Locals may not like NBA, but it has a leg up on college game

The NBA playoffs begin Saturday. Can I get a high five?

No?

I suppose I'm not surprised.

Whenever my subject is the NBA, I can count on hearing from dear readers who are kind enough to lecture me on why pro basketball is such a lousy product.

If you're so inclined this time, you know how to reach me.

My experience over many years is that local sports fans are quick to dump on the NBA - some sounding as if they're personally offended by the way the pros play the game - while claiming to be charmed by college hoops.

Having a preference for one sport over another is natural, but I find it a little odd that self-professed basketball fans get so much joy out of slamming superior athletes in favor of the second-rate.

If you watched the NCAA tournament long enough to witness a pair of gritty and cohesive, but only modestly athletic teams reach the championship game, you know college basketball at its highest level isn't what it once was. And will never be again.

For sure, this is an oft-told tale, but it's as relevant today as ever. This spring, an ever-growing number of underclassmen are jumping into the NBA draft so they can stay ahead of labor issues. With the NBA's collective-bargaining agreement expiring next summer, a work stoppage in 2011 is a real possibility.

More players are declaring for the pros, while others are throwing their names out there to see who bites. The result will be a watering down of an already weakened college game.

The ACC has lost its best freshman, Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors, to the pros, while North Carolina big man Ed Davis, whose sophomore season was shortened by injury, didn't fulfill his college potential before entering the draft.

The exodus of Kentucky freshmen came as no surprise, but John Calipari's Wildcats are already reloading. Butler, one of the season's best stories, won't be nearly as interesting or potent if sophomore Gordon Hayward follows through on his NBA flirtation.

Continuing to lose talent prematurely, college basketball is finding it harder each year to live up to the hype. Do those of us who enjoy the game embrace its pageantry? Always. Do we celebrate the pluck demonstrated on the court? Absolutely.

But sometimes, not even a well-crafted spectacle can conceal the scarcity of exceptional talent.

In the Final Four, Butler averaged 33 percent shooting from the floor. The final score of Duke's title-game victory - 61-59 - wasn't solely a result of rugged defense and big-stage nerves. Points were at a premium because neither team had a top-flight finisher.

There is no shortage of those in the NBA. So why so much hate?

I'm sure my e-mailers will tell me again what's wrong with the pros. And how misguided I must be to enjoy watching Steve Nash and Jason Kidd with the ball on a string, and Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki fill it up, and Manu Ginobili's Plastic Man impersonation. Or any of the circus plays turned in by Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

It's selling the NBA short, though, to limit the superlatives to the top stars; even the supporting casts perform feats rarely offered to a college fan.

In this space, I'm often the curmudgeon, so it's bemusing when the roles are reversed and readers taunt me for tossing bouquets to the NBA.

The playoffs are longer than a Texas highway. Viewers are advised to pace themselves. But if you watch at the right times and resist buying into the anti-NBA bias, you'll see basketball the way it's supposed to be played.

What can I say? I look forward to the playoffs.

I guess it makes me a traitor to my demographic that I don't react to the NBA the way the Tea Party does to April 15.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com