by Jake Morrison

Created on: March 03, 2009   Last Updated: June 14, 2010

The atmospheres of both the NBA (professional basketball) and the NCAA (college basketball) are different, but the two have an important relationship from which both sides benefit. The NBA gets to send scouts to the games to take a look at the star players, and the college players that impress might get drafted higher into the NBA. Both the NCAA and the NBA benefit from the publicity that they get from fans if they are good at acquiring them. In addition to ticket and other types of sales, television and radio stations pay more if there are more people that follow the team.

One problem is that some of those scouts can even be interested in high school players. A rule that was recently put into place to ensure that all players have a chance at higher education was that players drafted into the NBA have to attend at least one year of college. This does not sound very severe, but it can be to the star players, because while they are at the college, they can't take any, either from the colleges or any endorsements money. The only money that they can accept is free college tuition.

To get around this, more and more players have recently started to go to play for a team in another country for their first year instead of going to any college. This way they get around the rule and come home to play for the NBA after that first year. Not all players go into college basketball thinking about the NBA draft as you might think from reading about the star college ball players. Some feel fortunate to get any scholarship program for a free education.

Since the college athletes can't be paid in any way, they have to be careful in following the rules of accepting compensation very carefully. Others, mindful of their professional futures, are careful about other rules as well. Just because a professional basketball player swears during an interview, or, skips practice, they might not be punished because the fans would react and the player might leave. But college players that break the rules are punished more severely, and kept from the games that could keep them under the watchful eyes of the NBA scouts.

Some schools get more publicity from their athletics programs and star high school players most likely with the NBA in their futures will try to go to those schools some have likely been approached by many of them. More NBA scouts will go to big schools and the more times that players impress the NBA scouts, the higher they will get drafted and the more lucrative contracts they are offered.

But above all of these differences and similarities, separating the two leagues is the playoff system. In the NCAA there is a large bracket consisting of 65 teams. Each round, teams only play each other once. If a team looses, they are out of the tournament: win or go home. In the NBA, 16 out of the total 32 go to the playoffs and they play in 7 game series. In a 7 game series, you can afford to lose a few games and still move on the next round.

In general, there is a very good relationship between the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the National Basketball Association and the institution of basketball benefits from their relationship; neither would do as good without the other. Even though there are some differences, the game is essentially the same. The court dimensions are the same and there are basically the same rules. Local fans still love having their local college or professional league to watch and cheer on. And the better any team can do at developing that loyal fan base, the better for local basketball, at the college or professional level.

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