All previous posts on this blog have been strictly factual, with little opinion expressed, but this is different. I am starting a new mini-series type of post detailing why I believe the NBA is better than college basketball. I’m not saying NCAA basketball is bad, in fact I enjoy it very much, but I am drawn to the professional level for several reasons that I want to share with you so everybody can understand. There certainly are some things that NCAA basketball does better than the NBA, but I will address those things in a later post. This is why NBA>NCAA.
The first and foremost reason why I believe the NBA is better than college basketball is that the best of the best play in the NBA. I believe basketball as a whole is a better collection of pure athletes than any other sport on earth. And the best of these pure athletes make it to the NBA. Yes, there are some great athletes in other sports, but the combination of size, power, speed, agility, and leaping ability required to play basketball at a high level is unparalleled. With that being said, there are 347 Division 1 teams and roughly 3800 players in NCAA Men’s Basketball. The NBA only has 30 teams with about 400 players. So, obviously, only the best college players can make it to the pros. You can see some great college players, but they are so spread out between all of the different teams that it is hard to watch all of them. With only 30 teams in the league, each team has several players who were college stars and you can watch many more of the players you liked in college. Take the Indiana Pacers for example, a team full of college stars: Darren Collison (UCLA), Brandon Rush (Kansas), Danny Granger (New Mexico), Josh McRoberts (Duke), Roy Hibbert (Georgetown), TJ Ford (Texas), Mike Dunleavy (Duke), Paul George (Fresno St.), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina), AJ Price (UConn). All of these guys were stars in college, now they are all on one team. So if you liked watching them in college, you should love the Pacers.
The NBA also has the best players from around the world, not just America. It’s rare for foreign-born players to play in the NCAA. Yes, you occasionally get your Andrew Bogut’s and Greivis Vasquez’s who come to America and star in college ball before heading to the NBA, but in more cases than not you get foreign college players like Purdue’s Sandi Marcius. He is a decent role player, but will never make it to the NBA. In fact, a lot of potential foreign-born college stars can’t even suit up for their team. Case-in-point: Kentucky recruited Turkish-born Enes Kanter to play for them this year, but the NCAA has ruled him ineligible because he got paid to play basketball in Europe, making him no longer an amateur. Europe’s basketball stars usually start playing professionally as teenagers, making them ineligible to play for American colleges.
Most of the successful foreign-born NBA players in today’s game did not go to college. Examples being Dallas forward Dirk Nowiztki from Germany won the 2007 MVP award. San Antonio guard Tony Parker from France won the 2007 Finals MVP award. Other current, notable, foreign-born players who did not go to an American college include: Spurs guard Manu Ginobili from Argentina, Cavs forward Anderson Varejao from Brazil, Rockets center Yao Ming from China, Magic guard Mickael Pietrus from France, Kings forward Omri Casspi from Israel, Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani from Italy, Heat center Zydrunas Ilgauskas from Lithuania, Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko from Russia, and Lakers forward Pau Gasol from Spain,.
In most things in life, you want the best you can get: the best education, the best job, the best spouse, the best house; so why wouldn’t you want to watch the best players? If you only watch college basketball, you will see a lot of good, maybe even great, players. But you will miss out on a lot of good foreign players and you won’t see the concentration of talent available in the NBA.
