Basketball Fever? Turn to college hoops this season

As the leaves fall and the weather gets chilly, this can only mean one very important thing to sports fans - Basketball!

Over the next few months, on both weekends and weeknights, you will likely be given the option of watching an NBA game or a college one, and we are here to try to convince you to choose the latter.

The NBA is a player's game. Individuals effectively determine the outcome of the game, rather than the team. Look at teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James, Miami Heat with Dewayne Wade or the Dallas Mavericks with Dirk Nowitzki, where how a superstar plays on a given night will essentially determine whether a team wins or losses.

This is not the case in college basketball, where the team dynamic is in full force. For the most part, legends are not made in the college games, but instead, they are bred. Michael Jordan only averaged 17 points per game in college, a small feat compared to the digits he ended up putting on the board in the NBA. Teams make great players in the NCAA, not the other way around, like how Chris Wilcox never quite found his place in the most recent Maryland championship team until the team was already on the road to success, or how Juan Dixon would have never been able to lead had Steve Francis never left early for the NBA. Great players are born from teams' needs as they rise to unique challenges every year against diverse basketball programs.

In the NCAA, many teams with nameless players step up to the plate and beat out the big games, like how UNC's rookie team earned Roy Williams the Coach of the Year award after losing 96 percent of the 2005 championship squad's scoring productivity.

The NBA is saturated. For years, players in the NBA compete against each other and the game that you see levels out. There are few surprises and even fewer reasons to be excited. The NCAA is structured so that you see a spectrum of basketball at its finest.

The NCAA is broken down into many conferences, each of which has its own specialty, such as the ACC's mostly dominant inside game and the Big Ten's outside-the-perimeter play. The most interesting is watching the games of East meets Mid-West. In these games viewers watch a prism that reflects different strengths that merge together to match up to the challenges between the two types of games. A big man's posting up is answered by an elegant three. Because you see the entire middle meeting only once a year during March Madness, the actual championships and conferences are two very different ball games. College ball is continuously changing and evolving, for not only do teams change styles after their experiences on the road, but players also have a maximum four-year turnaround, which keeps freshness in the basketball.

Additionally, in college ball, coaches are the authoritarians. NBA coaches are essentially powerless. They have very little control over the tempo of the game and often sit on the bench for most of the contest, giving general advice to the players. College coaches are much more noticeable and active, always jumping on the sidelines, getting in the ref's ear and yelling at a player who makes a miscue, and can often be seen furiously scribbling notes on a clipboard. As I am writing this, tiny Mt. Saint Mary's University is keeping close with Virginia Tech by playing carefully strategized pick and roll basketball. NBA strategy is not nearly as visible.

NBA coaches also do not have much power over their players. When Allen Iverson made his now infamous "practice speech," where he mocked how unimportant practice is by using the word 20 times in one tirade, he was not suspended even for one game. When Kobe Bryant was caught on tape blasting teammate Andrew Bynum saying "Andrew Bynum? What the f-? Are you kidding me? Andrew Bynum? F-ing ship his ass out. Are you kidding me? . . . Now we're here in this f-ed up position," he did not sit out a game either.

College coaches are not only completely unafraid of suspending players for infractions or violations, but they also have the power to kick players off of their team, even if that player happens to be an integral part of the team. During the 2006-07 season, Boston College coach Al Skinner dismissed star defensive player Sean Williams from a then 13-4, 5-0 in the ACC Boston College team for a drug violation (the NBA didn't care, the Nets still took him in the first round that year). Still, the team dynamic prevailed and Skinner coached that team to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Most college players throw less attitude on the court because every one of their actions can be reflected in the draft picks. Fewer agents will want to pick up a bundle of trouble waiting to explode, let alone a professional team. In the arena of college ball, players are expected to handle themselves well because they have more at stake as individuals at this level than at the professional level. College players hustle more for the ball because their dedication in the game will be rewarded in the future draft time.

College basketball is also the sport where the term "upset" is best exemplified. The term is not used much in professional sports in general, where the idea that any team, no matter how strong, can beat any other team is not such a novel idea, since most teams have equal payrolls.

But in Division I college basketball, where there seems to be a direct link between the size of the student body and the strength of the basketball program, and where some programs are traditionally powerhouses year after year, upsets take on a new realm of excitement. This comes to a head during "March Madness," where teams from big and small schools alike are combined into a 65-field, one game elimination, winner-take-all tournament. Many consider this to be the most exciting playoff in sports, either college or professional (and certainly much better than the overly long and drawn out four best-of-seven game series NBA playoffs, which take more than two months to complete).

With every game, more is at stake in college basketball. Teams may only meet one another once a year, with only one opportunity to compete for a win. The NBA gives countless opportunities for teams to play each other. A loss is not as much of a blow because of the next playoff game or next month's match-up. College players have to fight more for their win, and the victory is so much sweeter, because it truly is a win. There is not another chance. There is only that moment in which the game is happening.

It's always fun to root for the underdog, and college basketball provides ample opportunities for that. Look no further than last year's "March Madness," where tiny Davidson College in North Carolina, (1,700 undergraduates), led by Stephen Curry, a 6-foot 2-inch, 175-pound sharpshooter who has the boyish looks of a middle schooler, knocked off West Coast Conference hegemon Gonzaga (4,515 undergraduates), traditional college basketball power Georgetown (6,853 undergraduates) and Big Ten champion Wisconsin (29,000 undergraduates). In their last game, with seconds to go, Davidson's three-pointer fell short against eventual champion Kansas (20,000 undergraduates).

But upsets are not just restricted to small versus big school games. Take the example of Duke, which boasts seven high school All-Americans on its roster, more than any other college team. Duke is thus a favorite nearly every time it takes the floor, but has fallen to many teams of varying levels, such as to West Virginia University in the second-round of the NCAA championship this year.

"Mid-major" schools have been common entrants for the Big Dance, and often beat off the big conferences, which can give people a surprise. "Cinderella teams" emerge every year from such teams, and thus, (except, perhaps for last year) make strategy for bracket picks just as useful as picking the teams with a random number generator.

What may make college basketball more enticing to watch, at least in person, are the fans. College sports fans are some of the best fans in the world, right up there with European soccer junkies. At nearly any Division I home game you are likely to find an intense student cheering section rooting for the home team (and probably a sizable contingent for the away team as well).

These sections vary in scope from school to school, but it is not a surprise to see nearly an entire arena decked out in school colors, holding up signs and shouting loud (probably alcohol aided) profanities at the opposing team, all while jumping up and down and being raucous. It's really a stunning display of school spirit (imagine the Hopkins Lacrosse atmosphere times five, and that's what it's like at most big schools). Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium boasts one of the most famous of these cheering sections, the aptly named 'Cameron Crazies.' This group consists of students who paint their bodies blue, jump up and down when the opposing team has the ball to make the floor shake and originated the famous "airball" chant. Other cheering sections include the "Izzone" at Michigan State (named for head coach Tom Izzo), the "Grateful Red" at Wisconsin and "The Antlers" at Missouri.

In the NCAA, true rivalries exist between teams and conferences. The fans can keep loyalties to teams because their players tend not to be traded. So many people faced a hard decision when they saw things like Shaq leaving the Lakers or Karl Malone leaving the Jazz. Loyalties exist, and the fans stick by them.

Another possible reason why college basketball is more exciting to watch than pro ball is that, at least for now, college students can still relate to the players. Some may put athletics over academics, but they still go to class, live in dorms or off-campus apartments and are a part of the college community. They face the same academic stresses and social dramas.

Case in point: A few weeks ago, Binghamton University player Malik Alvin was suspended from the team after being charged with shoplifting goods from a Wal-Mart. What did he swipe? Two boxes of Trojan Magnum condoms. Alvin was probably not aware that Binghamton offers free condoms to students through its health center and Resident Assistant offices.

So when choosing which basketball games to watch this winter, remember, stick with college, and don't go pro!