The rivalry between the professional and college sports create debates and loyalties among the fan bases. Both sides advocate for their preferred style of play. Debates often come down to the athleticism of the professionals, against the energy of the competition in college basketball. March Madness is more exciting and unpredictable due to the different types of talent and play styles in the tournament.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) postseason tournament is popularly known as “March Madness.” It is a seven-round, single-elimination tournament set up of four regions and sixteen teams in each region, who are decided by a selection committee.
“The games being one and done can cause a lot more excitement,” Senior Hayden Pugh said.
Unlike March Madness, the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs run 2 weeks longer. The top 8 seeds from the eastern and western conferences are decided after the play-in games. After the teams are seeded, the first round of the playoffs are a best 3 out of 5 series, and the 3 rounds that follow are best 4 out of 7. For example, if the series is best 3 out of 5, it means that the team who can get to 3 wins first in 5 games will move on. The NBA’s popularity comes from fans who grow up in cities of teams or from people who may watch their favorite college player take the next step to the NBA.
“I love the pro level atmosphere,” senior basketball player Travis Lloyd said. “There’s always stories and rivalries that these teams have had for many years now.”
The NBA is a game of just “pick and roll” and isolation with no defense. Pick and roll is a designed play in which another player on the court sets a screen or human wall for the point guard to get by his defender. This type of consistent play style by the professionals causes high scoring games, but are also a way of causing blowouts as well. Games with no defense are boring when shots are not being made during NBA games.
The NBA’s popularity is because of the focus of marketing and promotions. For example, the NBA’s “All-Star Weekend” is a big event that comes with a lot of sponsors. The event, as a whole, was sponsored by State Farm, while the skills challenge was sponsored by Kia, the three point contest was sponsored by Starry, and the dunk contest was sponsored by AT&T.
“March Madness is more enjoyable because it is better team styled basketball,” junior basketball player Patrick Moore said.
Smaller Division 1 schools can qualify for the NCAA tournament if they win their conference championship the week before. These teams are usually in the 12-16 seed range. Any of these teams who beat a higher seed in their first round game of the tournament is considered an “upset.” Any upset in college basketball brings more excitement to basketball fans than the NBA because the talent levels in college are a wide range compared to the professionals who are all of the same caliber.
“I just love the chaos it creates,” senior basketball player Connor Downey said. “Anything can happen at any time which brings the excitement to the tournament.”
Upsets are big reasons why fans look forward to a tournament like the NCAA. Wins like those create stories and legacies. Although fans may cheer for another team, the underdogs can get some of those other fans on their feet when the excitement of an upset could be happening.
“It is special for these kids who have never been in this big situation,” Pugh said. “There’s names you’ve never heard of before and they become big stars.”
One of the biggest Cinderella stories that happened was Saint Peter’s University. In 2022, Saint Peter’s was the first and only 15 seed to make the elite 8 round of the tournament. A Cinderella story is when a team seeded very low makes history and has a deep run in the tournament. Runs like these are what hooks the attention of college basketball fans to the tournament rather than the NBA, because the NBA doesn’t have Cinderella stories.
“The outcome can change on any given night,” Moore said. “No game is really certain on who the winner is going to be.”
