Image: Wiki Commons by Keith Allison
About This Quiz
Basketball has been one of the world's most popular sports for decades. Although it's not as popular as the NFL and MLB in America, it ranks ahead of both baseball and football in terms of worldwide numbers. It's played all over the globe at every age and skill level. In the United States, most basketball fans are fans of the NBA or the NCAA or both.
Each league has its pros and cons and basketball fans are aware of them. There's no denying the NBA is filled with the best basketball players in the world, but an argument can be made that the NCAA is filled with the world's hardest-working basketball players. They're all playing for free in hopes of making a name for themselves.
The biggest difference between the NBA and NCAA is that NBA players are paid and college players aren't supposed to be. Both leagues rake in tons of cash but the NCAA pales in comparison to the NBA. Every NBA team is worth at least a billion dollars. Only a handful of college teams generate even $30 million a year and there are more than 350 basketball programs in NCAA Division I basketball.
Other than the pay gap, there's a bunch of rules unique to each league. If you're a fan of basketball, you probably know most of the rules., but do you know all the differences between college and professional basketball?
40 minutes
48 minutes
All NBA games are divided into four 12-minute quarters to equal 48 minutes of gameplay. College basketball games are divided into two 20-minute halves to total 40 minutes of gameplay. Both games take a lot longer because of game stoppages.
60 minutes
50 minutes
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35 seconds
30 seconds
The NCAA didn't implement the shot clock until 1985 and it initially ran for 45 seconds. Its duration was shortened to 35 seconds in the mid '90s and today runs for 30 seconds. The NBA shot-clock duration is 24 seconds.
45 seconds
24 seconds
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Seven
Each NBA team gets seven 75-second timeouts per game and there are two mandatory stoppages per quarter. If no team calls a timeout by a certain time, the ref will stop the game and charge a timeout to the home team first, and then the visiting team.
Five
Nine
Six
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Four
Ten
Six
The college game is slightly shorter than the NBA game so each team is only given four 75-second timeouts and two 30-second timeouts per game. If the game is televised, there are an additional four stoppages per half for commercial breaks.
Eight
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Four
Seven
Six
High school and college basketball players only get five fouls before getting fouled out of the game and NBA players get six. Although NBA players are more skilled, they get more leniency because nobody wants to see their favorite star fouled out of the game.
Five
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31
32
28
30
The newest NBA team is the New Orleans Pelicans. The team joined the league in 2002, giving the NBA 30 teams across the country. The Toronto Raptors are the only Canadian NBA team since the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001.
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64
4
32
There are more college basketball conferences than there are NBA teams! More than 350 basketball teams are spread across 32 Division I conferences in America. Conference champions are rewarded with a spot in the March Madness tournament.
2
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8
20
16
The top eight teams from each conference advance to the NBA postseason. Every round of the NBA postseason is a best-of-seven series and the highest-ranked seed begins by playing the lowest-ranked seed.
10
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Eight seconds
College players have 10 seconds to advance the basketball across half court and NBA players only have eight seconds. The 10-second rule was uniform across all basketball leagues in the country until the NBA changed its rule in 2002.
10 seconds
Five seconds
15 seconds
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19 feet 10 inches
20 feet
23 feet 9 inches
The three-point line wasn't implemented across the NBA and NCAA until the 1980s. The line's distance changed over the years, but today is 23 feet and nine inches from the center of the basket. The line is only 22 feet from the basket at the corners.
25 feet
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Spalding
The game of basketball was invented by James Naismith in Springfield, MA. Naismith asked A.G. Spalding to create the game's first official basketballs and the NBA has used Spalding basketballs for decades. Today it's the official NBA game ball. Wilson makes the official game ball for the NCAA March Madness tournament.
Wilson
Nike
Rawlings
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Red and white
Black and grey
Referees from many sports leagues are known for their zebra-patterned uniforms, but NBA referees wear a grey shirt and black pants while officiating games. Referees in the NFL and NHL also wear black-and-white uniforms.
White and blue
Orange and white
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Jump ball
Possession arrow
The NBA resolves jump ball situations by having the involved players jump for a tossed ball. The NCAA uses a possession arrow. The possession arrow points to the team that lost the opening tip and then alternates after every jump ball situation.
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Two free throws and the ball
One-and-one
College basketball teams can commit six fouls a half before the opposing team enters the "bonus." Teams in the bonus get one free throw and another free throw if the first is made. After ten fouls, the bonus team is awarded two free throws for every foul.
Two free throws
One free throw and the ball
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Nine per half
Three per quarter
Seven per half
Five per quarter
An NBA team enters the "bonus situation" after being fouled five times per quarter. The foul count resets every quarter. If the quarter is coming to an end, a team enters the bonus after being fouled twice in the last two minutes.
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$1 million
$1 billion
The NCAA March Madness tournament generates about $1 billion a year. The NBA generates more than $7 billion dollars per year, and the average NBA team is worth more than $1.5 billion. The most valuable NCAA basketball teams generate about $30 to $50 million per year.
$100 million
$10 billion
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John R. Wooden Trophy
Vince Lombardi Trophy
Larry O'Brien Trophy
The NBA championship trophy was named after the founder of the Boston Celtics (Walter A. Brown) until it was renamed after the NBA commissioner in 1984. The March Madness trophy isn't named after anyone. The trophy is made of wood and features gold plating.
Heisman Trophy
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7
10
13
College basketball relies on recruiting and the NCAA implements strict recruiting rules. There can only be 13 scholarship players on a college basketball team at once. Most college teams also have a few walk-ons on the roster.
15
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Zero seconds
24 seconds
14 seconds
The shot clock resets to 14 seconds on second attempts in the NBA and it resets to 20 seconds in college basketball. Both leagues shave 10 seconds off the clock on offensive rebounds since that's the amount of time allocated for crossing half court.
10 seconds
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Two free throws
One free throw
The rules surrounding fouls in both the NBA and college basketball have evolved over the decades. Today there are many different types of fouls in both leagues and some come down to the referee's discretion. Flagrant fouls are the most serious and personal fouls are the least serious.
Three free throws
Two free throws and the ball
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10 feet
16 feet
NBA and official NCAA Division I basketball courts are both 94 feet long and 50 feet wide, but some of the lines on the court differ slightly. One of the biggest differences is the restricted area known as the key. NCAA keys are 12 feet wide.
20 feet
Five feet
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Los Angeles Lakers
Boston Celtics
As of 2020, the Boston Celtics have 17 NBA championships and the LA Lakers have 16 championships. The Lakers are favorites to win the NBA championship in 2020 and could tie the Celtics. The two teams last faced off in the 2010 NBA Finals when the Lakers won.
Chicago Bulls
San Antonio Spurs
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UCLA
Coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins won 10 March Madness championships from 1964 to 1975. That team went undefeated in four seasons and set the longest win streak in NCAA men's college basketball with 88 consecutive wins. The team has a total of 11 championships.
Duke
Kentucky
North Carolina
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34
32
64
68
The 32 conference champions automatically get invited to the March Madness tournament. The NCAA then awards bids to 36 teams based on regular-season performance. The teams are divided into four regions and ranked one through 16 in each region.
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NCAA
It's unknown exactly when the first basketball game was played, but colleges were playing basketball games in the 1890s. The first March Madness tournament was in 1939 and the first NBA game was played in 1946. The Oregon Webfoots won the first March Madness championship.
NBA
FIBA
ABA
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100
Wilt Chamberlain famously scored 100 points against the New York Knicks in what's considered one of the most unbreakable records in all of sports. Division III player Jack Taylor scored 138 points in a game in 2012, which is the NCAA record. He also scored 109 in a game the next season.
81
113
92
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Pete Maravich
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 38,387 points in the NBA and also set a bunch of NCAA Division I basketball records, but he didn't score the most points in college basketball. "Pistol" Pete Maravich averaged more than 44 points per game for LSU over three seasons and scored a total of 3,667 points in his career.
Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
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Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points per game in the 1961-62 NBA season, which is the same season he dropped 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks. Pete Maravich averaged 44.2 points per game for LSU for three seasons from 1968 to 1970.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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Zero
One
Lester Hudson is the only player in NCAA Division I basketball history to record a quadruple-double, which he did in 2007. The last quadruple-double in the NBA was in 1994 when David Robinson accomplished the feat.
Two
Four
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Bill Russell
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
There are dozens of NBA players with both an NBA championship and an NCAA championship, but Kareem has the most NCAA championships with three. The UCLA Bruins won 10 championships in 12 seasons and Kareem wasn't the only player who won multiple rings during that run, but he's the most famous.
Bob Cousy
Michael Jordan
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Five-second rule
Three-second rule
College basketball teams like Syracuse are defined by zone defenses, but NBA teams rarely use the technique. Zone defense was once outlawed in the NBA. Today it's legal, but no defensive player can stand in the key for three seconds or more without guarding a specific player, so it makes it difficult. College basketball doesn't have a defensive three-second rule.
The three-point line
The width of the key
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112
82
The NBA season consists of 82 regular-season games and a four-round post-season. The most games a team can play is 110. A team would have to make the playoffs and then play a game seven in every single round to achieve 110 games.
75
67
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16
Five
Six
Unless you're one of the "First Four" teams, you have to win six March Madness games to win it all. If you play in the very first round, you'll have to win seven games to win it all. An NBA team needs to win 16 games to win the post-season.
10
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30
An NCAA Division I basketball team plays a standard schedule of 27 or 29 games a season plus any tournaments the school participates in. Most schools play about 30 games a season. The maximum games a college team can play is about 43.
55
20
70
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20 hours a week
60 hours a week
20 hours a week
The NCAA limits student-athletes to participate in athletics no more than 20 hours per week, but there are exceptions to the rule. Professional basketball players are expected to dedicate their lives to basketball and spend more than 20 hours a week on the sport.
40 hours a week
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