Now that the summit of March Madness is upon us, it’s time to debunk one of the most absurd basketball myths: the notion that college basketball players try harder than NBA players do.
It’s easy to think at first that the hustle and heart of college players is more evident because they aren’t getting paid, aren’t as skilled, have lower scoring games and seem to be doing it for “the love of the game.”
Sometimes it can appear as if NBA players don’t try. I think this is because the players are unfathomably skilled. Those guys have been honing their craft for years, and have made millions doing it. If they didn’t try hard, they wouldn’t have a roster spot.
It’s that simple.
Fans assume that NBA players don’t play defense because the games are so high scoring, but that can be traced back to the sheer talent of players as well. If NBA players really weren’t trying on defense, teams would average about 150 points per game.
The Atlanta Hawks average 97.8 points per game, good enough for 15th in the NBA. They don’t score that many points because players don’t try as hard as college players on defense; they score that many points because their talent level is exponentially greater than college players’.
Imagine a team composed of the worst players from the 12 worst NBA teams.
That team would easily win the NCAA Championship. Those guys aren’t just lollygagging around and holding a roster spot in the most competitive basketball league in the world; they are pushing their bodies to the limit every day to maintain it.
The same can be said when someone argues that NBA players “don’t care” as much as college players do. From time to time, it can appear as though stars such as Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James “don’t care” about the game as much as they should.
That can also be attributed to skill level; they’re so good that it can appear as if they’re not as invested in the game as they should be.
But you can’t tell me that LeBron didn’t yearn for that title with every ounce of his being. No one in college wants it more than Kobe Bryant does — not even Aaron Craft, the statewide poster boy for hustle.
College players don’t try harder than NBA players do; they’re just not as skilled as the pros who put in the work to earn those skills.
In my opinion, March Madness is the greatest spectacle in American sports, but the idea that college players are more invested in the game than NBA players is just madness.
jm296009ohiou.edu
