The college basketball season has officially come full circle, and not because we're just three weeks away from crowning a national champion.
Shortly after Kentucky dispatched No. 5 Kansas 72-40 in mid-November, fans, pundits and talking heads alike began to wonder if the Wildcats could beat an NBA team. This conversation topic went on for months until writers and media folk finally bashed it into the ground. But with college basketball's second season — March Madness — here, the topic has reared its ugly head.
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Only this time, it was taken to a whole new level.
SMU head coach Larry Brown, an NBA and NCAA championship-winning coach whose team is playing in Louisville, the site of Kentucky's second-round game against Hampton, was asked how this Kentucky team would fare in the NBA.
His response?
Larry Brown just said "I honestly believe Kentucky would make the NBA Playoffs in the East"
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 18, 2015Some people believe Kentucky would be able to beat a historically bad NBA team on a single occasion. Some tend to believe that scenario would never happen.
Even if you think Kentucky could beat an NBA team on any given night, the idea that it would win enough games to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference is absurd.
At the time of publishing, the Heat are slotted into the final spot in the Eastern Conference with a 30-36 record. Brown may not be aware of what he was saying, but in implying that Kentucky would make the playoffs in the East, he is saying that Kentucky would win nearly half of its games against NBA competition.
Again, this is categorically absurd.
But here's the thing: None of it will never happen.
A No. 16 seed will eventually beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament because No. 16 seeds will continue to play No. 1 seeds. A college team will never actually play a pro team; therefore, the whole notion that a college team could beat a pro team is is moot, because there is no way of actually testing out the theory.