College Basketball Thread 2018

Zion reminds me more of a prime Charles Barkley then "The Next LeBron".

 

I want both and I'm willing to risk his future to get it

I prefer college basketball by leagues over the craptastic NBA. I don't think the NBA should allow anyone into its league who is not 21. Again, for selfish reasons, bc I want to see college rivalries built up over three-four years, akin to what it was back in the 1980s. How many great guys got injured back then and never played in the NBA bc they were not allowed to -- wanking motion -- pursue a financial opp in the NBA? I can't think of a single one.

 

I would get 100 times more enjoyment watching him lose in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament than anything he could possibly do in the NBA.

 

The average NBA game between two average teams, no, even two lousy ones, features 10 times more individual talent, 10 times more team play, and five times as much intensity as the "elite" college regular season games. If you think otherwise, then why do you think college players good enough to be in the NBA should be forced to stay in college for your entertainment? Wouldn't the college game still be more appealing to you if they never entered college in the first place? Your position doesn't parse.

 

My position doesn't parse? It parses fine. Sure, there's more talent in the NBA, of course; but how familiar are you with guys who come into the league? Between overseas guys and one and dones, it's a lot harder to have any connection with players in the league nowadays. I think the level of college and the NBA would both benefit by keeping players out until they're 21. Again, name me a single guy who stayed in college and suffered a career-ending injury. I'd like them to stay in college and keep me entertained, as opposed to learning the game in the NBA.

I used to love the NBA, but now it largely makes me nauseous. Championship Week in the NCAA and the first weekend of the NCAA tournament are always better than whatever superteams are facing off in the NBA Finals this year.

 

OK, fine. You prefer the college game. But that does not equate with the position players must stay in that game for four years to benefit it. As for the idea the NBA would be improved if the likes of Williamson stayed at Duke for four years, that's risible.

 

I happen to think an organization benefits from having employees who are more mature and well-rounded. Williamson is a unicorn, so he's not the best example. But for every Williamson, there's 10 who could have benefited -- themselves, the NBA, a college program, my pleasure meter -- by not being allowed into the league until they're 21. But yeah, we're denying them the right to work and exposing them to potentially career-ending injuries before they get paid, like what happened with that one guy, what's his name, the guy whose name escapes me bc he doesn't exist.

 

The way I see it - if you are destined to be an NBA bust, it's better to find out earlier so you can get on with your life. And now you can still go back to your college and finish your degree.

 

Hank Gathers.

You are less familiar with the rosters of 30 teams with players who can easily play for 5+ years than you are with the rosters of 100+ teams with players who will play at most 4 years?

 

You're right, if Hank Gathers had gone to the NBA and not stayed at LMU, he would have never dropped dead of a heart condition....

JFC.

I don't bother with 100+teams. I focus on the rosters of my teams (Vanderbilt and Georgetown) and the schools they play against. Because it's the SEC and what's left of the Big East, those respective rosters turn over so much there's no personal rivalries from year to year.

 

Gathers would have made money and had better medical care if he had gone to the NBA.

I don't bother with 30 teams. If focus on my team and the rest of the conference.

What's the difference between you learning about a new freshman about to play for your pleasure and somebody learning about LeBron, Kobe, or KG?

 

Like Reggie Lewis had better medical care? Why'd he drop dead on a basketball court while playing in the NBA? (Cocaine, supposedly, but still.)

Hank Gathers is your one example? I don't find it particularly compelling. He didn't blow out an ACL or have a microfracture injury. You claim he would have gotten better medical care in the NBA, but that's speculative.

College rosters used to be rather static, so that you could familiarize yourself with both collegians AND the NBA. Now the NBA is more likely to be static bc you lock guys into contracts, while college rosters -- at least in the SEC and Big East -- swing wildly from year to year. That adversely affects my viewing pleasure