Collegiate Players
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How Are NBA and NCAA Basketball Different?
To the untrained eye, a game of pro basketball and a game of college basketball can appear very similar, if not pretty much the same. From game to game, you see similar things: a standard size ball, basketball players, a 10-foot hoop and the foul line 15 feet from the backboard. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll start to see differences in college and professional play.
First off, in the NBA, the game is divided into four 12-minute quarters. In the NCAA, there are two 20-minute halves. While they play for different lengths of time, they do share an overtime period of five minutes.
The clock differs in the games as well, with a 24-second shot clock in the NBA, and a 35 second shot clock in the NCAA. For this reason, scoring in NCAA games can differ greatly from game to game as well as from team to team. How a team strategizes to work the clock matters a great deal; for example, strong defense results in games with a final score from about 50 to 60 points. Teams that opt for an aggressive offense strategy end up with scores in the 80 to 100 range, not unlike scores posted in the NBA.
In addition, NCAA teams have 10 seconds to advance the ball half-court once a basket is made; whereas in the NBA, the time limit is 8 seconds.
The court is the same size in both organizations (94 feet long by 50 feet wide), basket height, backboard distance and the foul line are all the same, as well. Look closer, though, when college and pro teams take a 3-point shot. NBA players take a 3-point shot from 23’9” (22” in the corners) and the NCAA’s 3-point shot is from a distance of 19’9”. NBA lane width is 16 feet and collegiate players’ lane is 12 feet.
There are yet more differences between pro and collegiate basketball; this discussion contains some of the basic differences in how the clock is handled as well as differences in 3-point shot differences. The differences discussed in this article are just the start; continue to read and research to learn even more about how basketball is played at the collegiate and professional levels. Getting a handle on the differences between college and pro basketball rules can help you gain a better understanding of the strategy and action going on during any given game.
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