep defensive team. See 96-98 Chicago Bulls.

In the NCAA the players aren't skilled enough to dominate defences the way they are in the NBA so you find a much greater emphasis on team-play. You'll see way more zone defence in college ball and significantly more passing plays. Players swinging the ball around the court trying to penetrate an effective defence. Florida State, for example, plays an extremely strong defence which carried them to the Sweet Sixteen and within a point of the Elite Eight, despite being a #10 seed.

From this ability for defence to stand-up to the skill-set of the players you find most of the other things that people love about NCAA ball flowing out of. Things like intensity, team play, lower scores, closer games, different tempo. All of these stem from the basic cause of offensive players not yet being skilled enough to overcome a strong team defence.

[IliketoPuck]

There is a reason why Canada invented the sport, and then gave it to Americans. It is something simple to distract them. If they didn't have simple sports to distract them, they would likely just invade everyone FOR sport. And guess what? We are the closest candidate, and have a whole bunch of pretty natural resources. Pretty heady move by James Naismith to invent something to protect our sovereignty.

[Dion]

The NBA is all about the collective EGO's trying to get their share of media exposure and fame. It's enough to make you puke whem Lebron James decides to hold a nation wide TV special about where he's going to play next.

I prefer the college game where strategy and defence is more important than some EGO trying to go through the whole opposition so he can showcase his great dunking skills.

[V]

I find it so funny that people claim to find the college game so incredibly exciting, and yet they can't manage to watch a game outside of March Madness. And then they'll compare a sweet 16 match with a regular season NBA game.

The last couple rounds of the NBA playoffs are pretty fun to watch, IMO. They might not have quite the passion that these kids have, but it's not that far off.

[Dion]

1. The pro basketball championship pales in comparison to the college basketball championship.

Hey, there are a lot of reasons why the NBA sucks, but how can you top this one? In what other sport is the college championship noticeably more exciting, more popular and flat-out better than it's pro counterpart? Ummm, none. The college tournament is great: 64 teams, 2 and a half weeks, you #### up once and you're gone. The NBA? 16 teams over about two months (seems more like five) and all the excitement of a 2-hour history class on a Friday afternoon.

http://wewantthelion.blogspot.com/20...nba-sucks.html

[SebC]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

Basketball is a terribly boring game of who can jump higher.

Steve Nash says hi!