March Madness has lived up to the expectations, and then some. Fairleigh Dickinson became a household name, and Princeton is in the Sweet 16 as well as Florida Atlantic. However, the new ball from Wilson has caused some serious concern due to the poor offensive performances. In what has become a lively discussion, one anonymous coach gave an honest take on the situation, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium.
“It’s not the ball- It’s how much damn air they put into them. All of them are like bouncy balls. You can tell no coach or real player aired them up. Only a dumba** administrator would fill the ball to capacity.”
As Goodman pointed out, the shooting to begin the tournament was historically bad, and former Villanova guard Colin Gillespie chimed in on the discussion about the new balls.
Bring back the other basketballs
— Collin Gillespie (@Colling1021) March 21, 2023
The discussion of the new ball used during March Madness has been a talking point, and many have chimed in as well in agreement.
Hey @ncaa get rid of these damn Wilson balls. #NCAAbasketball #MarchMadness
— Chad 🇺🇸 (@HawkeyeChad1216) March 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/mattinminny/status/1638589266992197634?s=20
From someone who shot 80% from 3pt in the tourney, these are the WORST BASKETBALLS IVE EVER SEEN https://t.co/opBEmy5aEx
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) March 22, 2023
Me personally I didn’t like the Wilson ball.. I liked the ball we used my freshman-senior year.
— Collin Gillespie (@Colling1021) March 22, 2023
Bingo. Very simple solution. Give the Wilson Evos to the top seed, let them pick a ball for the weekend, use it in practice https://t.co/JgW6QpCfdG
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) March 22, 2023
BRO, THIS IS 100% FACTS!!! I’ve played in games where the ball had so much damn air in it!!! Dribbling and passing was damn near impossible. https://t.co/rlZ8bFo7py
— Jonathan Baker (@Jayb_1411) March 22, 2023
This seems to be the consensus, and the NCAA rolling out a new ball for the tournament — and the fact that there is no uniform ball for all D1 teams — has raised a ton of eyebrows.
March Madness is always arguably the biggest sporting event of the season, but the lack of offensive production is something to look at when it's all said and done. Maybe it is the ball, or maybe it is the ones inflating the ball.