<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Why can't the NBA capture the fire of college hoops? March 17, 2006 I was watching Greg Anthony and Tim Legler do a lame ESPN halftime segment on "NBA Bracketology" this week when it struck me: The NBA playoffs and the league, in general, just don't have the cachet that March Madness and college basketball do. And on the whole, Americans don't seem to like pro basketball nearly as much as the college game. Obvious? Perhaps. But that doesn't make it any easier to explain. Why doesn't America like the NBA? I've heard a bunch of explanations, but I don't think any one of them is adequate: It's the bracket. People like to prognosticate. People like to gamble. The NCAA bracket appeals to both of these impulses by holding out to the common viewer the possibility of a) being recognized as a prophet/sage and making a few hundred bucks by listing some team names on a printout during lunch break. I'll buy that. But you don't see office pool e-mails getting circulated when the NBA, MLB, or Hockey playoffs start. College basketball has real team play: OK, maybe. But if you've watched the Suns or Pistons play this year, you've seen team play at its finest. Sure, it's not much fun to watch Stephon Marbury dribble lamely around the perimeter before hoisting up a brick from 3-point land. But seeing Steve Nash drive the lane and drop an underhanded no-look to Shawn Marion for a monster backdoor dunk? It's a thing of beauty, and one the college game can't match. They're amateurs, and that's inspiring. Did you watch the Winter Olympics in Turin last month? I didn't think so. Nobody did. I have a hard time believing that amateurism sells, for its own sake. That's why you can't catch a poker game from my apartment on ESPN. But get some greasy, otherwise-unemployed guys with reflective sunglasses together in an off-the-strip casino, set up some cameras, call it Professional, and you've got a national television phenomenon. I don't get it. Race: Maybe the touchiest explanation of all, but I've heard it several times. The majority of the United States' population is white. The NBA is overwhelmingly black. In college basketball, there's a place for a 5-9 white dude with a 15-inch vertical. Not so in the pros. And that's exactly the constituency that's not tuning into the NBA playoffs, but is smuggling a 10-inch TV into the office in order not to miss a minute of the Tournament. So the theory goes. But can America really be that racist, especially in its sports-viewing habits? Somehow I doubt it. Plus, nobody watches hockey anymore. And it's chock full of white dudes. Explain. Rivalries: During the regular season, perhaps. Passions don't get much more inflamed than during a UNC-Duke matchup. Or a Cal-Stanford matchup. Insert your alma mater's traditional rivalry here. But for the most part, the structure of the Tournament actually breaks up natural rivalries. Is there any bad blood between Memphis and Oral Roberts? Wichita State and Seton Hall? The NBA's natural geographic rivalries seem to be non-starters. Why doesn't anyone get fired up when the Bulls play the Pistons? Basically, I just can't figure it out. I'd rather see a Suns-Mavs matchup than watch Pittsburgh take on Kent State. Even if it is March. Apparently, I'm unusual in that respect. It's hard to know what goes on in the minds of sports fans. Is there anything the NBA can do to gain the popularity of its little brother?</div>SourceRead it, I thought it was a pretty good read.
I agree with alot of it, but i don't really get the race thing. Are they trying to say it's better bc more white people play?
1. More teams. 2. College spirit. 3. Money isn't involved. 4. Players always play hard. 5. Every few years you have a whole new team.
1. Every team plays like a team. Not just one player on one team, every player on every team.2. Defense is incredible. Scoring isn't lower because of less talent, it's lower because of superioir defense. 3. Every game come tournament time means everything to each team. It's the Senior's final games, it's the Freshman's first.4. College Basketball has "it" We don't know what "It" is, but college basketball has "it" Maybe it's the rivalries? Maybe it's the fact players have 4 years max? I don't know, it just has "it:
1- the rules (as in carrys, ect) are inforced more. AI would get called like 10 times a game if he played college right now.2- There is no defensive 3 seconds, so more zones are playable.3- Shorter season, the games count more and it is easier for fans to follow their teams games because they watch almost all of them.4-As for the rivalrys, it is hard to get a rivalry in the NBA now a days because everyone switches teams so much.5-Coaches are more important than the players in college. In college, you go to a certain place to play for a certain coach. In the NBA, the Coach is like another player, he may be there next year maybe not, but if your star player doesn't like him (AI, Kobe) than he most likely won't be around. This isn't a big deal, but it was just a difference I thought I would point out, I don't think this has to do with the College popularity.6-Heart, the games count more like I said, it is do or die, win or go home, in the NBA there is 82 games, it is fine to lose 20 games, that is a great season. In College, you have to win all of your games, or most of them. And in the playoffs, if you lose your first 2 games, that is alright because you can always come back and win, in college you win or go home, there is more emotion. Although I think that the NBA playoffs truly decide who is the better team, it isn't as exciting to watch as a fan.7-The NBA has become more of the "flashy show" and college has become more about "the actual game." Well, that is what I hear from everyone I talk to that likes College over the NBA, I don't know how much I believe it.Those are some big reasons in my opinion. There are way more College fans than NBA, which is sad in my opinion. I wish we had more NBA fans. But if you talk to people that love the game itself, the X's and O's, the strategy, the work, the heart, and so on, those people usaully like the College game more.
