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Every March, you hear the hot takes from people who claim that NCAA basketball is better than the NBA. Are most of these people just NBA haters, or do they have valid arguments? Abstractly, the quality of play and the players is pretty inferior, so I'm curious where they're coming from.

There's a lot to dislike about the current NBA, but I personally always found college to be the far inferior product and much less entertaining to watch. March Madness is honestly a very overrated sporting event.

College players play harder in a short college season than NBA players play during a 82 game season, but NBA players have more skill.

Unless you went to a basketball college power or live in a college town you have to be nuts to prefer the college game.

I will say NBA refs are way better than College Refs but I prefer the college rulebook relative to the NBA rulebook due to the way moving screens, traveling and continuation are enforced along with no defensive 3 seconds so teams can try real zone defenses. I'd also prefer two 24 minutes halves relative to 4 quarters.

But other than that the NBA game is far, far superior.

college lacks the nba level talent

the nba lacks everything else

The tournament is easily better than teams sleepwalking through the majority of the regular season. Thats the issue. Very few care about college before March (honestly), but March is so good. And NBA teams right now are throwing out garbage to get through the inflated regular season.

I think the NBA playoffs is far superior. But I can see the appeal of a 1 game watch rather than a series for a general fan.

No, that's madness! Admittedly, the college game has improved a lot in the last decade or so. I've never followed it closely but I remember occasionally trying to watch the NCAA tournament in the early 2010s and it was torture. It felt like no one knew how to put the ball through the hoop. It's much better now but it's nowhere close to the NBA. I get those who have a close emotional tie to their alma mater having a better experience watching them play, but the quality of play is nowhere close.

So most college basketball games are terrible games. The are some very fun tournament games, but the majority of games are bad, people just don't want to admit it because it goes against their rah rah perspective...

D.Brasco wrote:Every March, you hear the hot takes from people who claim that NCAA basketball is better than the NBA. Are most of these people just NBA haters, or do they have valid arguments? Abstractly, the quality of play and the players is pretty inferior, so I'm curious where they're coming from.

The games are much more enjoyable.

Every game matters because you lose, you go home.

No prima donnas sleepwalking through games.

There is usually a ton of nuance when someone says this. I’ll speak for myself personally (die hard college basketball fan, no longer watches any NBA).

The level of talent between the two is night and day. If the main reason you watch the NBA is to watch the best of the best basketball players play basketball. There is no argument to be made for college.

Now with that said, there are drastic differences between the two. The rule book is drastically different. It’s extremely hard to get an And1 in college. Like the ball literally has to almost be leaving your hand as you’re getting fouled to get the call. If you’re fouled as you’re driving, no And1 will be called.

The physicality is night and day. Go watch any top 5 defensive team in college. It will look like you’re watching a rugby game compared to how the NBA is called.

Also coaching is far more important at the college level. The coach is the program. So I guess you can say you tend to see more buy in on a team first basis than you do at the NBA level in general. And with the skill level being much lower in college. You see the coaches that excel in Xs and Os really excel. Because there just aren’t that many individual talents that can just take over a game. So if you have a coach that can coach circles around the opposing coach, you’ll see it.

It’s just a very different kind of product. If an NBA fan watches a college game and thinks it’s trash, especially based on the skill level you’re watching. I really can’t have any kind of retort back haha.

It really is just a specific kind of taste. Some enjoy it, most don’t haha.

Karate Diop wrote:So most college basketball games are terrible games. The are some very fun tournament games, but the majority of games are bad, people just don't want to admit it because it goes against their rah rah perspective...

but the very soul of college sports is the rah rah - that's the whole point. that's exactly why people think its' "better". you can't dismiss that as a reason for loving the college game

everybody knows the game is "better played" in the pros

the best part of college basketball is juxtaposed to the worst part of the NBA. The college playoffs vs. the NBA regular season. Even still I'd rather watch a random NBA game than a random college game. The only thing better is the officiating(less star calls due to few teenagers arguing with men and also since the talent leaves after one year).

I love the fans at college games, but watching the product itself is something I can't really do. It's just so much worse than the NBA, especially if you're watching reasonably good teams. The best of the best in college don't even always make it as meaningful stars in the NBA, that's the level of talent we're dealing with at the NBA level. Plus international talent. It's just a vastly superior level of baseline ability.

I used to love college basketball but it's gotten harder to watch games as the skill gap between NBA players and college players has widened significantly. Almost feels like watching a WNBA game to some degree.

I think the style of play changing also hurt too. When the NBA was more ISO ball dominant, the college game was a bit more interesting with teams playing all these different styles. But, now that we have analytics and all teams playing basically the same way, the college game largely has become basically a crappier version of the NBA game.

No. The difference in talent level is massive. You can tell you're watching amateurs when you watch college ball.

It's also impossible for me to care about schools I've never attended. Sports are a lot less interesting when you don't have a team to cheer for.

The only time I watch college games is to see a prospect I'm interested in play. The games can be fun, but it's not something I'll ever be able to get deep into (unless someone wants to pay me to be a scout or a reporter).

I never enjoyed CBB over the NBA, but for me the excessive player movement has turned the sport into something that's hard to stay interested in.

There is something about watching people play with a passion that makes it more enjoyable, even if the talent isn’t as good.

Only March Madness. If I give Silver credit for anything it's adding the play in, single elimination games are fire despite what the teams are and he found a way to add some to the NBA aside from game 7s

Duke4life831 wrote:The rule book is drastically different. It’s extremely hard to get an And1 in college. Like the ball literally has to almost be leaving your hand as you’re getting fouled to get the call. If you’re fouled as you’re driving, no And1 will be called.

I don't entirerly agree with the college rulebook but on the whole it is way better than the NBA rulebook. Way more playons when the offensive player blatantly initiates contact unlike the NBA where a whistle is almost always blown (either for a defensive or occasional offensive foul). Screeners have to actually set legal screens. Ball handling rules are tighter and of course you can play real zone defense due to no defensive 3 second rule.

That said just as you see an enormous talent gap between college players and NBA players so too with the refs. Any NBA fan who watches college will have a much greater appreciatance for the ability of NBA refs. College refs really struggle with basic things NBA refs never do. As an example, NBA refs almost always get it right on out of bounds calls unless it is something that can only be seen in super slow motion. By contrast college refs seemingly guess on 2-3 out of bounds call per half based on body language. And college refs have a much harder time consistently enforcing their rulebook than NBA refs do with the NBA. For as much NBA fans gripe about reffing watching college will show you it can be a lot worse.

College ==> Better rulebook
NBA ==> Better Refs

And I'm the inverse of Duke. Basically only NBA unless my alma mater is doing something or the tourny/all star game drop-off I don't watch college.

College players don't miss many games due to calf contusions.