“What the NBA cannot manufacture is meaning, and that has nothing to do with level of play. In their 1987 book, Forty-Eight Minutes, Bob Ryan and Terry Pluto make the case that pro basketball is profoundly superior to the college version because “in the course of the average NBA game, there are more spectacular shots, more artful passes, more man-size powerhouse rebounds and more dazzling hustle plays than in any 10 college games.” This is mostly correct — but misses the point entirely. Level of play is never as important as context. For most of the regular season, very little is at stake during any NBA contest, and fans intuitively know this. I love the NBA, but I would rather watch players miss shots during a Texas-Kansas game than make shots when the Bucks play the Jazz. Meaningful failure trumps meaningless achievement every time. This is something the NBA just needs to admit.”

There’s no question in my mind that NBA players are probably the best pro athletes in the world, but the college regular season still means something (even with the out-sized importance of the NCAA Tournament, the outcomes of early season games in December still matter in March when reviewing who makes the tourney) while the NBA regular season is, at best, about who gets the home court in a 7-game series down the road. Don’t get me wrong – I love the NBA and the Bulls as much as anyone (and I’m psyched beyond belief about the prospect of Derrick Rose coming home, by the way), but when it comes down to the two, I’ll choose college basketball.

Reggie Theus was only a personality on the halftime show for Slamball. Now he is a respected coach in the NBA.

These are facts.

I have watched almost every playoff game so far this postseason and can safely say, despite being a huge March Madness fan, that I strongly prefer the NBA product. Sorry, Stu.

e.g. Several years ago a feature length article in Sports Illustrated claimed that a head coach in the NBA makes more “decisions” re: his team’s personnel and strategy in a SINGLE game than many NCAA coaches make in an entire SEASON.

To each his own however … as I have no intention of telling a man who is married to an over-weight spouse that he fiddling in the kitchen with the wrong genie, on a nightly basis, if that’s his cup of tea.

Just because you have the best players doesn’t mean you’re playing the best basketball. Maybe the NBA is the most difficult form of basketball for a player to excel at, but it’s not the best basketball for me to watch.

The NBA has the BEST BASKETBALL PLAYERS in the world … but what they provide …

is best classified as …

Entertainment

in a basketball environment.

There’s a big difference.

The BEST BASKETBALL in the world …

is played in the NBA …

after you get past the Entertainment.