SAN DIEGO — It became evident early in Utah State’s opening NCAA Tournament game that MJ Collins was not quite himself. All season, Collins has been the Aggies’ best scorer, a bolt of lightning slashing through the paint and a sharpshooter from anywhere on the court.
But here, in San Diego, he was something different. His first three shot attempts rattled out. He lost control of a pass. He missed an uncharacteristic four of nine free throws. It was not until the second half that he looked like the player who led the Aggies to this stage.
Turns out, his issue was a common one: the Wilson Evo NXT basketball that the NCAA uses in this tournament.
“The ball was a little too pumped up for me,” Collins said.
Eventually, Collins adjusted. His full-speed, behind-the-back, transition layup punctuated a 86-76 comeback win, setting up a second-round date with No. 1 seed Arizona on Sunday, March 22. But on both rosters — and in tournament locker rooms around the country — the basketball has been a talking point.
“It's just a little different material,” Arizona guard Anthony Dell’Orso said. “These, obviously, they bounce a little higher.”
During the First Four, a video went viral of the over-inflated basketballs, drawing criticism from players and coaches.
"Do I have to scream this each year until I am red in the face?" former Wisconsin forward Sam Dekker wrote on Twitter. "@MarchMadnessMBB needs to hire someone at every venue to make sure the basketballs are acceptable to be played with."
Over in Tampa, Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz — one of the nation’s best scorers — told reporters that the Hawkeyes spent much of their practice time this week adjusting to the ball.
“They’re super aired up,” Stirtz said.
A day later, Stirtz shot 23.5% from the field in a win over Clemson, his worst mark of the season.
He wasn’t alone in experiencing some uncharacteristic struggles. Virginia, which typically excels at protecting the ball, committed turnovers on its first three possessions before recovering to sneak past Wright State.
“I saw people complaining before this week about the balls online,” Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder told reporters. “And I was like, man, it can’t be that bad. During the warm-up, they were feeling great. But then when I came in the game, that game ball was just a balloon. I had to adjust a little bit.”
There are a few issues at play here.
For one, the NCAA does not require schools to use a standardized basketball during the season. Typically, most schools within a conference will use the same ball, but there’s deviation from league to league. For example, Arizona and Utah State both use a Nike Elite ball, which is the most commonly used ball in the sport. But some schools, like Kansas, use the Wilson Evo all year long.
“It's even tougher when you play away games in non-conference,” Dell’Orso said. “And you've gotta (switch balls each) game.”
On social media, Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes lobbed a critique at the NCAA over this inconsistency.
“NCAA basketball is the only league in the world where games are played with several different brands of balls,” Forbes wrote on Twitter. “Nike, Wilson, Under Armour, Spalding, Adidas etc. Depending on who and where you play; all are different. The NBA plays with one ball, FIBA plays with one ball, why can't we?”
Another issue: During the season, teams typically break balls in before using them in a game. But during the tournament, every ball is brand-new. As a result, they’re stickier than normal.
“I could just palm the ball and basically throw it and it wasn't gonna move,” Collins said. “Almost as if I had stick 'em on my hands or something along those lines.”
He primarily noticed that issue on free throws.
“Your fingers, you want them to be the last off the ball,” Collins said. “And they were kind of stuck a little bit. I normally, for me personally, I would normally wear Working Hands (cream) on my hands, just to engage more grip. But with those balls, it would be terrible.”
Then, there’s the most common complaint: The inflation of balls used in tournament games. That affects everything from how a ball behaves when dribbling to the trajectory of missed shots.
And in recent years, it’s become a recurring issue.
“You've gotta think, a floater should not bounce to the 3-point line,” Dell’Orso said. “And when you have a ball that's over-inflated, it could. … It just creates more chaos in the game.”
But now, one game into the tournament, the players believe they’ve adjusted. Or, at least, they hope they have. Because when your season comes to an end, nobody wants to hear about how the ball might have caused it.
“All 10 guys are playing with the same ball,” Collins said. “So at some point, the excuses have to go out the door.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Basketballs draw more criticism at NCAA Tournament