Talk Tuesday is usually reserved for critical posts on professional assertions.  Since all has been said in the talk circles that can be said on steroids and free agency, I'll grab hold of an argument and take a side.  The four letter's radio spots feature Colin Cowherd's take on why the NBA is better than NCAA basketball.  The outcome should surprise no one.  The four letter worships at the altar of the athlete, and the best ones who play basketball are playing in The Association.

The argument we are presented is the fact that the "no defense" theory holds no water, since the best scorers will always get their points.  That is true.  No scheme short of "the Jordan rules" or "Hack a Shaq" will fully eliminate an elite NBA player from doing what they do best.  I do wonder how players can effortlessly put that ball in the hoop.  It is a marvel.  Their abilities should not be minimized.

The no defense argument has some merits.  In order to foster scoring, the NBA had long outlawed off the ball double-teams and zones.  This has been relaxed during the new decade - perhaps because the NBA loves dynasties, and Shaq always getting easy dunks was not good for competition.  This decade's dynasty is the San Antonio Spurs.  So defense has its place in the NBA, but rule changes made it relevant.

On the other end of the spectrum is the fact that the college game is defensive anarchy.  What Temple does is different from Princeton, which is different from Loyola-Marymount, which is different from BYU.  The college game lends itself to UNC-Georgetown, irresistable force-immovable object pairings.  Occassionaly, this leads to the ugly basketball we see in the BigX(I). Aestetichally, the NBA game is more pleasing than this version of college basketball.

What college ball has that the NBA doesn't, is a sense of urgency with each possession.  Getting that orange ball into the orange hoop sounds easy for 6'8" college guys.  Of course, both sides are on scholarship.  College ball is scrappier because the season is thirty games, and playoffs are single elimination.  NBA ball is eighty-two games, with a herky-jerky postseason.  There is always tomorrow in the NBA. 

College basketball also has a sense of authenticity.  Instead of piped in organ music, or a snippet of TI's latest, the pomp and circumstance at a college game is provided by the folks who would normally play "Pomp and Circumstance."  The crowds don't need a center court scoreboard to get them fired up.  And the adulation stemming from the crowd at an Oklahoma victory over Texas would be greater than if the Thunder beat the Mavericks.

So leave no doubt that NBA players are superior.  But definitely doubt that the NBA product brings you the same sense of closure that the NCAA tournament brings.