If the verve of those bright orange bouncing balls you see at the 2025 NCAA Tournament seem unusual to the naked eye from your television set, then you aren’t alone. The balls, Wilson’s Evo NXT, are a staple of the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments since 2022, and they are once again drawing fresh criticism this postseason.
It’s not so much the color but rather the pop of the ball that is under scrutiny once more. Anecdotally, they seem to be more bouncy than balls most teams use during the regular season, which is forcing some to recalibrate their shot as they chase championships this postseason.
“As long as it’s round, like I could put it in the rim,” Kentucky guard Koby Brea said this week. “I don’t really dwell on it too much. I will say these are a little bit more bouncy, so you just got to change the way you shoot a little bit. But I like adjusting to it, and yeah, it doesn’t really matter to me.”
Three-point shooting numbers in the NCAA Tournament thus far are at 32.3% entering Sunday – down from the regular-season average of 34% accounting for every team in Division I. That’s especially stunning considering it factors not just the shooting of the 68 teams who made the field during the regular…
