A Peek At The Ins And Outs Of College Basketball

Both the National Basketball Association and the Basketball Division of the National Collegiate Athletics Association aim at developing skills of talented players on one of the well-loved sports in the world. Both basketball leagues also meet people's seemingly insatiable need to watch every single basketball match and to take a peek at iconic personalities in the sport.

But it is a totally different matter when it comes to honing the basketball skill in every aspirant. The NBA is composed of more experienced, better trained players; the NCAA deals with the entry-level, novice players who unanimously target the NBA as their ultimate career goal.

Observably, the games themselves spell the difference between the NBA and NCAA. Unlike the basketball matches in the NBA, NCAA Basketball for Division I is characterized by two twenty-minute halves. Distinct from football conferences in college and a great number of professional sport leagues, the NCAA mandates college basketball's home teams to don in light-colored or white jerseys or uniforms, while the visitor teams are expected to wear jerseys that are darker in color. This practice is a take off from the NBA games in which home teams wear white-colored jerseys, though the NBA is more aligned with other professional sports leagues that there are instances where home teams are allowed to decide. Generally, though, NBA teams of the home side are likely to wear light-colored or white jerseys or uniforms as a matter of tradition.

The NCAA's Divisions II and III have both proven to be decidedly successful organizations in college basketball, despite being admittedly "less commercialized" than the First Division. There is also a difference between the Women's and Men's Division when it comes to television airtime. Division I for Women is televised more often, but it gathers smaller audiences as compared with Men's Division I.

Normally, Division II is joined by small colleges, while Division III gains interested joiners from colleges of various, if not all sizes, which opt not to offer scholarships for athletes. Divisions II and III matches, understandably, almost get zero TV airtime, except for CBS' televising of the Division II Championship Finals. CSTV Station, which is CBS-owned, also televises the semifinals and finals games of Division III. Several teams in these division levels have gained fanatical support bases. To these aficionados, the NCAA games are even more amusing and better entertaining than many big-time matches in basketball and can even be equal to the thrill that NBA brings.

An institution catering to smaller universities and colleges, the NAIA has also hosted women and men's basketball in the college level. These college basketball games were held in 1937 and have since continued annually. The establishment of the NAIA is attributed to James Naismith, who is the acknowledged inventor of basketball. NAIA became Naismith's way to recognize the national winner for smaller basketball colleges. Unlike the NCAA's, the NAIA Tournament only has 32 competing teams. The entire tournament is held in one week, doing away with the usual three-weekend match adopted by the NCAA.

To date, Louisville the only university that has won titles in the national level in both tournaments of the NCAA and NAIA Division I. The NCAA Division II national titles and NAIA championships have been conquered by Fort Hays State and Central Missouri.

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