I've long been a bigger fan of college basketball than I have of the NBA, and the reason actually has less to do with basketball than you might think.
Even though the NCAA has some crazy rules in many sports, the game rules are pretty similar to the pros when it comes to basketball. And, while it's true that NBA players are "more talented" than college players, I've seen the Nets play, and it would be a toss-up to see if they could win the ACC Tournament. Also, what makes college basketball more appealing is that college players - for the most part - care more about winning and school pride, not getting pay raises. (Unless maybe his name is O.J. Mayo.) Even if they are less-skilled players, they seem to play harder and with more intensity. So, when it comes to what happens on the court, it's a toss-up between college and the pros.
The college game, however, gets a huge advantage from what goes on elsewhere in the arena. Let's start with the music. There is absolutely no doubt that one of the best parts of the atmosphere at college games is the school band. After three-plus seasons of going to Virginia games at John Paul Jones Arena, I've developed an appreciation for having the band at basketball games. I went to Wake Forest this weekend for the Virginia-Wake men's basketball game with a trio of friends from U.Va., and my notion was reaffirmed. (Sidenote: If there's any fight song from another ACC school that is catchy, but still not annoying, it's Wake's.)
Wake's band played the fight song at least a dozen times, but each time, the Wake fans happily sang and clapped along. And I don't mean just the student section - Wake only has about 4,500 undergraduate students, and surely only a small percentage go to every game - all the fans were into it. Which says something, considering the LJVM Coliseum holds 14,000-plus, which is not that much smaller than the 16,000-seat JPJ.
This proved - at least, to me - that college bands are an integral part of making the game-day atmosphere a lot better, because I've now not only witnessed but experienced how they affect the game in multiple arenas. Have you ever seen an NBA game during which the entire crowd was united through music and created a home-court advantage? Doubtful, because the only "music" at NBA games is snippets of pop or hip-hop songs blared repeatedly. What's worse, they play music or ridiculous chants throughout the entirety of the game. Even if the crowd wanted to make noise, it'd be overshadowed by the noise that is pumped throughout the arena.
College marching bands are so much better than blaring music and synthetic noise that they make college games so much more exciting to watch on TV than NBA ones. It's annoying to hear chants of "When I say 'D,' you say 'Fense.' D. Fense. D. Fense." over NBA P.A. systems when you know that the fans are not chanting along, but it's awesome to see college crowds across the nation get pumped up by their school bands. The background noise at the college level almost makes watching Dick Vitale broadcasts tolerable.
Oh, and one last thing about college ball: You don't have to worry about players bringing guns to the arena. Sorry, Wizards fans.
Perhaps it's just nostalgia setting in, but I know I'm going to miss the traditions of college sports when I graduate. So, I want to thank the band that has been at every game at JPJ, playing to get the 'Hoos excited no matter how bad the team has been these past few years. And I hope my fellow students will take notice of how much better the college atmosphere is and take advantage of that during their time at the University.
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