On Sunday March 1, 2015, the Philadelphia Phillies lost a game to Division II school, The University of Tampa Bay 6-2. According to the university’s website, this is the first time an NCAA team defeated an MLB opponent when the University of Miami did the same to the Miami Marlins in spring 2011.
There were a couple caveats: Sunday’s game was the first game they played which was a week after the team reported to camp, while the University of Tampa Bay had played 14 games. Second caveat is that many of the players with the Phillies who played in that game were not the ones that Phillies fans had been accustomed to seeing during their regular season.
Even with those caveats included, the topic is often brought up of whether a college team could beat a professional team in live game action.
Before the Kentucky Wildcats lost in the final four to the Wisconsin Badgers, there was talk of what would happen should the Wildcats square off vs. the New York Knicks.
Las Vegas betting experts weighed in on the debate involving Kentucky vs. the New York Knicks.
Even with the odds being against an NCAA team, that does not stop people from believing that a college team could defeat a professional team in any sport. Add to the mix: sports Twitter is a heaven for group-think and this often becomes the consensus.
Before the NCAA Basketball tournament got to the final four, former college basketball and NBA head coach Larry Brown offered his opinion of the Kentucky Wildcats coached by John Calipari and whether they would do well playing in the NBA.
Brown and Calipari have known each other for more than 30 years but while Brown has been a successful, that is a bit of an exaggeration and Brown got caught up in the moment when the Wildcats were 34-0.
When we see an NCAA team like the Wildcats aiming for an undefeated season and you look at a team like the Knicks who won just 17 games in the 2014-15 NBA season, it is easy and understandable to bring up such a scenario where those two teams would play each other. However, it is paramount to put this into perspective: college basketball teams don’t play as nearly as many games as NBA teams do, NBA teams play about twice as many games as college teams. While game action is similar between the college game and NBA game, there is an entirely different line of strategy that goes on both the NCAA and NBA game. Lets also remember that in the pro’s regardless of sport, we tend to see participants who have gone through the motions in a game whether it was a blowout game or close game in the professional level.
In the past, I have mentioned that coaches in college sports who have tried it in the professional level often do not succeed at the highest levels of sports. The big reason to account for this factor is that some individuals do not have what it takes to succeed and its often in the highest levels of sports. On the other hand it would be interesting to see a game between a college team and a professional team take place in any sport but the result of the game would be a bit disappointing to many and the result would not be real close to put it lightly.
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