Hold the Mayo - Wednesday, May 14, 2008
124 Views :: 0 Comments :: :: Michael Bradley

   When I was on Mike Missanelli's show Tuesday afternoon, he asked me whether the NC2A should consider forcing high school prospects who decide to play in college to stick around campus two or maybe three years before leaving for the NBA. That way, Mike reasoned, they might get a better idea of their basketball value and not make a bad decision to leave school before they should.

   It's a noble thought, trying to help these young men avoid bad decisions. The trouble is, they have already made them. They made them when they chose a college based on its basketball program. Many made them when they decided to do just enough high school work to get eligible for NC2A hoops. They made them when they set their sights on the NBA and considered every other moment of their young lives mere waystations in their quest for the Golden Ticket.

   Big-time college basketball is a grimy business that thrives on the recruitment of talent under the guise of providing educational opportunities. It is true that some players are smart enough to do their work and go to class in pursuit of a real degree, but many are seduced by the NBA dream and are marginal students, at best. College basketball asked the NBA to force young players to go to school, so the league agreed to a one-year buffer between high school and the professional ranks. The results have been mixed. The caliber of play is higher, because 10-15 top-shelf frosh are forced onto the college courts each year.

   But that is offset by the fact that these players don't want to be there. They have no allegiance to the schools, only to their dreams. They don't go to class during the second semester, because they aren't coming back the next year. And when they are offered money/clothes/perks, they gobble it up willingly, because they feel entitled to it as part of a system which is preventing them from doing what they want.

   The NBA has it pretty good. College hoops provides a ready-made farm system for it -- at  no cost. You might think the NBDL does that, but ask yourself whether the starters on the remaining playoff teams are products of the NBDL or the NC2A, and you'll get your answer about which is the real "develompental" league for the NBA.

   There is really only one solution to this problem, and that's to let the players who want to leave high school and enter the professional ranks immediately do so. That way, we won't be subject to the sham of the "tough decision" these players have to make in the spring and won't have to worry about too many more Mayos grabbing what they can from agent reps and other shady characters. There will be some corruption, but it will be minimized somewhat.

   Then, do what the NFL and MLB do. If you play college ball, you're there for three years. Period. Go to class. Stay away from the scumbags bearing gifts. Commit to the university. Get a degree, even. That's a dream worth pursuing and a way to get the people who have no desire to go to college away from the NC2A game. It may even clean things up a little bit.

   Maybe.