Yes, this review does contain the odd spoiler. And by "odd spoiler" I do mean the ending.
If I'm honest I finished reading this manga for two reasons only. The first was its popularity among those that had read it and the second was pure stubbornness. In the end I feel slightly disappointed with it, and wish I hadn't bothered. The main problem here was the predictability, which while generally forgiveable in a sports manga was just too much. Regardless of how much thought went into the characters and their backstory, regardless of the comedic moments, regardless of the artwork, the predictability just overshadowed everything.
For me there was no sense of tenseness, no heartfelt desire for Seirin to triumph. It's true that I liked Kuroko, but this had a secondary impact on my enjoyment of the story - when I felt his storyline or use was being misused, or when he failed to achieve something yet again, I just felt irritated at the manga itself. I wanted Kuroko to succeed, but rather than wanting to read on when he was down on his luck, rather than routing for him or feeling sorry for him...I just wanted to stop reading instead. I felt that it was implausible that Kuroko would end up in such and such situation, etc etc. The mangaka was trying to achieve one effect, and I was being affected in a completely different manner.
More so, usually I'd be supporting the team/player the manga followed, but I was completely unsatisfied with the ending. Seirin winning? I'd have been more satisfied if they'd lost.
All these "oh he's entered the zone" and "oh wait, now he's entered the zone too," and then "oh but there's more to the zone than that, see there's a zone beyond the zone" actually....I didn't like it? In a sports manga like say Prince of Tennis, they do have all these special moves and ridiculous talents but I never go "oh, this again, this is just silly" because it gets me excited and I want to see what they do next... but in this manga I just couldn't (to an extent). Rather than get excited, rather than increasing the tension, it just didn't do anything for me.
I was all over Kuroko's misdirection, but by the time it became zone-this and zone-that, I was yawning.
The stupid thing here is that I'd give the story a fair rating at times, because of the character backstories, and the fact that everything ties together, and I'd give the art a high score because I really like the art style, and I'd give the characters a high score because they were diverse, and I thought quite well done... but despite all that I couldn't give it an overall high score for the chief reason that I was bored a good proportion of the time.