Why doesn't college basketball have a uniform ball for all games?

[Alsacs]

The basketball wars: The hidden disadvantage facing every road team

Home teams get to choose the basketball for every game they host. Here's why coaches and others find that problematic.

www.espn.com

This is such an unspoken about advantage. I never realized it till I started wanting to bet college basketball games. The ball matters. The Nike ball is the best ball for giving shooters a friendly roll. The Adidas ball favors the defense as it less giving. Spalding ball is greasier and causes more players to lose the ball. NCAA tournament uses is the Wilson ball which has a greater bounce.

This is an easy change to make. Just have a uniform ball like in the NBA.

I think its funny Bo Ryan would find a ball nobody else in America would use and then use it for WIsconsin.

 

[Chip]

Great, another uniform thread.

But yeah, weird. Someone should use one of those lopsided basketballs decorated as planet earth that you get for throwing a dart and popping a balloon at the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk.

Maybe that just happens to me.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I personally like the Wilson ball.

Something similar happened to my son's HS team last night. They were told preseason they would be using the Nike ball I think, so all of their practices and shoot arounds have used that ball.

Then last night they used the Wilson ball which is slightly heavier for their scrimmage. Affected almost all of the kids, except their best player (who is being looked at by LeMoyne) who went 5 for 5 from three in the first quarter. Including an And 1 as the clock expired, and he was falling backwards.

 

[cuseincincy]

I think its funny that the writer of this article doesn;t realize that in football each team picks their own ball and uses that home and away. Brand is not specified in the regulations.

 

[Alsacs]

I think its funny that the writer of this article doesn;t realize that in football each team picks their own ball and uses that home and away. Brand is not specified in the regulations.

Each team in football uses their own balls. So there is no advantage.
In basketball both teams have to use the ball the home team chose. That is home court advantage.
Which is the point.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Each team in football uses their own balls. So there is no advantage.
In basketball both teams have to use the ball the home team chose. That is home court advantage.
Which is the point.

Heard Reggie Miller (I think it was him) on the radio yesterday I believe talking about the fact that when he played, the visiting team picked the actual ball for NBA games. I'm sure they were all the same brand, but the specific ball was the one picked out by the visitors. And he would pick out the balls they didn't want for the other team to select knowing they would then go pick one of the balls they actually wanted to use.

 

[shandeezy7]

$$$$

 

[Brooky03]

I'm surprised we don't see more teams use the NCAAT Wilson balls. I wonder what Nike pays for you to use their ball. Must be significant, or maybe tied to uniform/shoe deals?

 

[Eagles20]

It is tied to the uniform shoe deals unless the conference has an official sponsor. I work in college athletics and prior 2018 season all teams in the conference had to use the rock balls. That deal ended and now the schools in conference use their gear sponsor. Our team uses UA balls which is our gear sponsor. Our team will practice with balls leading up to a game against an opponent who does not use UA.

 

[JDubbin]

My bet is the majority of us grew up playing at the playground or in the street with mysterious rubber basketballs that all had the beginnings of cancerous growth starting to show that compromised the shape of the ball... always made dribbling an adventure. You know what I’m talking about!

 

[Brooky03]

My bet is the majority of us grew up playing at the playground or in the street with mysterious rubber basketballs that all had the beginnings of cancerous growth starting to show that compromised the shape of the ball... always made dribbling an adventure. You know what I’m talking about!

YMCA balls are always an adventure too

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I almost came to blows with a dude in college at an intramural game because we both brought the same ball, but he insisted on using his team's crappier, scuffed one. He was pretty cheerful thinking he got one over on us, was not as amused when I steamrolled a pick he tried setting on me.

Whistles were blown.

 

[Eric15]

There is one brand of ball (I think it may be Spalding) that I find just maddeningly slippery and hate using it at pickup games.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I also liked the leathery ones that feel slightly padded with a little give. I have the hands of a carnie so it works for me.

 

[orange79]

A thread about balls, and Chip's only post has a joke in no way related to the subject.

 

[Chip]

A thread about balls, and Chip's only post has a joke in no way related to the subject. View attachment 173990

I don’t joke about balls. Only serious comments.

Not sure what you think you were reading. Sinner.

 

[pfister1]

Can’t believe no one is advocating for Voit balls or Worth or even Dunlop?

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Im sort of a bball dabbler. Ive pretty much bought and used all the major ones...often times more than one of the same kind.

what I have found is that there is literally almost as much variability between balls of the same brand as there is across brands. I have had two Wilson Evolutions and they were so different..one was awesome..one was crap...

overall ive found the most consistency with higher end spalding and baden balls.

the rock though...the rock is a piece of crap...they should rename it appropriately to "turd"

Ive never bought the official NBA ball..but ive used it a few times..and im not a big fan.

id say the most consistent model ive had or played with is the Spalding TF 1000 series.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Syracuse used to use The Rock for the longest time in the late 90's and early 2000's. I remember going to camp in the summer at the dome and those were the only balls they had. It was the worst Basketball I ever got my hands on. Heavy, slippery, and always over inflated. Personally I like a good worn in Wilson ball.

 

[City of Cuse]

Each team in football uses their own balls. So there is no advantage.
In basketball both teams have to use the ball the home team chose. That is home court advantage.
Which is the point.

There actually can be an advantage with this. If one team can bend the rules just enough. I saw NC State use footballs one time that should not have been allowed, you could see it from the tv camera.

 

[cuse10]

There is one brand of ball (I think it may be Spalding) that I find just maddeningly slippery and hate using it at pickup games.

The Rock. I found Spalding balls to be fine once you broke them in.