Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes has never been afraid to speak his mind, and drop a mic when needed. On Thursday, he opened up about the challenges that come along with different schools providing different basketballs for home games:
Nigel Hayes calls out NCAA hypocrisy of using different basketballs at different schools
Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
”It’s definitely different. Personally, we don’t like it too much. I don’t like the Under Armour ball whatsoever. But that’s the way this amateur sports league is set up. We’re supposed to be having fun, but all the money is in these basketballs that colleges play with. But it’s an amateur sport, we’re just here for fun. It’s not really that serious. So I guess any ball should be OK.
“Maybe we should have a universal ball like the NBA. You don’t go to the Clippers’ stadium and play with a Nike and then go to Golden State and play with a Rawlings. But in this amateur sport of college, where money isn’t the goal — it’s the student education and experience that you get — we play with a million different basketballs.”
Here’s where it gets awkward: As Jim Polzin notes in his piece, Wisconsin is switching to Under Armour this July. So if Hayes decides to return for his senior season (he’s currently listed as the 30th ranked prospect on Draft Express) there’s a chance he’ll have to deal with those balls at home games all season long. On the road, it will still be anyone’s guess.
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