NBA is boring

Most of my friends will tell you that I'm not a huge NBA fan. My interest mostly lies in the college level. I didn't go to a big basketball school, so I have the privilage of rooting for which ever college team I like. What does keep me watching NBA stuff on ESPN is the off court drama, and people like Shaq. I love guys like Reggie Miller. Then there's pure insane entertainment from idiots like Ron Artest.

However, I just love college hoops. It is an entirely different game. For me, there is no comparison in terms of excitment level. Though some will disagree, I just feel that NBA players don't play that hard during the regular season. The games start to heat up towards the end of the season and during the playoffs no doubt, but at the college level, everyone plays hard all the time.

There are no slackers
Perhaps its because in college, they only play somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty games per season. This makes each and every game that much more important. The ranking system also depends on which opponents they play, so a win against U of Maine is not the same as a win against Duke. The team game is also extremely important. A good team can beat out a bunch of good players.

The venues rock
The audience in a college game is entirely differnet. At an NBA game, people are walking around, getting up and down to grab a beer or food, going to the bathroom. At a college game, you don't see people doing this especially at a big basketball school. What you do see are painted faces, college kids and alumni, all doing the same cheers or chants for their team. Before watching college hoops, I had never imagined a stadium could be so quiet will one player would make a free throw. Everyone in the gym would hold their hands above their heads as if to will the ball into the hoop via telekinetic force. If the free throw is made, the crowd lets out a almost grunt like vocal expression in unison. Then the cheering continues. The noise level is ridiculous, and you won't find that in many NBA venues.

Teams are new every year
There isn't much "rebuilding" going on in college hoops. You don't grab a franchise player and surround that guy with other players like in the NBA. You're basically recruiting good players that you need, and putting them together. There is no guarentee, but everyone will play hard and try to work it all out. Intangibles are key in college hoops. Even if you do get a great player that everyone plays around, chances are that the guy will leave in one or two years if he's that good. So it never gets old. There is always new blood, always the new talent to rave about. Naturally, teams will have their ups and downs, but the thing about college hoops is that it never gets old.

The Tourney (aka March Madness)
Nothing beats March Madness in terms of excitment. Why? Because anything can happen. Its not like those seven game series you have in the NBA. In those situations, the better team usually prevails. But in college, you can never know. Crap teams can have the game their life and beat even the best teams. Only one game gets you eliminated, so the intensity is again upped another level.

Yup... those were the days: college basketball on ESPN every night. There was almost always a good game on. The big matchups, the rivals, filling out brackets before the Tourney. That was fun.