# Could the best college sports teams beat the worst pro teams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653 "2003-03-07T04:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/61 "2007-03-21T13:39:49Z")
[QUOTE=HowieReynolds] Hmm, now that my team is the best in college basketball, I completely reverse my answer from 2003. The Gators would throttle several NBA teams and probably compete for a playoff spot in a full league schedule. Alright, perhaps not. But I think this particular Gator team would have a really good chance at making things more competitive than you’d think, due to their exceptional team chemistry. They are better than the talent of the individual players would lead you to believe. [/QUOTE] They have better team chemistry than teams that play together 82 times a year? They will get killed and the score would be Chuck Norris to ZERO infinity times in a row. Will these threads ever end? Florida’s probably not even the best team out there right now. Well, they might be. I’m not sure. If they are, they’re not too far out ahead of Kansas and UNC. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/62 "2007-03-21T18:27:42Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] They have better team chemistry than teams that play together 82 times a year? They will get killed and the score would be Chuck Norris to ZERO infinity times in a row. Will these threads ever end? Florida’s probably not even the best team out there right now. Well, they might be. I’m not sure. If they are, they’re not too far out ahead of Kansas and UNC. [/QUOTE] Yes, I think they do have better team chemistry than the Memphis Grizzlies. Like I said, they still wouldn’t win (maybe once out of fifty, one of those nights where Humprhey and Green combine for 13-15 three point shooting) due to being severely outtalented, but the talent gap would be somewhat mitigated by how well this Florida team plays together. And Florida is the number one overall seed, and has by far the lowest odds against winning the championship on any gambling site. So if you think Kansas or UNC is better, now may be a good time to place some bets, because the majority of people putting money on it feel differently. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/63 "2007-03-21T19:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] FOOTBALL: Florida Gators vs. Cleveland Browns Result: The Browns would slaughter the Gators 50 times. I’d be shocked if the Gators made a game of it even once. [/QUOTE] Agree. The speed and strength and talent is on completely different levels. The pros will find one player who could never make the pros and exploit that. Then exploit the other 5-6 who also would not become pros. Then the rest who won’t be draft picks. The linemen alone would be horribly mismatched on both sides of the ball. The best skill player in college football is usually the #1 draft pick. It is rare for that draft pick to even start his first NFL game, much less shine. It all goes downhill from there. The best a college team could hope for is a score of a busted coverage or a turnover. Urban Meyer is a great coach, so he may get some trick plays in. Those suprises would make the ESPN highlight reel, but not affect the 63-7 score (assuming the pros didn’t want to run up the score). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/64 "2007-03-21T19:58:29Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla] The best skill player in college football is usually the #1 draft pick. It is rare for that draft pick to even start his first NFL game, much less shine. [/QUOTE] Slight quibble – it actually is very much the rule rather than the exception that the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft starts out of the gate. Shine or not shine … mmm, that’s a little dicier. of course. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/65 "2007-03-21T20:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] Slight quibble – it actually is very much the rule rather than the exception that the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft starts out of the gate. Shine or not shine … mmm, that’s a little dicier. of course. [/QUOTE] That’s true. I guess I went overboard in comparing the talent difference. Reggie Bush took a while to “shine” (there was a SDMB thread calling him a bust mid-season). So, if it took college football’s (arguably) best player a while to get acclimated, you can imagine how the rest of the college team would handle the pros in a game. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/66 "2007-03-21T20:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla] That’s true. I guess I went overboard in comparing the talent difference. Reggie Bush took a while to “shine” (there was a SDMB thread calling him a bust mid-season). So, if it took college football’s (arguably) best player a while to get acclimated, you can imagine how the rest of the college team would handle the pros in a game. [/QUOTE] Your larger point is sound – your post is still very much on point for the vast majority of drafted players. Player prognostication is certainly no exact science. ---
**Author:** ![Capa84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8edcca/32.png) [@Capa84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capa84)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/67 "2007-03-22T01:23:13Z")
The only college basketball team I can think of that MAYBE could have won a game or two from the worst NBA teams would have been the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats…they had amazing chemistry and probably the most talent ever assembled on one college team. They had 6 first round NBA picks: Derek Anderson Ron Mercer Walter McCarty Tony Delk Antoine Walker Nazr Mohammed Also drafted in later rounds: Mark Pope Wayne Turner Add to those 9: Jeff Sheppard-MOP for the 1998 NCAA tourney, played in the NBA as well Jared Prickett Anthony Epps Allen Edwards They went 34-2 for the year, only losing to 2 of the other final four teams, but also beating all 3 of the other final four teams during the year. They won 27 straight games, and scored 86 points in one half against LSU. You would have had a team with 9 NBA players, and 3-4 solid backups, and I think they could have won a few games out of 50 against the worst NBA team. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653/68 "2007-03-22T03:30:25Z")
Hijack : I’ve often wondered how the Bo Ryan led Platteville Pioneers (Div III champs several times including two undefeated seasons) would do against Div I teams. Brian [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-best-college-sports-teams-beat-the-worst-pro-teams/159653.md?page=3)