College Basketball

Playing College Basketball in the United States is an achievable goal. College basketball is in the top 3 most popular sports in the United States. It is known for being highly competitive and a true display of intense sporting excitement.

You don’t have to be from America to get the opportunity to play for a college basketball team, you just have to be at the position they are looking for and made of the characteristics they want in a player.

There are various basketball divisions in which all offer their own unique basketball opportunities. So whether you’re looking to play NCAA Division 1 or just looking for the best education with the option to play for the school basketball team, either way, you can do it.

Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting college basketball facts for you to think about:

The NCAA actually banned the slam dunk in college basketball games from 1967 to 1976. Why? Because of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, nobody could stop him from dunking! And so the NCAA figured they had to try and limit his total dominance on the court.
Basketball was invented by a Canadian called James Naismith. He was a Physical Education teacher and came up with the game of basketball in 1891. The reason? To keep his students entertained in the gym when it was a rainy day!
In 1985, Villanova University was the lowest seed ever to win the NCAA Men’s tournament championship. They were the #8 seed. This is still considered the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA basketball tournament.
The most successful basketball team in the NCAA is the UCLA, with the Bruins who have won the tournament a whopping 11 times. Also, UCLA holds the record for the longest winning streak in NCAA D1 basketball history, winning 88 games in a row in 1971 to 1974.
The NCAA introduced the 3-point shot into college basketball in 1987. This move changed the game of basketball forever, with the 3-pointer becoming a serious weapon for players, altering they way teams attack and defend for good.
There has only been one time in the history of the NCAA championship when 2 teams from the same state faced each other in the finals. This happened in 1961 when the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Cincinnati Bearcats faced each other in the tournament finals. The final score was 70-65 with the Cincinnati Bearcats taking home the victory.

Basketball Scholarships

Many players work hard on their game so that they can compete to get a basketball scholarship. The NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA basketall programs offer scholarships ranging from full ride to partial.

The NCAA In NCAA Division 1 basketball, coaches can offer a maximum of 13 scholarships per team. These are called headcount scholarships, also known as full-ride scholarships. NCAA Division 2 coaches are allowed to award a maximum of 10 men’s basketball scholarships per team. Very few of the thousands of student-athletes competing in Division II will receive a full athletics grant that covers all of their expenses, but most of them will receive some athletics-based financial aid to help them through school. NCAA D3 does not offer athletic scholarships, however a lot of D3 schools can put together academic grant packages and aid.

The NAIA organization has 228 member schools which offer a men’s basketball program. An NAIA basketball program can award 8 athletic scholarships. The amount an athlete receives will depend on the talent of the player, the school, the coach and what position they are looking for. Depending on the Coach, a player can receive a full or partial scholarship.

NJCAA Division 1 schools can offer full athletic scholarships. NJCAA Division 2 schools can offer partial scholarships. However, not all NJCAA schools who participate at the Division 1 or 2 have to offer scholarships, they can still compete without doing so.

USCAA offers basketball scholarships to players. They are much smaller schools than the other divisions which is reflected in the tuition costs which are much lower there the scholarships offered are smaller than those from other divisions

NCCAA has a division 1 and division 2. The school who are division 1 members can offer athletic scholarship but the division 2 members schools cannot.