Has "one and done" wrecked college basketball?

[LA Ute]

Pete Thamel has an interesting piece in the NY Times today: After Title Run, the Starting 5 Rush for the Exit

The confetti inside the Louisiana Superdome on Monday night, then, showered a remarkable basketball team, but also fell with a certain joylessness on a college sport many believe has been cynically compromised.

This won't change unless the NBA does something. I wonder if a rule like MLB has wouldn't be a lot better?

Ridpath, a member of the Drake Group, a network of professors who lobby for academic integrity in college sports, and the author of “Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA and One Man’s Fight for Justice,” does not blame Calipari. Nor does he blame the players. Nor the N.B.A., which essentially benefits from a free farm system.

He blames the N.C.A.A.

“The one and done is not about an education,” Ridpath said.

Calipari has been able to determine how his players can do the minimum amount of work so Kentucky’s Academic Progress Rate, the metric used by N.C.A.A. to measure how well universities are educating their athletes, is not adversely affected.

“I think he represents the refinement of the system, that’s what he does,” William C. Friday, the former president of the University of North Carolina, said of Calipari. “If we’re going to be perfectly open and honest about it, we know what we’re doing is acting as a farm club for the commercial advancement of the N.C.A.A.”

Ridpath recommended adopting the model used in baseball, in which players who do not enter the draft directly out of high school and choose to attend college are not eligible again until after they turn 21 or complete their junior season.

For years, basketball stars skipped college altogether, Ridpath noted, and college basketball thrived anyway. Until then, Ridpath said: “Calipari will have another team loaded with freshmen next year, and they’ll do a darn good job. It’s an excellent business model but a travesty on all sides. Everybody knows it’s a complete facade.”

[SeattleUte]

It's the curse of capitalism. All of our material prosperity we owe to the human drive to acquire wealth, which capitalism encourages and facilitates. But ultimately everything is commerialized which tends to spoil a lot of fine things.

The end of college sports will truly have arrived when the universities cave to pressure from these idiot sports writers and professionalize college sports. They don't need to; let the starting five at Kentucky go, the universities give plenty to 99% of the kids.

[scottie]

I haven't read the linked article, but I think it was Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant who wrecked college basketball.

[New Mexican Disaster]

College basketball isn't wrecked.

[Donuthole]

College basketball isn't wrecked.

This. Evolving, but not wrecked. Not even broken, really.

[LA Ute]

College basketball isn't wrecked.

This. Evolving, but not wrecked. Not even broken, really.

I agree. Just asking the question. I do think Thamel is right in saying it is "cynically compromised." Why not have a rule like MLB's?

[SeattleUte]

College basketball isn't wrecked.

I agree. It's a lot better off than in the sixties when most disadvantaged kids didn't even get opportunities to succeed because of racist barriers and absence of opportunities like AAU. The supply of talented prospects is stronger than ever.

Who cares about one and done. There are always more where they came from. Kentucky itself is proof of that.

[SeattleUte]

I agree. Just asking the question. I do think Thamel is right in saying it is "cynically compromised." Why not have a rule like MLB's?

Here's a tip: When sports writers try to talk serious, about racism, public policy, that kind of thing, it's best to ignore them. They're mostly stupid. The media calls their departments the toy stores.

[MarkGrace]

It's better than none and done.

I know there's talk of a push for requiring another year. We'll see if it happens.

[FountainofUte]

I'm not a fan of the current setup.

I'll admit, the notion of players being nothing more than 7-month mercenaries of the school is troubling. What an embarrassment to the schools who do this dance but act as if everything is normal.

I don't know what the answer is. If a kid is ready to play pro ball, why "make" him go to or stay in college? That doesn't make sense either.

But both "leagues" would be better served if the players played four years. Even three. I'm tired of watching the NBA have to teach talented athletes how to play the game. I wonder how different some (i.e. most) early-entry pro careers would have been had they learned the game at the college level before taking their talents to the NBA.

[MarkGrace]

It's better than none and done.

I know there's talk of a push for requiring another year. We'll see if it happens.

Though the draft was a bit more fun with the none and dones.

[SeattleUte]

I'm not a fan of the current setup.

I'll admit, the notion of players being nothing more than 7-month mercenaries of the school is troubling. What an embarrassment to the schools who do this dance but act as if everything is normal.

I don't know what the answer is. If a kid is ready to play pro ball, why "make" him go to or stay in college? That doesn't make sense either.

But both "leagues" would be better served if the players played four years. Even three. I'm tired of watching the NBA have to teach talented athletes how to play the game. I wonder how different some (i.e. most) early-entry pro careers would have been had they learned the game at the college level before taking their talents to the NBA.

Let's not be naive. Basketball players go to college for a multitude of reasons; it's much like real life. For those mercenaries, bully for them. While they are young and strong they should go for the gold. Being wealthy when you're young can open all kinds of holistic opportunities, and many of them have families who need their financial help.

But these are a miniscule percentage of kids who play college ball. For the 99%, college basketball still provides a tremendous and elite opportunity not only to set themselves up for good playing jobs overseas, but also to experience the thrill of competition on a high level, make valuable contacts, and, last but not least, obtain a college degree associated with probably the most admired brands that America has to offer--that of its colleges and universities.

The system isn't broken. It's working. The system isn't mostly about elite mercenaries, and if they change it they will hurt most of all the 99% percent who the system helps most. Sportswriters like Frank Deford who prattle on about how universities are taking advantage of these kids are not very thoughtful, and like to talk to hear their heads roar, or seem more important.

By the way, I feel the same about all the handwringing about college football's dangers. Ban it and who do you really hurt?

These poeple who think the college athlete's lot is so terrible need to go to Afghanistan and see what terrible really is, or bone up on history. Life was not meant to be free of hazards or sacrifices.

[Flystripper]

I'm not a fan of the current setup.

I'll admit, the notion of players being nothing more than 7-month mercenaries of the school is troubling. What an embarrassment to the schools who do this dance but act as if everything is normal.

why is this embarrassing?

[LA Ute]

I like the idea of at least trying to develop student-athletes, that's all. I admire Van Horn and Miller for staying to finish their degrees, and Shaq for going back to finish his.

[SeattleUte]

I like the idea of at least trying to develop student-athletes, that's all. I admire Van Horn and Miller for staying to finish their degrees, and Shaq for going back to finish his.

yeah, it's a shame. I'm sure Curt Cobain or Michael Jackson would not have suffered from such arrested maturity either had they earned college degres.