The ongoing college basketball and NBA seasons could not be more different from a public perception standpoint.
College hoops has had a banner year full of marquee matchups, exciting stars, and thrilling upsets. On the other hand, the NBA has had a year full of gambling scandals, tanking debates, and criticism about load management. It’s difficult to look at both sports and conclude that the sentiment around college basketball isn’t in a much better place than the NBA at this current moment.
But Ian Eagle, a leading play-by-play voice for both college basketball and the NBA, believes there’s still a lot to love about the NBA, even if much of the discussion has centered on some of the more negative aspects of the game in recent years. Appearing on the Josh Graham Show for Westwood One Sports, Eagle explained why he has an appreciation for both the college and pro games, even when one is continually beat up in the media.
“I’ve been an NBA broadcaster for 33 years, so it’s certainly something that has been a huge part of my life. And I think if you’re a legitimate basketball fan, if you love hoops and the athleticism and the skill level, then it’s hard not to be an NBA fan,” Eagle said. “I know there are people out there, naysayers, that say, ‘Well, it’s too much three-point shooting and the game has changed.’ It’s still a beautiful game and there’s a chance when you turn on an NBA game that something may happen that you just haven’t seen before. Because the players now, in terms of their preparation, their fitness, their year-round commitment to being the best they can be — and yes, the money that’s on the line, if you’re a big-time player, impact player, elite player, there’s a chance you can retire from the NBA and be a billionaire.
“So I understand where the criticisms come from, and there are legitimate gripes. I think the tanking issue is real and the fact that there’s a family out there that reserves tickets and buys them early because they want to see a certain team and then they show up and that star player from that team is not playing because it’s the front-end of a back-to-back, or it’s the third game in four nights, or there is a decision made by the strength and conditioning program that you know nothing about, but they’ve looked at the numbers that they’ve been tracking for them physically, and they’ve decided that that player needs a night off, even though that player doesn’t believe they need a night off. That’s an issue. It is a real real concern.”
Eagle smartly points out that, while there are plenty of legitimate gripes with the NBA right now, it’s also a rocky time for college basketball.
“College basketball, there are some questions as well moving forward,” Eagle continued. “How all of this is going to look moving forward with NIL and whether or not there’s going to need to be a salary cap at some point. I think these are questions that pop up over the course of the season. In my personal opinion, it’s not something that I bring up during the NCAA Tournament. There’s a time and place. And to me, the tournament is all about the games, the stories, and the chance that these young players get such a big stage to showcase and maybe create a memory that will last them a lifetime.”
And that right there is likely the crux of the difference between how the media covers college basketball versus the NBA. There’s a romanticism to college basketball that doesn’t exist as much in NBA coverage. That’s true even in the NIL era where players are essentially free agents every year, bouncing between three or four schools throughout their college careers. Most of these players will never sniff the NBA. Many won’t even seek out a professional career abroad. College basketball, and the NCAA Tournament in particular, is the highest level of basketball they will ever reach. Perhaps that warps the media’s perception of the game.
There’s also some inherent advantages college basketball has over the NBA, particularly when it comes to the issues currently plaguing the professional league. College teams play fewer than half the amount of games that NBA teams do, so load management isn’t an issue. There’s no draft either, so college teams don’t benefit from tanking. And there’s over 360 D-I teams, meaning there are a lot of contrasting play styles. At the elite level of the NBA, there are fewer noticeable differences, at least to the casual fan, between how teams orient themselves, because when everyone on the court is elite, there are fewer viable strategies.
But to Eagle’s point, that’s why “legitimate” fans of basketball love the NBA. It’s about as pure a showcase of individual skill, athleticism, and teamwork of any sport, period. It’s the structural stuff that makes it easy to rag on the NBA, especially compared to college.