Why NBA fans should embrace college basketball

It happens every year, usually around March when college basketball is finally gaining national attention and even the biggest NBA fans are starting to zone out before an eternal regular season gives way to the playoffs. College hoops vs. the NBA: which is better?

A lot of people have strong opinions on this. Almost all of them are wrong.

College fans will occasionally say that NBA teams don’t play defense or that the game is too dependent on superstars. NBA fans see college ball as merely a group of flawed teams and flawed players playing a season with few absolute answers. Both sides get mad at each other for no apparent reason.

This back-and-forth needs to stop.

The NBA is great, college basketball is great and it makes no sense to love one and categorically dismiss the other. It’s all part of the same ecosystem for the best sport in the world. Like the prophet Bill Walton said:

With the NBA in full swing and college basketball getting started for real on Tuesday with an amazing slate of games, now’s a good time to make the plea for peace.

NBA fans: y’all should start caring about college basketball because college basketball rules. Here are a few reasons why:

Context is everything when it comes to sports. Without it, the game really isn’t that interesting. You need to know that the Warriors could have traded Klay Thompson for Kevin Love, but decided against it. You need to know everything that went into LeBron James’ return to Cleveland. You need to know Jan Vesely got drafted ahead of Kawhi Leonard. Mostly, you need to know why this thing you obsess over is worth watching.

There’s no better place to start paying attention than at the college level. There’s two premium examples that immediately come to mind: Kevin Durant at Texas and Anthony Davis at Kentucky.

Durant seems like the first star of the modern generation. When he burst onto the national scene at Texas in 2006-07, it immediately felt like you were watching future greatness. To see a 6’10 perimeter player do the things Durant was doing at 18 years old was incredible. That he entered the NBA just as League Pass was catching on and Internet basketball writing started to gain steam made it even better.

Davis was the same way on a Kentucky team that blitzed everyone on the path to a 38-2 record and a championship season. A lot of people complain about the impact of the one-and-done era on both the college game and the NBA, but it has a way of making college hoops more compelling while giving the players a fanbase that’ll always love them and a taste of high-leverage situations against their peers before they start playing against adults. Adam Silver is going to get his way eventually with the raising of the age limit, but as much as the opposition to such a move makes sense, that could also be a net positive for both levels.

There’s going to be stud freshmen every year, and this season is no exception. Even when they don’t pan out as planned (Harrison Barnes comes to mind), it still provides an essential prologue to a future NBA career.

This year, you need to watch Duke’s Jahlil Okafor (the consensus Player of the Year before he ever played a college game), Arizona’s Stanley Johnson (a 245-pound wing already bigger than half of the NBA’s centers), Texas’ Myles Turner (he’s already got the Dirk fade!) and Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns.

Speaking of Kentucky ....

If you put every Kentucky alum on the same team, would it win an NBA championship? You’d have DeMarcus Cousins and Davis in the front court, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Eric Bledsoe on the wings and John Wall running point. The bench would have Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Patrick Patterson, Julius Randle and ..... you get the point.

Almost every college basketball fan is tied directly to their school, and that’s fine. As a liberated college basketball and football fan, though, I can tell you this sport is so much better when you’re not living and dying with every mistake a 19-year-old playing for your alma mater makes.

Most college fans hate Kentucky because they’re brash, win a lot and recruit so many future NBA players. But if you’re an NBA fan looking to get into college ball in your free time, doesn’t that make Kentucky an ideal favorite team?

John Caliipari is the perfect ring leader for this traveling circus. Players love Calipari. While Jim Boeheim is selfishly trying to shame his stars into coming back to school, Cal just wants everyone to get rich and be happy.

The NBA is hilarious. Just in the last week alone, we’ve had Lance Stephenson slapping himself in the face to try to draw a foul, Cousins getting a technical while military veterans were being honored during a timeout and Doug McDermott getting shoved out of the way during a photo op with a rapper.

College ball is entertaining, too! This is where I hit you with the Kansas State block Vine:

.... and the picture of the best hair in college hoops:

What’s not to like?

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This Tuesday, you get to watch Okafor go up against a Michigan State team that doesn’t have anyone to match up with him. In the next game, my dude Cliff Alexander and Kansas take on Kentucky’s horde of future pro big men. It’s going to be a good time.

Have you looked at the NBA schedule for Tuesday night? It’s not pretty outside of the Kentucky on Kentucky crime that is Boogie vs. Brow.

So, please: take some time to check out college ball on Tuesday and periodically throughout the rest of the season. It’s a good time.