(continued from “10 Ways College Basketball is Better than the Pros“)

For all its glory there are still many-raising my hand-who believe the NBA game is better overall.  It has the better players, is a more fluid product, yadda, yadda yadda.   However, with the Tournament about to start I will prescribe to you 10 ways that college basketball is better than the pros:

Recap:

10.  Just for Fun.  It is for the love of the game from starter to Lil’ Romeo.

9.  The Free Throw Line Huddle.  These players might actually like each other.

8.  The Floor Kiss.  Respect for the University, Fans and game is sealed with a kiss.

7.  Fans.  Real crazy fans not corporate sponsored support.

6.  Cheerleaders.  One and a million?  So, you’re saying I have a chance.

The Technical

5.  The 3-Point Line

Moving the line back was the right move, there needed to be some sort of transition between the high school line and the deep pro line.  The change also has relived congestion in the middle.  However, it remains relatively close, allowing mediocre shooters the chance to hit the extra-point shot.  The three point shot facilitates the comebacks that make college basketball exciting.  If the line was moved back any more it would result in a terribly low shooting percentage and would kill all those exciting moments throughout the season and especially in the tournament.

4.  Coaching

Whereas NBA “coaches” are closer to managers than teachers, the best college coaches instruct their students to improve their skill and knowledge of the system.  It’s a testament to coaching skill that many of the best teams win year in and year out without top NBA talent-seriously, has Duke had a high-quality player drafted in the last 5 years (and no Luol Deng doesn’t count)?  The talent level and slower style of college basketball allows coaches to micromanage the game and wring every ounce of productivity out of their players.  It speaks volumes of coaching ability of the Ben Howlands and Bill Selfs when they lose players every year to the NBA and still produce championship level teams.  A coach can change a program around by installing a system that gets the most talent out of its players, and by improving his players skills year by year (see Beilein, John).

3.  Off the Ball Movement

Half-court offense in college is run with more fluidity than the pros.  Much of the discrepancy has to do with the NBA’s love of isolation plays (but we will get to that later).  Basketball is much more entertaining when the ball is moving on offense with efficiency and purpose.  In order to achieve purposeful ball movement in the crammed space that the shorter three-point line creates, offensive players must be in motion and make good cuts.  Every coach has their own style:  The Princeton offense’s backdoor cuts, flex cuts, motion based offenses, John Wooden’s high post motion, etc. Yet they all are based on players moving without the ball.   However, whenever an NBAer moves without the ball announcers act like the world is coming to an end.  Even teams that run a pro-style offense dedicated to getting shots for their best players like Connecticut, they are still predicated on movement, which is why its no surprise that Richard Hamilton and Ray Allen, two of the better moving wingmen in the NBA came from Jim Calhoun’s’ program.

2.  Five-Second Rule

This follows exactly with the previous only it has to do with the ball handler.  Nothing slows down a basketball game like watching a player pound the ball on the hardwood like he’s pegging ants.  The five-second rule in college forces ball movement and keeps the action flowing.  The rule lessens the individualist style that comes with isolation plays.  The worst thing in the world would be to have to sit through some Duke white-boy dribbling up the court on an isolation play for 25 seconds then chuck up some garbage shot.

1. Respects for Referees

Anyone who’s ever played basketball competitively hates refs.  They kill the game, are inconsistent, and are protected from criticism like an actor in a fourth-grade play.  However the NBA players’ constant whining on every possession is the worst thing in sports-OK second worst, behind the Euro-flop.  The discipline and respect shown by college players not to moan and complain is commendable, and borderline admirable.  Part of the restraint comes from coaches, and the other comes with the short trigger that the NCAA tells its refs to act with.  Any complaining by players and you will see a quick technical-something the NBA should consider doing.  While this is more an indictment of NBA whiners, it speaks volumes of the nature and spirit of college basketball.  That spirit and energy college basketball bring is its most distinguishing factor.   

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Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t do or teach, write.  Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Southern California studying Online Journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science, & Fun.  Patra still owns a teal Grant Hill jersey and is looking for his old FILA basketball 

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• 10 Ways College Basketball is Better than the Pros
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