Cuban: College BB "worse than high school"

[Eduardo Martinez]

DePaul Tip-Off Luncheon

I wanted to get a discussion started on two things that stood out most from this story:

Durrell McDonald getting significant minutes early on, and potentially moving Brandon Young to the two. Thoughts?

Also, Purnell's take on conference realignment. Will the Big East still be as good as Purnell says?

 

[Halldan1]

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says college basketball 'worse than high school'

Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Mark Cuban isn't a fan of the pace of play of college basketball.

Two days after the NCAA Tournament ended, Mark Cuban ripped college basketball, saying it is "worse than high school" because of its lengthy shot clock.

The slowed down game, he said, means fewer college athletes are prepared for the uptempo NBA.

"If they want to keep kids in school and keep them from being pro players, they're doing it the exact right way by having the 35-second shot clock and having the game look and officiated the way it is," the Mavericks owner told ESPNDallas.com on Wednesday. "Just because kids don't know how to play a full game of basketball."

The NBA shot clock is only 24 seconds; even college women's players use a 30-second shot clock.

Cuban pointed out that scoring in college basketball has been down - in only 58 percent of the men's tourney games did a team score 70 points or more - and called the state of college basketball horrible.

"You've got 20 to 25 seconds of passing on the perimeter and then somebody goes and tries to make a play and do something stupid," he said.

Cuban isn't the only one taking shots at men's college basketball - Geno Auriemma called the sport "a joke" at the beginning of the month. The UConn women's college said he's sick of seeing no one score.

RELATED: DICK VITALE FIRES BACK AFTER GENO AURIEMMA'S 'CHEAP SHOT'

"I don't coach it, I don't play it, so I don't understand all the ins and outs of it, but as a spectator - forget that I'm a coach - as a spectator, watching it, it's a joke," he said while talking to the media on April 1.

"There's only like 10 teams in the top 25 that play the kind of basketball that you like to watch," Auriemma added.

Perhaps there are changes to come - the NCAA experimented with a 30-second shot clock during NIT tournament.




This post was edited on 4/9 4:34 PM by Halldan1

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/mark-cuban-college-basketball-worse-high-school-article-1.2179053

 

[BayonneRay]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Dan - Mark Cuban is assuming that NBA pro style is appealing. Heck the best way to watch the NBA is to tune in on the game in the last 3 minutes or so because that might be the time where the game MIGHT be a little exciting, the rest of it is really kind of boring. PS - when I first read the title of this thread I thought it was about cuban college basketball lol

 

[Halldan1]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

The way I see it is that a compromise is needed. Don't want 24 seconds as that's too fast. But 35 is too slow.

Bottom line, I would be happy with 30 seconds.

Cuban's point about teams wasting 20 seconds off the clock as coaches try to force their imprint on the game is right. It leads to incredibly boring BB when invariably combined with the last second poor shot/run play.

 

[rcodey]

I was at the FGCU- Texas A&M Corpus Christi game a few weeks ago when they used the 30 second clock and liked it. There was a much better flow to the game. They did not spend the first 10 seconds of the clock setting up the offense with the point guard just dribbling 25 feet from the basket as most teams do now. Both teams ran their offense as soon as they moved into the front court. I hope the NCAA changes to the 30 second clock. The ABA used it years ago.

 

[Seton75]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"


Two of the games this weekend were terrific. I don't get all the criticism. I like it at 35. The only issue was the refs.

 

[Bud Boomer]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"


The college game isn't the greatest sport on the planet (in my opinion at least) because the quality of basketball is the best. It's because of the school rivalries, length of the regular season (long enough that all the games matter and players actually try, but short enough that one loss doesn't kill you), and the tournament. If you're tuning into to watch a bunch of uber-skilled and athletic freaks make jump shots and throw down ridiculous dunks, college basketball probably isn't going to be your thing.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

I generally like Mark Cuban, but he's way off here. Mostly to me, b/c this argument that the agme needs to be changed to mirroe the pro game. Guess what everyone? There ar ehundreds and hundreds of players that will never play pro in the NBA, the D-League or overseas. They are the lion's share of the people in the sport. THE NCAA is not, or at least should not, be in the business of tailoring things to the few dozen guys who go on to big time pro careers, or whatever. College basketball is there for it's own needs.

Secondly, the last thing I want is for college ball to look like the NBA game, which is terrible. I know we all feel that way on this board.

Third, why is it a team's fault if you're bored by their style of play? They're trying to win games. Let the other team speed them up if they don't like the slow pace, or don't want to play defense for the full :35 every time down. To alter the game so that a major, legal strategy by many many teams (unlike say, alot of fouling, or flopping, etc) would potentially go away is wrong.

 

[HALL28]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"


I generally agree with Cuban, but the high school comparison is a little much. Cuban likes to make a headline-grabbing statement to help make his point.

The college game keeps getting slower and for a casual fan, the regular season is meaningless.

If you put in a 24-second clock, you'll get a more entertaining product, but you'll also get more possessions for each team, which will mean less upsets, which is one of the biggest draws about March Madness.

30 seconds seems like a workable compromise.

 

[Shuathelete]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Cubans right

 

[Halldan1]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Yes and no. Cuban cares about the NBA so his opinion will always be colored by what's best for his league. But that doesn't mean his point isn't valid. At least to a degree.

35 seconds is too long and allows too much 'coaching' by the guys on the bench who want to control every facet of the game.

I don't want to watch AAU roll out the ball and let them play games. But I do want to watch entertaining contests And that would be best served by lowering the shot clock by 5 seconds.

Taking away timeouts would also help but you know TV and the coaches won't let that happen.

 

[pmulcahy96]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Remember when the shot clock was 45 seconds? I agree I think 30 seconds is perfect!

 

[Bud Boomer]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Originally posted by HALL28:




If you put in a 24-second clock, you'll get a more entertaining product, but you'll also get more possessions for each team, which will mean less upsets, which is one of the biggest draws about March Madness.

I actually think lowering the shot clock will just make things worse. For the most part, college kids are not skilled enough to score efficiently in a shortened period of time. They need a developed offense with spacing and consistent movement/screening to create up open shots. The less time to run the offense, the fewer efficient shots.

As it is, the college game has too much "pro style" for my taste. I may have even liked it better when there was 45 seconds to work with.

 

[Seton75]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"


I agree Bud.

And, IMO, there is no more exciting basketball game than one played between two evenly matched, talented HS teams. Even in NJ. With no shot clock.

 

[knowknow456]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Cuban's premise is false. It is not the specific job of the NCAA to prepare the best 30 or so college players for the NBA. Their job is to have an exciting game that makes money. Overall they do a good job with that.

And last I checked, the NBA continues to locate and develop the best college players without too much difficulty.

I am in the camp that would leave the shot clock at 35 seconds. Unlike many people here, I like the NBA and watch games regularly. I am not particularly interested in making college into a mini-NBA. If I was going to make a suggestion on improving the college game, I would focus my energy on better end of game flow. Fewer timeouts or faster official reviews interest me more than changing the shot clock.

 

[Seton75]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

If I was dictator of American player development, I would tell coaches to go to Europe and start teaching what they have been teaching.

 

[JIMSOULS]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"

Originally posted by Seton75:
If I was dictator of American player development, I would tell coaches to go to Europe and start teaching what they have been teaching.

I'll buy this. And while I'm not one of those nostalgia freaks who longs for the good old days, I think American basketball, on all levels, is not the beautiful game it can be.

The most absurd comments are the ones made by Auriemma. A women's coach being critical of the men's game? Now that's funny.

 

[Seton75]

Re: Cuban college BB "worse than high school"


I see an article saying there are 101 foreign players in the NBA. 27 teams, 15 man rosters, 405 roster spots...1 out of 4 NBA players is foreign born.

 

[radecicco]

I also like the NBA, especially the playoffs. Changes are needed in the college game. Agree with end of game flow and 30 second shot clock. Also need to extend the "no charge" arc under the basket another foot (still too many charges at the expense of offense and scoring) and adopt the NBA continuation rule. A player clearly making a move to put up a shot should be rewarded. Its so frustrating when a player is making a move to score, gets fouled/hacked before going up with a shot, the ball goes in and a foul is called on the floor. No basket, no foul shots.

 

[PirateLobby]

All of the hyper-criticism is a load of crap. There may be some changes that might be worthwhile, but I enjoyed watching the season, and the tournament far more than the 2 or 3 NBA games I watched.

 

[pokeyshu]

I hate NBA games I love defense.

 

[Shuathelete]

Originally posted by pokeyshu:
I hate NBA games I love defense.

This makes no sense. NBA has the best defense, and the best offense. The best teams are good at defense. Just because college kids suck at scoring doesnt mean there is good defense.

Bad offense =/= Good Defense... and as stated the low scoring has a lot to do with insanely long shot clock.

 

[Seton75]

Lots of fans don't watch the NBA anymore and comment on notions about the league formed 20 years ago. No defense? lol

 

[Woah Bundy]

Originally posted by Shuathelete:

Originally posted by pokeyshu:
I hate NBA games I love defense.

This makes no sense. NBA has the best defense, and the best offense. The best teams are good at defense. Just because college kids suck at scoring doesnt mean there is good defense.

Bad offense =/= Good Defense... and as stated the low scoring has a lot to do with insanely long shot clock.

This. Take the GS Warriors, they are probably the most exciting team in the league and their defense is monstrous. Curry is not all-world at defense but everyone else in their starting lineup plus Andre Iguodala as their 6th man is. They have the best record and they play the best defense.

 

[pokeyshu]

What I was,saying is I enjoy zones they,have opened it up a bit but prefer college any day.

Also not sure if Cuban has checked Neilson
This post was edited on 4/13 7:00 PM by pokeyshu

interest Nielson ratings

 

[Section112]

I have tried to watch the Nets and the Knicks this year a few times and I'm just bored with the games. I can turn on a college game and enjoy it much more and not even know much about the team I am watching.

Pro ball players must be so good they make it look easy so its boring to me. They rebound the ball, run it down the other side, do a pick and roll or a two-man game and the shot goes up within 10 seconds usually. It goes in and they score or it goes the other way. Every once in a while you have a fun play to watch but usually the NBA games do nothing for me.

I guess I like the imperfections of the college game and how differently each team seems to play and the approach on both sides of the ball. Cuban is an NBA owner so obviously he sees what he wants to see and he is always promoting his brand so his opinion is narrow and one-sided. He never ever struck me as an open-minded guy. He is always selling something so I could care less what he says.