Spring Break
Going pro should be player's call
Eric Wormus
Issue date: 1/22/08 Section: Sports
One-and-done.
If you have ever rooted for a playoff team that is the one phrase you hope to avoid like the plague. One-and-done teams get into the playoffs giving their fans dreams of championships only to be bounced in the first round. Teams try to avoid the one-and-done label like it's a crazy ex-girlfriend at a bar.
Yet in college basketball, superstar freshmen covet one-and-done. They put in their obligatory year at College X and then promptly jump to the National Basketball Association where the sweet lures of money, fame and women are too much to pass up.
The NBA put in a rule mandating that players be at least one year removed from high school graduation to enter the NBA. It was meant to "help" the players by giving them some college education and to help college basketball. It has done neither.
The superstar athletes choose a school with the intention of playing, showcasing their skills for a year and then leaving. The days of developing players and programs are over. College campuses have become little more than mercenary schools, letting players hang out for a year and then leave.
The best college coaches used to recruit players who would fit in their system for at least three years, usually four. They took unpolished talent and buffed it until it shined.
Think Bobby Knight.
Regardless of what you think about his techniques on and off the court, he recruits kids and graduates his players. And he has won 900 career games. Now all a coach has to do is recruit the next crop of superstars and stand back and watch.
Thad Matta "revitalized" Ohio State University's basketball program last year. Then the star freshmen left and the Buckeyes are only 3-2 in the Big Ten. That's not great coaching.
The NBA thought it would be a good idea to have kids spend at least one year in college.
My question is: Why?
To be a full-time student, you only have to enroll for 12 credit hours in a semester. That means a kid can enroll in 24 credit hours of all survey classes for a year and then leave. If a team makes it to the championship game, the season ends during the first week of April. Every other team is done during March. What motivation does a kid have to attend class once his season is over if he is just going to jump to the NBA anyway?
If you have ever rooted for a playoff team that is the one phrase you hope to avoid like the plague. One-and-done teams get into the playoffs giving their fans dreams of championships only to be bounced in the first round. Teams try to avoid the one-and-done label like it's a crazy ex-girlfriend at a bar.
Yet in college basketball, superstar freshmen covet one-and-done. They put in their obligatory year at College X and then promptly jump to the National Basketball Association where the sweet lures of money, fame and women are too much to pass up.
The NBA put in a rule mandating that players be at least one year removed from high school graduation to enter the NBA. It was meant to "help" the players by giving them some college education and to help college basketball. It has done neither.
The superstar athletes choose a school with the intention of playing, showcasing their skills for a year and then leaving. The days of developing players and programs are over. College campuses have become little more than mercenary schools, letting players hang out for a year and then leave.
The best college coaches used to recruit players who would fit in their system for at least three years, usually four. They took unpolished talent and buffed it until it shined.
Think Bobby Knight.
Regardless of what you think about his techniques on and off the court, he recruits kids and graduates his players. And he has won 900 career games. Now all a coach has to do is recruit the next crop of superstars and stand back and watch.
Thad Matta "revitalized" Ohio State University's basketball program last year. Then the star freshmen left and the Buckeyes are only 3-2 in the Big Ten. That's not great coaching.
The NBA thought it would be a good idea to have kids spend at least one year in college.
My question is: Why?
To be a full-time student, you only have to enroll for 12 credit hours in a semester. That means a kid can enroll in 24 credit hours of all survey classes for a year and then leave. If a team makes it to the championship game, the season ends during the first week of April. Every other team is done during March. What motivation does a kid have to attend class once his season is over if he is just going to jump to the NBA anyway?
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