Men's College Basketball "Basketball" - What Brand ball is used?

[t-noah]

What is the ball brand of basketball currently used in the NCAA? Looking this up, I believe it's the Wilson, Wilson's Evo NXT. This is the brighter orange ball they started to use in 2022? Is that correct? Although I think the NCAA has been attached to Wilson for quite some time now.

Does this ball brand (Wilson) pose a problem to a team that uses a different ball during the season, i.e., Nike, Wilson, Spalding, Addidas, Under Armour? How significant is the problem? Am I opening a can of worms? I would think that for shooters, this can be an issue.

Does Iowa State still use the Nike Elite ball? and much of Big 12? preferring to stay (or maybe they must) within their school (Nike) contract?

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I'm curious again. Thoughts? There's probably tons of articles on this. Here's one, albeit from 2016):

The college basketball difference: The ball can change from game to game

When UCLA tips off against California on Thursday, the referee will toss into the air an orangish inflated sphere with eight panels.

www.latimes.com

 

[TitanClone]

Don't know, but I still have the Spalding basketball I checked out freshman summer with a Lewis Central stamp on it. Coaches were lax on inventory.

 

[t-noah]

Don't know, but I still have the Spalding basketball I checked out freshman summer with a Lewis Central stamp on it. Coaches were lax on inventory.

I'm curious about the basketball "brand" now, after seeing a Euro player in our Transfer Option thread. He had a Spalding ball. I'm wondering if the players view it as a problem or not, all the different brands (potentially) they must play with?

 

[NWICY]

I'm curious about the basketball "brand" now, after seeing a Euro player in our Transfer Option thread. He had a Spalding ball. I'm wondering if the players view it as a problem or not, all the different brands (potentially) they must play with?

Only team I've ever heard complain was Iowa mbb under Fran

 

[Cydkar]

It's not as big of a shooting issue as playing in a cavernous football stadium.

 

[VeloClone]

Don't know, but I still have the Spalding basketball I checked out freshman summer with a Lewis Central stamp on it. Coaches were lax on inventory.

Reported.

 

[BurgundyClone]

I've been saying this for a long time -it has to make a difference -I know we use Nike and Duke uses Nike - I believe Houston does too, but not sure of the other remaining teams. It's a huge issue when playing pickup ball, I've got to think some kids hate the Wilson compared to the Nike, and vice versa.

 

[TitanClone]

Reported.

I'm on good terms with the current HS principal, not worried. He's an ISU alumn too.

 

[t-noah]

Only team I've ever heard complain was Iowa mbb under Fran

See! I knew it was a problem!

 

[IASTATE07]

At the time Iowa was complaining about the UA ball used at Maryland, there were posters on here that mentioned we have different brands of balls to practice with to get used to them.

 

[DGC]

See! I knew it was a problem!

yes, the brand of basketball directly impacts fan donations to MBB NIL

 

[t-noah]

I would imagine we've got some of the other common brand basketballs on hand during the year to practice with, when needed. For example, I would bet that we have about 10 of the Wilsons, and at least a few of the others that we might come across?

Can anyone confirm that? Or is it something they don't even worry about?

 

[t-noah]

At the time Iowa was complaining about the UA ball used at Maryland, there were posters on here that mentioned we have different brands of balls to practice with to get used to them.

Makes sense. I hadn't really thought any of it until I started this thread.

 

[t-noah]

When you are out of state (me) you miss out on some of the finer details of the game! I hadn't heard of Fran's complaining about the UA ball Maryland may use, for example.

 

[t-noah]

Best Selling Basketball Brands​

The three best-selling basketball brands are Spalding, Nike, and Wilson. As the official ball of the NBA, Spalding is perhaps the most recognized basketball manufacturer. Nike and Wilson are also popular thanks to the variety of textures, technologies, and color schemes they offer.

A typical official-size men’s basketball retails on average between $30 and $60. Both the NBA and WNBA use Spalding basketballs, while the NCAA and most youth leagues use Wilson. As mentioned previously, FIBA and international leagues use Molten as their basketball provider.

Basketball Sizes: A Quick Guide for All Levels of Play

Basketball sizes vary by age, gender, and level of play.

www.stack.com

I was aware of the different sizes, generally, in the States. I was not aware that the International (Euro) ball is a little bigger.
For international play, specifically FIBA, the basketball used is what’s called a Molten GL7 for men and Molten GL6 for women. These basketballs typically feature two different colors and are slightly bigger, with a 30.7-inch circumference for the men’s ball and a 29-inch circumference for the women’s.

 

[Cycsk]

I have another related question. How often do they use brand new basketballs? When I played,I never liked the feel of a brand new basketball.

 

[t-noah]

A pretty interesting article on the subject here:

Ball does lie: basketball brands vary wildly in NCAA

As the Toledo men’s basketball team makes its way through practice at Savage Arena, the Rockets’ coaching staff tries to account for every road-game ...

www.toledoblade.com

“It changes the game. It truly does,” Kowalczyk said. “There are so many different balls out there. That’s why we have them all so we know when we go on the road who we’re playing [and] what ball they use, and we try to practice with it all week.”

Paul and Weiss looked at every school in the Power Five conferences across three seasons, noted what ball it used at home and its offensive production, and used gambling data to monitor how many points teams were expected to score in a given game.

When one team used a ball different than its home brand, the data, which has not yet been published, shows overall scoring decreased 1.4 points. Among Power Five teams, teams that use a Nike ball saw their field-goal percentage decrease by 7 percent when it used an Under Armour ball, and 7.4 percent when it used an Adidas ball.

Especially when two teams are evenly matched, Paul said, the brand of game ball matters.

“I think in terms of being able to look at what’s happening, when you move away to some of these balls that aren’t used [as frequently], there definitely appears to be an adjustment,” Paul said.

Ohio State, for example, will play games with four different basketballs in the next month alone. The Buckeyes will use a Nike ball for their home finale against Rutgers, an Adidas ball at Indiana, a Spalding ball at the Big Ten tournament, then a Wilson ball in the NCAA tournament.

Like OSU, Bowling Green uses a Nike basketball for its home games, but the Falcons see just about everything in the MAC East, bouncing from Wilson (Ohio) to Adidas (Miami) to Under Armour (Kent State) in its division.

Falcons coach Michael Huger said his team has not had much trouble with the brand of basketball it uses, but rather the maintenance of them. Sometimes, he said, the team will arrive at a road venue to find the game basketballs are a shade flat, and there other times when it feels as if you could bounce them to the ceiling.

Strangely enough, Huger said the biggest issue the Falcons have had on the road this season was in 59-56 loss at Ball State, a fellow Nike school.

“Ball State is Nike. We’re Nike, but we clean our basketballs and Ball State didn’t,” Huger said. “It was the dirtiest, slipperiest ball ever, and it’s the same ball. It’s exact same ball — and it was slick to us.”

 

[t-noah]

I have another related question. How often do they use brand new basketballs? When I played,I never liked the feel of a brand new basketball.

Good question. I suppose it is a balance between being used some, vs being brand new.

Also in the above article, it mentioned having the ball 'cleaned' regularly, vs 'never cleaned'. That could be an issue.

 

[t-noah]

I'll bet there is some thought and science in how to properly clean a BB also. Clean it, yes, but should I put on a leather conditioner? No, probably not. Etc. I don't know.

 

[Clonedogg]

I heard some players in the ncaa tournament were complaining about overinflated ball. I suppose it varies by region.