As I was watching the excellent game between Marquette and Wisconsin this past weekend, I had a stark realization. While college basketball is amazing and one of the more entertaining sports out there, something gets lost when the athletes make it to the next level.
The NBA was fun to watch at one time, at some point, the professionals became selfish, overpaid primadonnas. This may have happened earlier than in the last couple years, but perhaps it has just become more apparent in that time.
Every time players are fouled, they instantly turn into the most frail people in the world. Every single touch sends players sprawling, and if they don't get the foul call, they put on what's called the ""Duncan face,"" in which their face contorts into the whiniest expression possible. Now the acting happens occasionally in college as well—on Saturday Kammron Taylor sent a Marquette player skidding 10 feet down the floor with an apparent Tekken-like push of his hand. But it's much rarer than in the NBA.
Now there are some bad conferences in college basketball, but I'm betting that Ohio State and a couple other college teams could compete with the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference right now. The 76ers, who have lost eight straight games, are trying to trade one of the best players of the past 10 years in Allen Iverson, they are 5-15 and yet are a scant three games out of first place in the division. Even the Knicks, who have been managed worse than maybe any team in history, are only a couple games out of the playoff hunt.
There are some things the NBA just cannot fix, like not having as good of a playoff system as college basketball. It's mid-December, and I already can't wait for March Madness. There's nothing like watching four games at once or yelling at Winthrop for blowing a late lead against Tennessee. Although the playoffs were a little better last season, the NBA scarcely sees a truly shocking upset. The George Mason Cinderella story of last season's tournament would be extremely hard to replicate, save for if Philly trades Iverson and still makes it to the NBA Finals.
Maybe I'm just bitter because Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale has run the team aground multiple times. It's extremely difficult to watch a future Hall of Famer like Kevin Garnett play his heart out every night and not get results. While the NFL has parity because teams can improve quickly, the NBA has parity because at least half the teams are poorly run. Isiah Thomas, McHale, Billy King—the list goes on and on. If owners would get smart and fire incompetent GMs, the league would likely improve.
So until that happens, I'll be watching Wisconsin-Pittsburgh and anxiously awaiting the beginning of the Big Ten season. Not a bad deal, really.
Zach can be contacted at zlkukkonen@dailycardinal.com.
