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Point-Counterpoint: Who's got game? NCAA vs. NBA
NCAA
By Neill Woelk
If you like basketball, you like college hoops.
If rock-concert special effects, self-centered athletes and meaningless games are your thing, you like the NBA.
More Mens Basketball 
Share and Enjoy The NBA is a phony dressed up as a sham — clear evidence that the game can't stand on its own. Take away the loud music, gaudy graphics, and ridiculous special effects, and here's what the NBA has to offer:
An interminable season that means nothing (more than half the teams get into the playoffs); outrageous ticket prices; and overpaid, underachieving athletes whose sense of self-entitlement is surpassed only by their inability — or refusal — to play hard for more than a few minutes per game.
Defense? Teamwork? Not in their vocabularies.
Just by default, the college game is better. But then, so are tiddly-winks, indoor lacrosse, outdoor soccer and football anywhere on real grass.
But college hoops is not only better — it might be the best game in America today.
It's played by kids who still care. They play to win, they play hard every minute of every game and they play as if fundamentals are still important.
Atmosphere? None better in any sport. Start with pep bands, raucous students sections and fans from every social strata. Continue with tickets that are still affordable and games that matter. Every one, because that might be the game that makes or breaks an NCAA bid.
Then there's the best sporting event in the world: March Madness, the tournament that grips an entire nation.
College or NBA?
No contest.
NBA
By Jennifer Osieczanek
The best basketball players in the world don't play at the Coors Events Center. They don't play at Florida's O'Connell Center or at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, either.
The world's best play in 30 NBA arenas around the country and that's just one reason the pro game is better than college hoops.
Dwyane Wade. Steve Nash. LeBron James. Kobe Bryant. Those are just a few of the big names the NBA has to offer.
Admittedly, there are some great players in the college game. Texas' Kevin Durant and Ohio State's Greg Oden come to mind. But, these super freshmen are likely headed to the NBA following this season. After they are drafted, Durant and Oden will sign three-year contracts with a team option for a fourth year. So, while Texas and OSU fans will get to cheer them for about five months, they'll stick with an NBA team for at least three years.
And, finally, while fans love March Madness, the NCAA Tournament doesn't always play out with the best team winning the title. The single-elimination format is exciting, but also allows for a hot team to make a run. George Mason, an 11 seed last spring, made a run to the Final Four, defeating Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut along the way. That's right: A team that lost in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament (quick, name two other teams from the CAA), went on the Final Four because they "peaked" at the right time.
In the NBA, the best-of-seven series is much more likely to weed out the weaker teams and set up a matchup of the league's best teams with the title on the line.
Posted by joeschuele on February 16, 2007 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I prefer the college game to the NBA, but not nearly as much as I used to. The quality of play in college has steadily declined, even as the players have gotten more talented and athletic. Part of this trend is obviously due to players staying only one or two years. But even most teams whose players don't leave early for the NBA are not playing team basketball. Most often, it's two guys playing one-on-one, and eight others standing around watching.
I would like to know what others think about this idea: What if the NCAA scrapped the shot clock, until the last five minutes of the second half? The reason I say this is that so many teams work the shot clock down to 8 or 10 seconds throughout the game, then take a lousy shot. This results in brutally ugly games, instead of the faster-paced games played in the 70s and early 80s with no shot clock.
I think scrapping the shot clock would prompt teams to take the best shot available, instead of setting up these boring, one-on-one clear-outs or jacking up a bad shot with 2 seconds left on the clock. I know the idea of speeding up the game by getting rid of the shot clock is counter-intuitive, but I think it might actually work.
In the meantime, at least teams like Air Force and Metro State still offer high quality of play and a product worth watching.
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