Hoops Hangups

Barry Laminack: The problem with college basketball

Barry Laminack: The problem with college basketball
If only the rest of the season was as exciting as March Madness. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

March is here and that means March Madness is right around the corner. That also means that everyone has to get back to acting like they like and care about college basketball (but we all know that's not true). Let me get this out of the way first, I don't hate college basketball. I watch the NCAA Tournament like everyone else.

Every year the tournament has crazy finishes, drama, and some fun games there is no denying. The problem is the rest of the year. Outside of the big matchups (Duke vs North Carolina, et al.), it seems that college basketball isn’t all that popular. Sure in pockets of the country where there are few pro teams this may not be true, but when it comes to major sports cities it seems that college hoops fails to capture the interest of fans.  

When you watch the average college football game, you’re likely to see several future NFL stars on the field. When you watch the average college basketball game you're likely not going to see any future NBA stars (or players for that matter) during the game. Here is where you tell me about all the “talent” in the tourney, but I’m just not buying it. In fact, I did some research. And the numbers each NBA draft class is putting up over the last 5 years is pretty bad.

Below are some numbers from the last 5 draft classes currently in the NBA (to really spare you from just how bad it actually is, I’m only using the top ten picks in each year).

These are the combined career averages for the top ten picks in each of the last 5 NBA drafts:

Career Averages for the Top 10 Draft Picks (Per Game)

Draft Yr 

 FG%

 3P%

 FT%

Minutes 

 Points 

 Total Rebounds 

 Assists

2017

 0.394 

 0.330 

 0.682

 24.89

 9.68

        4.21

2.66

2016

 0.458

 0.326

 0.681

 22.94

 9.29

        4.02

2.24

2015

 0.440

 0.294

 0.749

 25.62

 11.72

        5.14

2.07

2014

 0.440

 0.312

 0.729

 26.52

 11.9

        5.06

2.57

2013

 0.449

 0.327

 0.753

 24.91

 10.5

        4.25

1.85

AVG

 0.436

 0.318

 0.719

 25.0

 10.6

        4.5

2.3

As you can see, over the last 5 years the average top ten pick in the NBA is averaging 10.5 points per game, 4.25 rebounds per game and 1.85 assists per game for their career.

That’s terrible.

Looking at the first round as a whole, in each of the last 5 years, here is a break down of career average scoring per game:

1st Rd Players Points Per Game Average

Draft Yr

 0 - 9.9 pts/g 

 10 - 15.9 pts/g 

 16 - 19.9 pts/g 

 20+ pts/g 

2017

 21

 8

 1

 0

2016

 25

 4

 1

 0

2015

 23 

 4

 2

 1

2014 

 16

 12

 1

 1

2013

 21

 6

 3

 0

Out of the 150 players that have been drafted in the last 5 years, 2 are averaging 20 or more points per game - Joel Embiid (22.3) and Karl-Anthony Towns (21.3). The main reason I think NCAA basketball isn’t a good watch (outside of the tourney) is that there are too many teams in Division I basketball.

Basketball (more so than any other major team sport) is the kind of sport where having 1 really good player can completely change the dynamic of a team. There can only be 30 first round picks (and 60 total draft picks) in a year. That means of the 5,265 players in Division I that fill roster spots, less than .0114 percent of them are NBA caliber. (I say “less than” because not all 60 draft slots are filled with NCAA talent, some are from overseas).

But Barry, not all 5265 players on an NCAA men’s basketball roster are eligible for the draft!

Well, the NCAA estimated that 3.6% of draft-eligible Division I players were chosen in the 2016 NBA draft, so my point still stands.

In Conclusion

Shrinking the number of Division I schools would mean that more teams would have more talent and deeper rosters. More talent and deeper teams would make the regular season games more compelling and fun to watch.

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The Astros beat the Pirates, 8-2. Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images.

Framber Valdez pitched seven strong innings, Isaac Paredes homered twice, and the Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-2 after a lengthy rain delay on Thursday night.

Valdez (6-4) won his fifth straight decision by limiting the Pirates to two runs on five hits with three walks and a season-high 11 strikeouts after waiting out the delay that pushed the start of the game back 3 hours and 22 minutes. The left-hander is now 5-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his last six starts.

Paredes hit his 13th homer of the season leading off the fourth against Mitch Keller (1-8). His 14th, a two-run shot in the ninth, put the game away.

Jeremy Peña added three hits and drove in a run for the Astros. The shortstop is batting .361 since moving to the leadoff spot on April 27.

Jake Melton, who made his major league debut last weekend against Tampa Bay, had two hits, including a two-run single against Keller in the fourth.

Keller had been pitching well despite receiving the lowest run support in the majors. The right-hander wasn't quite as crisp against the Astros, giving up six runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings as his ERA crept up to 4.19.

Jared Triolo had two hits and scored twice for the Pirates, who have dropped four of six.

Key moment

The Pirates were down two and had runners on the corners with two outs in the fifth when Valdez fanned Andrew McCutchen on a curveball.

Key stat

9 — the number of runs Pittsburgh has scored in Keller's last starts.

Up next

Astros: head to Cleveland for a three-game weekend series starting Friday when Colton Gordon (0-1, 5.95 ERA) faces Cleveland's Logan Allen (3-3, 4.22).

Pirates: welcome Philadelphia for a three-game set beginning Friday. Bailey Falter, who posted a 0.76 ERA across six starts in May, starts the opener for Pittsburgh.

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