Kentucky is not killing college basketball. Well, they may have metaphorically slain some teams this year (looking at you Kansas and UCLA). But some of the usual suspects insist on writing columns decrying the pernicious influence of one John Calipari on the game we love. So what are these crimes? Recruiting the best high school players. Check. Encouraging those who can to head to the NBA after a year in college. Yep. Using the success of these “one-and-dones” to recruit the next batch of elite prep players. You bet. You know, now that I think about it I have to agree. Duke is ruining college basketball. Coach K starts three freshmen (Okafor, Winslow and Jones) plus a senior and a sophomore. Earlier this season Calipari started two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman (Towns) and would be doing the same today absent a season-ending injury to one of the juniors (who was replaced by a freshman in the starting line-up). But this must be an anomaly at Duke, right? It’s not as though they had a one-and-done #2 pick in the NBA draft just last year. Oh, wait…
Just to be clear, this is not my normal Duke bashing. To prove it, I’ll say some nice things that I will then deny ever having uttered. Coach K is a terrific coach who seems to factor in ability to succeed academically at Duke when recruiting. His players tend to be fine representatives of one of the best schools in the world (Christian Laettner and, much more seriously, Rasheed Sulaimon, notwithstanding). You know who else recruits great kids? John Vincent Calipari. Brandon Knight entered UK as a sophomore because he amassed so many AP credits in high school. If he hadn’t gone pro, Anthony Davis would be a senior at UK this year (wrap your head around that one for a minute). Having a freak athlete who everyone agrees is a terrific human being playing college basketball for four years would be great for the game. But it’s impossible to argue that Davis risking injury for three (or even one) additional years as the NCAA makes millions selling his jersey while he eats at the student union dining hall makes any sense. And please don’t roll your eyes while assuming that Kentucky’s players get all sorts of additional benefits. They don’t. Our program is the most scrutinized in the sport (perhaps for good reason) and we haven’t committed an NCAA violation in nearly three decades. Syracuse and North Carolina can’t say the same (more on that as the tourney continues).
The B1G conference has floated a solution for this supposed problem: making freshman ineligible in their league. Who are they kidding? The only quality team in that conference, Wisconsin, definitely plays old school. [Yes, I know Maryland also is in the Top 10, but they are supposed to be in the ACC]. Wisconsin doesn’t recruit the high school stars and their coach spends years molding his players to suit his anachronistic style of play. He’s won a lot of games using this strategy but none on the biggest stage. Case in point, the loss in last year’s NCAA tourney to a Kentucky team dominated by supremely talented freshmen. It’s no secret that I loathe the way Wisconsin plays the game. If not for the shot clock, they would probably dust off the four corners offense. Holding the ball for 25 seconds every possession before seriously initiating the offense is not my idea of a good time. If that’s what the B1G conference wants across the board, have at it. But eliminating talent from the game seems like a strange and unproductive move to me. [For the record, I give Wisconsin the best odds of beating UK in the tourney, but that’s a topic for another day].
Here’s a radical thought. If some of these players are only going to be on campus for a year or two, why not educate them while they’re there? There’s nothing magical about a hunk of sheepskin hanging on the wall of your rec room. But some of these guys could really benefit from what a university has to offer. How about a couple marketing classes? And financial management and investing for a teenager about to become a millionaire is definitely a good idea, whether or not it satisfies the requirement for a degree.
Memo to all these college administrators making big bucks while wringing their hands about the few players who don’t need a college degree to succeed in life: Big time college athletics makes no sense. It’s due to a strange evolution that occurred over decades resulting in college basketball and football becoming the de facto minor leagues for the pros. Want to make your college pure? Opt out. Go the way of the Ivy League and don’t offer scholarships. Penn supports Division I basketball without scholarships and the games are a lot of fun (a Big 5 game at the Palestra should be on every college basketball fan’s bucket list). However, the quality of play is that of a decent high school team and the program provides no revenue or marketing for the university. Under those circumstances, I’m guessing the athletic directors of Ohio State and Michigan would no longer command 7-figure salaries.
If we are going to have high-level college sports going forward, and there’s no doubt we will, let’s drop the pretense. It’s great to watch the development of players like Frank Kaminsky and Willie Cauley-Stein. I love those guys. But the game would be diminished to the point of irrelevance without Okafor, Towns, Russell and Johnson (etc.). None of them will be around next year but I plan to enjoy them while I can. So let’s dial down the sanctimony and enjoy some hoops. It’s going to be a fun ride.