Why it’s the NBA not college basketball that is broken
College basketball was probably my favorite sport of 2014-15. I’ve always preferred college sports to the pros because in college it’s more of a team sport. In professional sports (especially the NBA) players seem to take on an “It’s all about me” mentality and as much as I love college football, basketball took the proverbial cake for me being a Virginia fan and a sports fan in general. Whether it was things that hit close to home like Justin Anderson’s late finger injury/appendectomy or a very national issue on how college basketball was “broken” and “dead” despite ratings being the best they have been in 20+ years I always felt on the edge of my seat waiting for the next heart stopping turn. When I watch the NBA playoffs, I don’t get that feeling.
Watching games last night in one half (yes 24 minutes of play time) it took 84 minutes of real time because of the “Hack-A-_____” strategies where teams continuously foul bad free throw shooters to prevent the other team from scoring. People complain about how college basketball has a 35 second shot clock which makes the game painful to watch (Which I 100% disagree) the NBA has a 24 second shot clock.. how is that working out for them? People say “Well they’re an NBA player they should be able to make free throws.” To which I reply “If they’re an NBA player why can’t they play real defense”
I love watching good defense whether it’s SEC Football or Virginia Basketball, whether it’s watching a pitching gem or seeing a goalie shut out his opponents, defense is fun. I know there are people who love watching high scoring shootouts and I love watching those from time to time but at the end of the day the saying is true “Defense wins championships.” Which brings us back to the “Hack-A-_____” strategies, the NBA NEEDS desperately to make an effort to cut down on games where the entirety of the game is watching one player who struggles shooting free throws shooting free throws. I don’t know how they would do it but it needs to happen. Professional basketball can be great, see Lebron’s buzzer beater last night along with the Cavs and Bulls fantastic, evenly matched games has been fantastic but watching DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard shoot free throws hasn’t been.