Why College Basketball Is Better Than the NBA (Dec. 11)

Reason No. 5 Why College Basketball is better than the NBA: Rivalries Kentucky vs. Louisville. Georgetown vs. Syracuse. Duke vs. North Carolina. College basketball is full of meaningful, long-lasting rivalries—the same cannot be said about the NBA. You can talk about Knicks-Heat, Bulls-Pistons, or Lakers-Celtics all you want. But those were time-specific rivalries. The Knicks and Heat did battle several times in the playoffs in the late '90s, Chicago and Detroit were late-'80s rivals, and Magic's Lakers took on Bird's Celtics in three NBA Finals in the '80s. No doubt that for each of those specific periods these teams were intense rivals. But who cared about a Knicks-Heat game last season? Or a Bulls-Pistons game post-Jordan? This is where college differs from the pros, and for the better. Not that I envision this happening any time soon, but imagine a scenario where ACC doormat North Carolina travels to Durham to take on a 2-15 Duke squad. Would the Cameron Crazies still be ... (link)