The spiritual leader of the Loyola-Chicago basketball team, which has mounted a historic Cinderella run to the Final Four in San Antonio, has made yet another wise statement.
At a press conference this week, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt said that God was indeed a basketball fan and that he preferred college basketball to the NBA. She explained this by saying that “these young people are playing with their hearts and not for any financial assistance.”
Ignoring some of the recent scandals in the NCAA, this idea is largely true. I certainly don’t blame NBA players for doing what they do as their profession, but there is no doubt that college players perform with a greater degree of heart and intensity than those in the NBA. One of the chief problems with the NBA is a lack of effort from many star players on defense, particularly in the regular season (I’m looking at you, James Harden).
If you were a neutral fan and you had to view a regular season game, would you rather watch Duke vs UNC or Cavs vs Warriors? Louisville vs Kentucky or Spurs vs Rockets? I think the answer is pretty clear. If you want to see toughness, intensity, and a true love for the game, you’re choosing college; if you prefer a lack of defense, low energy, and boring content, you’re choosing the NBA.
Even moving beyond regular season games does not displace NCAA basketball from its superiority over the NBA. In fact, it only strengthens the claim for CBB. I would love to hear an argument as to why any neutral fan would rather watch a Clippers vs. Jazz round one game than an #8 vs. #9 first round NCAA tournament contest. I just don’t understand it.
The game that truly solidified my position on this issue was the one between #16 UMBC and #9 Kansas State. Obviously, it was far from a marquee matchup. It certainly wasn’t the Virginia vs Arizona/Kentucky round two game that many had wanted, but it was actually far better. Tough defense, amazing hustle, and genuine emotion permeated the contest. Watch this sequence right here, where K-State plays great defense, knocks the ball out, both teams dive onto the floor to grab the ball, two UMBC players dive to avoid a backcourt violation, and then it all ends with a block from Kansas State--that was in just one possession.
College basketball’s superiority goes further than just greater intensity and raw emotion; it speaks to the inherent flaw in the NBA’s system. While the NCAA tournament has so many upsets and utter craziness that it has been given the name March Madness, the NBA Playoffs don’t get interesting until at best the Conference Finals. Think of last year, when everyone knew before the NBA season even began that the Warriors would play the Cavs in The Finals, and compare it to this year, when the highest ranked team in the field, Virginia, lost to the lowest ranked team in the field, UMBC.
Last year’s NBA playoffs resulted in a Final Four with the top four seeds still remaining, while the 2018 NCAA Final Four has two No. 1 seeds, one No. 3 seed, and a No. 11 Cinderella team in Loyola Chicago. The NBA was stuck with chalk in its Final Four, while the NCAA Final Four has been given a variety of seeds.
The closest thing to an upset in the 2017 NBA playoffs was the #5 Utah Jazz defeating the #4 LA Clippers in the first round.
Let that sink in.
If the NBA is to become great again, it must place an emphasis on intensifying regular season games (perhaps with a shorter season) and distributing talent more evenly throughout the league. If the NBA does not enact these reforms, the situation will deteriorate even further.
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