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How to watch ncaa basketball
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March Madness is about to finish with a bang: this year’s Final Four games see Kansas taking on Villanova, and, for the first time in Final Four history, Duke versus North Carolina. With Kansas as the only remaining No. 1 seed, it’s shaping up to be an exciting finale to college basketball’s biggest tournament.
Looking to watch March Madness online? You’re in luck. There are a few ways to stream March Madness 2022, including a couple of ways to watch March Madness for free online. Read on for all your options.
When is March Madness 2022?
March Madness started on March 15th with the First Four kicking off in Dayton, Ohio. The Final Four are set to face off on April 2nd, and the tournament will conclude on April 4th with the Championship game.
How to Get Tickets to March Madness 2022
The NCAA tournament is going back on the road after last year’s Covid-related isolation in Indianapolis. Fans all over the country will have a chance to see their team in person with games happening from California to New York. Get tickets to March Madness 2022 on Ticketmaster if you want to select your seats, or head to resale sites like Vivid Seats.
Buy March Madness Tickets Vivid Seats
What TV Channel is March Madness On?
As always, CBS is the official home of March Madness on TV, but games will also be shown on TBS, TNT, and truTV.
If you don’t have cable but want to watch march madness on TV, try a digital TV antenna such as this one from Amazon. For $30, the mini antenna lets you watch CBS, TNT, and all other major networks in HD for free. It has a 200-mile range that picks up all local stations, and makes a great way to watch the March Madness tournament for free.
How to March Madness Online Free in 2022 Without Cable
For cord-cutters, there are still plenty of options to watch March Madness online. Many streaming services also offer free trials, allowing you to stream March Madness games for free.
4. Stream March Madness on fuboTV
For live sports fans, fuboTV is a great deal. The service lets you live stream dozens of cable channels, including sports channels like CBS and PAC 12 Network, as well as other popular live TV channels. fuboTV starts at $64.99 per month, and offers a seven-day free trial before you pay.
Buy Free Trial fuboTV
1. Stream March Madness on Hulu + Live TV
The best way to stream March Madness online without cable is with Hulu + Live TV. A membership gets you everything that comes with regular Hulu, plus live TV channels including CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV, as well as free access to Disney+ and ESPN+. In other words, you’ll be able to live stream March Madness online, on any smart device. The service costs $69.99 per month.
Buy Hulu + Live TV $69.99+
2. Stream March Madness on SlingTV
With live streaming of TNT, TBS, and TruTV, SlingTV is a great option to watch March Madness Online. The service’s cheapest option, Sling Orange, is also more budget-friendly than most at $35 a month. Plus, Sling is currently offering new subscribers $10 off their first month, brining the price down to $25 on your first bill
Buy Sling Subscription $25
3. Stream March Madness on DirecTV Stream
DirecTV Stream is essentially an online version of DirecTV cable, making it another great way to watch March Madness online. You’ll be able to stream every March Madness game as it airs on CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV, plus you can stream dozens of other top channels from your smart devices. DirecTV Stream also offers a five-day free trial, and costs $69.99 a month afterward.
Buy Free Trial DirecTV Stream
5. Stream March Madness on Paramount+
The cheapest way to watch march madness online is with Paramount+. The platform offers March Madness live streams on CBS through any smart device, and the service costs just $4.99 per month. There’s also a seven-day free trial on offer, letting you stream March Madness for free online during those seven days.
Buy Free Trial Paramount+
As you’ll notice, none of these free trials will cover the whole NCAA Tournament. However, if you string those free trials together, you’ll get enough free streaming days to watch March Madness online for free.
How to Watch College Basketball 2022–2023
We looked at dozens of TV providers to see which are best for watching college basketball and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Editor's choice
Editorial rating (3.5/5)
Spectrum
Price: $49.99/mo. for 12 mos.
Conference channels: ACCN, BTN, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network
DVR storage: Up to 35 HD hrs.
Contract: 12 mos.
Best value
Editorial rating (4.0/5)
Sling TV
Price: $40. 00–$55.00/mo.
Conference channels: ACCN, BTN, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network
DVR storage: 50 hrs. included
Free trial: N/A
Best for cord-cutters
Editorial rating (4.3/5)
Hulu + Live TV
Price: $69.99–$75.99/mo.
Tournament channels: CBS, CBS Sports Network, TBS, TNT, and truTV
DVR storage: Unlimited
Free trial: N/A
Live CBS Sports
Editorial rating (4.3/5)
Paramount+
Price: $4.99–$9.99/mo.
Features: Live access to your local CBS station in Premium plan
DVR storage: N/A
Free trial: 7 days
Cheapest
Editorial rating (4.5/5)
OTA Antenna
Price: $20.00–$60.00 (one-time payment)
Tournament channels: CBS
Features: All local broadcast channels
View on Amazon
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Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
CableTV.com utilizes paid Amazon links.
By Taylor Kujawa Edited By Mikayla Rivera
Share | Nov 7, 2022
College basketball returns to the court in November for the 2022–2023 season. With a new campaign ahead, you’ll want to ensure you have the right channels to watch your favorite college teams in action.
Spectrum TV® Select with the Sports View add-on is our favorite TV plan for watching Division I basketball. Spectrum has one of the most comprehensive lineups of college basketball channels, including several college conference networks. It also carries every March Madness channel, so you won’t miss out on the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments.
If you prefer streaming on a budget, Sling TV is a great option that offers the best value at a low monthly price. You can mix and match its plans and add-ons to curate a channel lineup that makes the most sense for your viewing habits.
To help you weigh your options, we’ll outline the channels you’ll need to watch college hoops and how our top provider recommendations compare.
Jump to:
- College basketball channels
- NCAA Tournament channels
- Best TV providers for college basketball
- Watch college basketball for free
The channels you need to watch college basketball
Watching every minute of college basketball on live TV is an overwhelming feat. But we’ll break it all down for you by separating the regular NCAA basketball season from the NCAA Tournament.
College basketball channels
The channels you need to watch college basketball’s regular season depend on two things: your location and your team. Most casual fans will be happy with CBS Sports, ESPN, and FOX Sports networks. Those are the bread-and-butter sports channels that deliver many marquee college basketball matchups.
Freebie fans can also get a decent amount of NCAA basketball games on local channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. But if you want the most games possible, you’ll want a TV plan—probably cable or satellite—with your preferred conference’s dedicated channel and your regional sports network (RSN).
The best way to determine what channels you’ll need is to visit the schedule on your team’s official website. Most Division I college basketball teams will list the broadcaster(s) for each game on their schedule. From there, you’ll be able to see if you need one of these conference channels or an RSN to get more coverage of your favorite team.
Conference channels:
- ACC Network
- Big Ten Network
- Pac-12 Network
- SEC Network
Regional sports networks:
- Altitude Sports
- AT&T SportsNet
- Bally Sports
- MSG Network
- NBC Sports Regional Networks
- New England Sports Network (NESN)
- ROOT SPORTS
College basketball on ESPN+In recent years, ESPN+ has become one of the prime locations to catch college sports—not just basketball. The streaming service currently has long-term agreements with more than 15 college conferences, including the Big 12, the Ivy League, and the Missouri Valley Conference, so you’ll get hundreds of collegiate basketball games all in one location.
If you want the most college basketball action, ESPN+ should be part of your game plan.
NCAA Tournament channels
You need only four channels to catch every moment of the men’s Big Dance:
If you’re interested in replays, you might also want CBS Sports Network (but you don’t need it). Almost every cable, satellite, and live TV streaming service carries all five of these tournament channels.
The two most important channels, though, are CBS and TBS. Both show a ton of tournament action yearly, and the two networks alternate each year as the exclusive broadcasters of the Final Four and NCAA Championship Game. TBS gets the even years while CBS has the odd ones—meaning CBS will air this season’s final rounds come April 2023.
Besides these channels, you can also catch every live tournament game plus highlights and replays with the NCAA March Madness Live app by logging in with your TV provider.
Best TV providers for college basketball
- Editor’s choice: Spectrum—TV Select plan ($49.99/mo. for 12 mos.) w/ Sports View add-on ($6.00/mo.)
- Best value: Sling TV—Sling Blue plan ($40.00/mo.)
- Cheapest: OTA antenna ($20.00–$60.00 one-time purchase)
Looking to access the most college basketball coverage?Enter your zip code below to see which TV providers have the best sports channel lineups in your area.
Editor’s choice: Spectrum
Editorial rating (3.5/5)
Recommended plan:
TV Select ($49.99/mo. for 12 mos.) w/ Sports View ($6.00/mo.)
Tournament channels:
CBS, CBS Sports Network, TBS, TNT, and truTV
Conference channels:
ACCN, BTN, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
- Access to top conference channels
- Wide regional sports network availability
- Many channel add-on options
- Smaller channel counts
- Confusing DVR options
Among cable and satellite providers, we recommend Spectrum’s TV Select package ($49.99 a month) with the Sports View add-on ($6.00 a month). It has over 125 channels, including all five tournament channels and key RSNs. Some cable and satellite providers have similarly priced plans with more total channels—but not those valuable RSNs.
If you’re interested in the conference channels, you’ll want to double-check Spectrum’s channel lineup for your location. Some conference channels are available only in certain areas. You may also need to upgrade with Spectrum’s Entertainment View add-on ($12.00 a month) for an expanded lineup of sports and entertainment channels.
View Spectrum plans
NCAA March Madness Live app
If you already have a cable, satellite, or live TV streaming subscription, you can sign in to the NCAA March Madness Live app with your provider credentials and watch every game in the tournament. It’s a great way to catch live games and highlights while on the go.
If you don’t have a TV provider, you can still take advantage of the app’s free three-hour preview. That’s enough to watch at least one game for nothing.
Best value: Sling TV
Editorial rating (4.0/5)
Recommended plan:
Sling Blue plan ($40.00/mo.)
Tournament channels:
TBS, TNT, and truTV
Conference channels:
ACCN, BTN, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network
Data effective as of post date. Compatible device and internet connection required. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
- Inexpensive pricing
- Customizable packages
- No commitment
- Limited local channels
- Low DVR space included
Sling TV offers the best value for watching college basketball because it carries many games for a low monthly cost. Its Sling Blue plan is just $40.00 a month and comes with essential basketball channels like TBS, TNT, and truTV. Those Turner Sports networks are crucial for watching most men’s NCAA Tournament games and many marquee NBA matchups.
You may have noticed from our pros and cons list that Sling TV doesn’t have complete local channel coverage. While FOX and NBC are available to Sling TV users in select markets, you won’t find ABC or CBS in any of the service’s plans. But that’s not the end of the world for sports fans.
Most sports that air live on ABC are also accessible on ESPN3, an ESPN overflow channel available to all Sling Orange and Sling Orange + Blue subscribers. Several Sling TV deals also come with a free HD antenna to ensure you still get every local channel available in your area. That way, it’s still possible to watch this year’s National Championship game on CBS.
Our favorite Sling TV sign-up offer is the AirTV 2 + HD antenna deal. Usually, those two items cost around $150 together. But this bundle costs only $49 when you prepay for three months of Sling TV service.
The AirTV 2 device is super beneficial for watching sports because it integrates your local antenna channels with the Sling TV guide. That means you can still bounce between CBS and the Turner Sports channels, so you don’t miss a beat during March Madness.
Beyond local channels, you can get even more college basketball coverage with Sling TV’s Sports Extra add-on for as low as $11.00 a month. Its channels vary depending on your base plan, but the add-on grants access to conference channels like Big Ten Network (BTN), Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and ACC Network (ACCN).
A major benefit of including conference channels in your TV plan is that you can also stream games and extra content through conference apps. Keep scrolling to get the full play-by-play.
View Sling TV plans
Stream ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC basketballWe’ve broken down how you can stream some of the major college basketball conferences. Spoiler alert: you’ll need a TV provider login at the ready or a subscription to ESPN+ to access these Power Five streaming options.
Atlantic Coast Conference: ESPN owns and operates ACC Network (ACCN), which offers 150+ live men’s and women’s college basketball games per year. You can stream ACCN content through the ESPN app using a TV provider login.
Big Ten Conference: Because of the Big Ten and FOX Sports’ partnership, you can stream Big Ten Network (BTN) games using the FOX Sports app. You’ll need a TV provider login to get all the college basketball action, but FOX Sports channels and BTN are widely available in most mid-level TV plans.
Big 12 Conference: Big 12 fans might be surprised to know that you can get a lot of games through Big 12 Now on ESPN+ for $9.99 per month. ESPN+ also has a ton of live college basketball from smaller conferences like the Sun Belt Conference.
Pacific-12 Conference: To stream Pac-12 games, you’ll need to make sure Pac-12 Network is in your TV plan. You can check the network’s TV provider availability on the Pac-12 website. From there, you can download the Pac-12 Now app to watch live games, studio shows, and other programming from the Conference of Champions.
Southeastern Conference: Like the ACC, the SEC’s dedicated channel is operated by ESPN. That means you can stream SEC Network content—including live college basketball games—on the ESPN app. Of course, you’ll need a TV plan that includes SEC Network in order to log in and watch those games.
Cheapest: Over-the-air (OTA) HD TV antenna
Editorial rating (4.5/5)
Recommended antenna:
Mohu Leaf 50 ($45.99 one-time payment*)
College basketball channels:
ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC
Tournament channels:
CBS
Features:
All local broadcast channels
View on Amazon
Read Mohu Leaf review
CableTV. com utilizes paid Amazon links. Amazon.com Price $45.99 (as of 9/29/22 3:00 p.m. CT). Read full disclaimer.
- Low, one-time price
- Local coverage
- No out-of-market coverage
- No DVR
If you’re not ready to commit to a monthly TV plan, then an over-the-air (OTA) digital antenna is the next best thing. You’ll be able to catch every college basketball game that airs on your local ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliate channels.
An antenna only gives you a small fraction of college basketball games. But it’ll come in handy during the springtime when CBS airs part of the NCAA Tournament. There are also a lot of other leagues that you’ll have access to throughout the year—including the NBA and WNBA.
We recommend the Mohu Leaf 50 antenna for $45.99 on Amazon*—not bad for a one-time purchase—because it can receive TV signals within a 60-mile range. Depending on your location, that should get you the primary local channels needed for college basketball. But you can verify that information by entering your zip code on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Reception Map Tool.
View Mohu Leaf on Amazon
NCAA Tournament on Paramount+
Another cheap way to watch some of the NCAA Tournament is to sign up for Paramount+. Its $9.99 a month Premium plan includes live CBS games, plus CBS Sports HQ coverage and replays from CBS Sports Network.
A one-time TV antenna purchase can give you those same CBS games. But the extra coverage of CBS Sports HQ and CBS Sports Network alongside Paramount+’s immense movie and TV library is enough to warrant the monthly price.
How to watch college basketball for free
An OTA digital antenna is one of the easiest ways to get free access to live college basketball games. While the antenna itself will cost money, it’s only a one-time purchase that will benefit you for many seasons to come.
Ranging from $20 to $60, an antenna will give you every local network affiliate within range. Possible channels include ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. Because CBS is home to NCAA Tournament matchups, an antenna can be very handy when it comes to watching the men’s side of March Madness.
We recommend the Mohu Leaf 50 ($45.99 on Amazon*) because of its 60-mile range and 4K capabilities.
Another way to watch college basketball without paying is to sign up for a free trial through a live TV streaming service. With careful planning and discipline, you could watch a solid amount of basketball before your trial expires. Just don’t forget to cancel on time, or that plan will ruin the free-ness.
Final take
Almost any cable, satellite, and live TV streaming provider will grant you access to some college basketball games. While tournament games will air on CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV, you’ll also need access to conference channels and your RSN to watch regular-season college basketball.
From a cable standpoint, Spectrum’s affordable TV Select plan and add-ons have the most college basketball channels, RSNs, and premium channels to hold you over when basketball isn’t on.
For cord-cutters, Sling TV is a great streaming option with excellent prices, lots of college basketball offerings, and sweet deals (free antenna, anyone?) for new customers.
If saving money is your goal, you’ll still be able to catch some regular season and tournament college basketball games on ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC with a one-time purchase of a digital antenna.
How to watch college basketball FAQ
Methodology
Our experts spent over 40 hours researching TV providers and testing plans, apps, and other services to determine the best ways to watch college basketball this season. We compared these various viewing options by examining prices, channel lineups, and extra features.
To learn more about our methods, check out our How We Rank page.
Disclaimer
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
*Amazon.com price as of 9/29/22 3:00 p. m. CT. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. CableTV.com utilizes paid Amazon links.
Certain content that appears on this site comes from Amazon. This content is provided “as is” and is subject to change or removal at any time.
How to watch the NBA in the era of parallel imports - Bank shot - Blogs
The NBA has done everything in its power to make it impossible to enjoy American basketball in Russia. However, if you really want something, then any prohibitions become conditional.
Here are at least five ways to touch the beautiful (and now also the forbidden).
NBA League Pass
The most convenient and traditional way is to purchase a subscription on the official website of the NBA.
Benefit : You get access to all matchday matches (both live and recorded), plus shortened versions of the matches with original English commentary. This year, League Pass has a nice new feature: the delay between real time and the broadcast will be reduced to a few seconds.
Disadvantage: it is rather problematic to subscribe in Russia. To do this, you need to have, firstly, a VPN with good speed, and, secondly, a non-Russian card with which you can pay for the subscription.
“Took the ball”
When Megogo, which owns the exclusive rights to broadcast the NBA, abandoned Russia, it naturally happened that the channel's Russian commentators continued to work, only within the framework of the “Took the ball” project.
This season, the telegram channel "Took the ball" shows 1-2 matches every day: last season, when the project started from scratch, the broadcasts attracted 2-5 thousand viewers with record numbers during the final series.
Advantage: The main advantage of "Took the Ball" over its competitors is a team of experienced and well-known commentators. Project boss Dmitry Materansky managed to unite everyone who has experience working at Matcha, Viasat or Megogo: Vladimir Gomelsky, Igor Znamensky, Vladimir Spivak and Andrey Pankrashev.
Disadvantage: "Took the ball" is clearly not chasing the quantity, but offers those matches that are considered the most interesting, so you can not always see your favorite team here (especially if you are a fan of some Detroit) . The project does not even cover absolutely all playoff matches, at least that was the case last season.
You also need to understand that the “Took the ball” commentators are not always perfect either. Young representatives of the project do not always quickly figure out what is happening on the site, experienced ones promote expert opinion (often controversial and annoying to many) right during the games, and all together they sin with monotonous humor (and endless jokes on Sergey Abaev), from which you quickly get tired.
Despite all the power of production and the best conditions, "Took the ball", supported by the bookmaker, could not completely get rid of the main problem of import-substituting broadcasts: technical problems periodically occurred during the first season, and even Spivak's unstoppable irony at such moments the situation is not strong brightened up.
AANBA
The founder of online broadcasts in basketball is the legendary Volodya Korvalol - it was with him that the All About NBA project began in 2013.
“At first we streamed on the VK platform, then GoodGame, then VidiTV,” says Anton Kuzmichev, project manager. - The peak of those years is 15,000 spectators on Vidi during the 2016 NBA Finals, the same ones where Cleveland made a comeback from 1-3. At that moment, one of the funny episodes is that the servers of the VidiTV company fell, and they “asked” us not to post broadcasts for such volumes. So, in fact, not only the news, but also the broadcast branch of our project, which has been running for 7 years, started.
AANBA showed 65% of matches last season and plans to aim for 70% of matches in Russian and 10-15 in English next season.
The AANBA audience ranges from 500-1000 spectators at night matches and 2000 to 5000 at morning matches. The most popular game of last season is the first in a series between Boston and the Nets. It was watched live by 12,000 people
Advantage : “First, volumes. Secondly, commentators, - explains Anton Kuzmichev. “We have a pretty diverse staff of casters. Each of them carries its own informational agenda. Regarding the work of commentators, we often talk about the moments where they need to improve, because without this the comments would stagnate, but we are not satisfied with this situation. One way or another, almost all the actors see themselves as future professionals, although even now our approach is close to this. Another important episode of our work is the absence of donathunting. Since, in fact, commentators receive money from donations, we regulated them. Several left-wing people left the staff of commentators, who not only abused support, but also spoiled the organics of the broadcasts. This is no longer possible to meet in the expanses of aanba during the last season. This is all the more so."
Weakness : AANBA has two main problems that are typical for self-grown projects on the Internet.
The first one is hanging broadcasts, which sometimes slow down at the most interesting place.
The second is commentators without a professional school. They sometimes forget about what is happening and focus on donations. Many of those who are involved in commenting on matches at AANBA work at games of provincial Russian basketball clubs or amateur matches, but there are no people of the level and fame of Gomelsky, Materansky and Znamensky here.
Anton Kuzmichev says that they are working on both: “I think that without NBA broadcasts on public TV, the basketball fandom has no future. Any rights cost money. And it is not very clear how you can recoup the night spot on paid subscriptions. If suddenly such a topic is revived in Russia, then we would be happy to fly into it. The idea of "pirates" in the eyes of the public is slightly different from what is happening now. We ourselves used to sin with amateur comments with a share of peppercorns, but current trends have forced us to reconsider our position. In order not to lose the audience, we left something of our former self, the ability to communicate with a chat, for example, and significantly added in the technical aspect, focusing on immersion in the sport.”
Wild Sport
The Wild Sport VKontakte group started eight years ago with NBA broadcasts, but gradually mastered more and more other types of basketball. In addition to several matches of the NBA game day, almost the entire Euroleague is shown here (last year - 85%), friendly and official matches of the national teams, several matches of the national championships, with the exception of the VTB League (Spain, Turkey, and this year also France).
In live mode in the Wild Sport group, the NBA final was watched by 2-3 thousand spectators, the EuroBasket or Euroleague final - by 3-4 thousand spectators. Regular matches gather from 300 to 1000 people.
In total, the matches, according to the management of the group, get about 10-15 thousand views.
Advantage: “I think it's the commentators,” says project manager Andrey Levy. - Our studio is quite professional in this regard: many commentators work on television (or have worked on television), they are people with great experience. Plus, we regularly invite such wonderful guests as experts, such as Ivan Lazarev, Mikhail Terekhov, Anton Ponkrashov, Maxim Grigoriev, and other guys. We talk about basketball not only from the point of view of play-by-play, but also from the point of view of tactics, analytics, and some interesting facts.
There is certainly a future for the NBA basketball fandom without public TV coverage. People have been moving away from television for a long time and do not watch television in the modern sense. We follow the US principle. There is national television, there is local television, but a lot of time people spend on online platforms where they buy subscriptions and enjoy life: TNT and ESPN. This is more convenient than when you turn on the channel and they impose on you the match that you are watching. In Russia, it all develops thanks to ideological people who promote themselves. Will it get more financial support? Not sure. But as for the people who are interested, I think yes. For example, we basically do not work with bookmakers, we believe that if a person wants to support, then he does not need to buy a subscription, he can directly support the commentator and the studio. It seems to me that now it is a good platform to give content. Not only in the form of matches, but also in podcasts, documentaries and articles.”
In fact, the main advantage of Wild Sport is that most non-NBA basketball is broadcast here.
Flaw : "I think it's the commentators" could also be the Wild Sport's major flaw. After television broadcasts, the style of commentary on the Internet can be very embarrassing or at least seem unusual - especially when users' opinions and questions are counted right during basketball, the roll call of cities begins or donations are counted. One of the foreign coaches of the VTB League looked at the Wild Sport match of his national team and remained at a loss: “Five facts were mentioned - and all five are wrong. ”
Standard lags in broadcasts are also present here.
Topbasket
Since last season, the most popular Youtube channel about basketball in Russian has a special telegram where broadcasts of NBA matches are posted with the original sound track. Usually during the season there appear three or four of the most interesting matches of the game day.
advantage: English (if you know it) and emphasis on the most interesting. Topbasket focuses not so much on an attractive sign, but on the quality of the spectacle. Therefore, noteworthy games of some “Houston” and “Oklahoma” get here, if they managed to give out a sparkling ending or comeback, go into overtime or put a winning baser.
Disadvantage: English (if you don't know it) and no live broadcasts. Matches begin to be uploaded in the morning Moscow time (approximately at 9-10 o'clock), and there is no way to follow your favorite team in real time. Plus, you have to make some efforts not to find out the result in advance (apparently, with these goals, a separate channel was allocated for matches).
Photo: Gettyimages.ru/Kelly Defina, Gregory Shamus; nba.com Youtube
Watch basketball like a pro
What details should I pay attention to in order to learn?
Professional players pay attention to details that many people ignore. They always have good footwork and balance, so they are efficient in everything they do. Even for the most talented athletes, this doesn't come naturally. It takes hard work and focus to play at the highest level. The best players in the NBA are dedicated to perfecting the details, learning the "smart game" and effective basketball.
To all players who set some goals for themselves in basketball, I advise you to watch matches of professionals and note not cool dunks and outrageous athleticism in the NBA, but details.
In this article, I'm listing things that can be observed to make the training process more effective. Development is more than just exercise. In training, we work on certain details, and looking at them performed by professionals will form an understanding of quality basketball in my head.
Footwork . Watch as the players open up, turn to receive the ball, prepare to shoot, make transfers and begin their movement.
Taking up position on site . Watch how the pros create space for the ball to run into during the break, pay attention to their movements in response to defensive actions and how they move throughout the attack. Analyze how the pros get the best position on the court.
How teams defend together . Watch and learn how to defend against a player with the ball with different screening and combinations when taking the ball out of touch.
Late attack strategy . Watch how offensive and defensive teams create late game scoring opportunities with fouls, double teams and timeouts.
How players finish on ring . Watch how the players finish the pass with a floater, a throw with a change of hand, a euro step and the like.
Rapid decision making in attack . The best players make the decision to pass, throw, or go to the pass in a split second. Find that moment.
Readiness of the players from the bench to enter the court . Substitutes do not enter the court "cold". They prepare their body and mind for the game, so when they enter the court, they immediately turn on the maximum.
Influence of players' fatigue level on their performance at the end of the game . Notice that some players look tired at the end of the game, they have a decrease in performance, while other players are more efficient. See how they act in this case.
Analyze games and you will also notice details
Movement efficiency and use of energy of a veteran player against a beginner . Veterans know how to play at the elite level without wasting energy on unnecessary movements, thus saving it.
The specific role of each player . All the players in the team have a special role to play, it is useful to look at how each of them helps their team.
Teamwork . Watch how teammates, coaches and referees interact and how this affects their performance.
How snipers open up to shoot and use screens to do so. Use this to give yourself and your team more scoring opportunities.
Protective actions during obstruction . Look at how the defenders react and go around the screens.
Number of passes against dribbling while in possession . Teams that have a lot of passing and moving the ball find more opportunities for easy scoring than dribblers.
How many times the direction of attack changes in an attack . Changing the direction of the attack, through the movement of the ball, forces the defense to adjust and creates space for the shot.
Watch closely and learn from the best players
Now you have a list of 15 things to look out for when watching matches.