Madness Bleg

By Matthew Yglesias
FreeDarko notes Kobe Bryant outscoring several entire NCAA teams, which seems like as good a hook as any for a question. There are several reasons why the college game produces lower scores than the pros. The game has, for one thing, eight fewer minutes. What's more, the longer shot clock reduces the pace. What I'd really like to know about is efficiency -- are there more or fewer points scored per possession in the average Big Dance game than there are in the average NBA game? By eyeball, the college defenses wind up giving up more open shots (in part because guys are too slow, and in part because the shot clock gives the offense more time to work the ball around) but college offenses miss more open shots, get many fewer easy buckets off penetration, and generally score less efficiently. But that's just me guessing.

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http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/03/madness-bleg/41730/