When It Comes To Comparing The NBA and NCAA…..There’s No Comparison

by Trevor Freeman

So I was sitting at my holiday party conversing with my colleagues on a variety of important issues ranging from the NFL playoffs to Jenn Sterger’s ta-tas to “Rocky Balboa”.  It was at the end of the conversation when the debate between the NBA and college hoops began.  Of course I led the majority in putting forth reasons as to why the NBA is Selma Blair to the NCAA’s Salma Hayek.  It was midway through my argument when I realized, “Trevor….the 25 reasons you listed two years ago just isn’t good enough…..you need to up the ante”.  Up the ante I have as we updated our list and extended it to a full 37 reasons.  That’s right.  Buckle your seat belts and enjoy yourselves as we are about to breakdown why the NCAA trumps the NBA.

37.  The only music that you will hear at a college basketball game is each school’s band.

36.  Take a look at the crowd at an Atlanta Hawks game and compare it to the crowd at Georgia Tech.  One contains the enthusiasm of a funeral procession while the other is like a Natural Light fueled keg party.

35.  Stability in the announcing teams.  Listen………I understand hearing Billy Packer announce a game is worse than drinking a warm Coors Light.  However, at least we know what we are getting when we tune into a college hoops game.  Jim Nantz & Billy Packer are CBS’ A-Team, Verne Lundquist & Bill Raftery are the B-Team, and Greg Gumbel & Clark Kellogg are in the studios.  On ESPN, you have Dan Shulman & Dick Vitale doing the big games with Chris Fowler and Digger Phelps manning the studio.  Nothing has changed in ten years, which is just how we like it.

34.  Speaking of Bill Raftery………..how great is it to hear him say “man to man”, “getting the puppies set” and “onions”.  I would pay a significant amount of money to have him DJ my wedding.

33.  You can pronounce 95% of college basketball players’ names without any problems.

32.  George Mason.

31.  You cannot get a room in Vegas right now for any of the weekends of the NCAA Tournament.  There is only one other sporting event on the planet that has this kind of ummm….devoted group of fans.

30.  Ashley Judd likes to attend college basketball games.

29.  Stephen A. Smith and Bill Walton have absolutely nothing to do with the commentary on college basketball.

28.  Let me repeat that again……..nothing whatsoever.  No need to worry about either of them showing up to announce a game.  Outside of Dick Vitale, the games have been an idiot-free zone for a long time.

27.  On the flip side………the cheerleading squads of UCLA, Florida and North Carolina show up for every game.  They are there, they are wearing short cheerleader skirts and they are dancing around.

26.  Dick Bavetta does not referee college basketball games.  No need to worry about Dwyane Wade attempting 57 free throws to ensure a championship victory.

25.  College Basketball can offset KG and LeBron with Gathers and Bias. Looks to me like a wash.

24.  College basketball fans are the first to know that we may want to slow down on this Greg Oden thing and speed up on this Kevin Durant thing.

23.  Gonzaga, Bucknell, Valpo, UW-Milwaukee, Butler, Southern Illinois, Kent State. Nothing better than watching Cinderella at the Ball.

22.  Attending an NBA game generally involves shelling out $30-$50 for a ticket, $7 per beer, and $4 per hot dog.  Attending a college basketball game generally involves stopping by an old college haunt that still charges $1 for a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon and hoping that some student asks the old guy if he wants to hit a kegger.

21.  As crappy as your team is playing……..if they catch fire in the conference tournament they can still qualify for the Big Dance.  How many other sports can you be 6-20 and still have a chance to get to the marquee event?

20.  The NBA has degenerated into isolations and pick and rolls all game long. The college game is a more team-oriented, free-flowing style. The way I’m sure James Naismith likes it as he gazes from the heavens.

19.  Did I mention that James Naismith never had anything to do with the history of the NBA?  However, he was a professor at………. “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk”, that’s right Naismith taught at Kansas.

18.  Quick, name 10 NBA coaches. I’ll give you three minutes. They don’t come quite as easily as names like Knight, Williams (both Roy and Gary), Boeheim, Olson, Calhoun, Krzyzewski, Pitino, Howland, and Donovan.

17.  Speaking of General Robert Montgomery Knight……….college basketball has him and the NBA never will.

16.  Cameron Indoor Stadium. Built in 1940, still probably the best atmosphere for hoops on the planet.

15.  Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson won’t attack you.

14.  It is the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back that matters. The players can come and go but as long as it says North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and UCLA the people will watch.

13.  Is there anything more fun than chanting for the walk-on to get into the game with under a minute left?  The greatest, most subtle way of “rubbing it in” in sports history.

12.  Bo Kimble, T.J. Sorrentine, Jai Lewis, Bryce Drew, Harold Arcenaux, and “Mouse” McFadden. Who will ever forget their March contributions?

11.  There is no incompetent commissioner running the show.  This is huge when you consider how the Bud Selig and David Stern eras are playing out.

10.  NCAA players can’t go on strike; NCAA hoops can’t be locked out. You never have to worry about not being able to watch your favorite teams play.

9.  The fans care more. From Spokane, Washington to Chapel Hill, North Carolina the fans of college basketball add more to the game. If you jumped up and down like the Cameron Crazies do during EVERY game at Staples Center or MSG, they would escort you out of the building immediately.

8.  David Stern doesn’t change the rules for the playoffs or the actual game every season. In college, you’ve always been able to play a zone……speaking of zones….

7.  Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone is run better than anything currently being used on an NBA court………..perhaps that’s because…….

6.  In college a coach is somebody you actually have to listen to.  In the NBA the coach is somebody that gets fired when “star” players complain about touches.

5.  1992. Elite Eight. Duke-Kentucky. Pelphrey.  Laettner.  Mashburn.  Hill.  Name one NBA game that can match that one in quality of play and intensity……….

4.  Since we’re talking about actual games right now………..Quick…………First game-winning shot that comes into your head? Tell me it isn’t Dereck Whittenberg launching that airball which Lorenzo Charles caught and dunked to win the 1983 NCAA Title for North Carolina State and……………

3.  That reminds me. College hoops had Jimmy V. “If you have a goal, if you have dream, don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

(Hold on, I got something in my eye here…….I swear it is from the onion I am slicing….)

2.  When presented with a choice of coaching the NBA’s marquee franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers, Mike Krzyzewski said no. Coach K decided he was better off coaching college’s marquee team, the Duke Blue Devils.

1.  65 teams. Single elimination tournament. One Champion. Still the fairest way to decide a champion in any sport.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].