2008 Woodie Awards
March Sadness: Why college basketball is depressing
Brendan Clark
Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: Sports
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So the tournament is down to the Sweet 16 and I am thoroughly disappointed. The four days which I had been looking forward to since last March have come and passed without so much as a 12 seed beating a 5 seed. I certainly picked the wrong year to anticipate 13 first round upsets. There were five. To add insult to injury, the Terps made a quick exit from the tournament, falling to a scrappy Butler team. But that isn't why I'm disappointed. I feel like March Madness has let me down. For as long as I can remember, the first two rounds have been full of upsets and Cinderella stories. This year the closest thing to a Cinderella story is UNLV, a seven seed.
Naturally I need something to blame for the tournament's trip to boringtown as well as for my dreadful performance, and luckily it's pretty obvious. For those of you who did not know, the NCAA instated a rule this year that high school players must play at least one year of college basketball before entering the NBA draft. That is why such talented players as Greg Oden and Kevin Durant have stuck around to play for their respective schools. It's also why a team like UNC can start three freshmen and be one of the best teams in the nation. Some of these players are too good for college basketball.
What is the point of making a kid attend school for one year if he knows that he will be leaving after that year? There is no incentive to actually do well in school beyond keeping passing grades. They will never have the chance to form an identity with their college like Ewing at Georgetown or Jordan at UNC. College is supposed to be a place to learn, no matter what you are studying. If these kids come into college with an attitude that they should already be in the NBA, they will not learn half as much as they would if they had to buy into a system and stay for a few years. If they feel as though they should be in the NBA, let them go. College basketball would be more exciting without them.
If there is going to be a rule that keeps players from going straight into the NBA out of high school, the time spent in college should be raised to at least three years. That would be enough time for a player to actually learn something about himself as a basketball player and perhaps as a person also. This would also be a tribute to good coaches, because their efforts would be realized through the building of a team rather than simply pulling in a nasty recruiting class. Until this rule is changed I will just have to root against schools like UNC and Ohio State who will undoubtedly try to pull in lottery picks that they know will be leaving after one year. That isn't college basketball.
On a side note, if I could go to college somewhere fun (read: not here) for one year and never go to class and know I was coming out of school with a 10 million dollar salary, I wouldn't hate it. But in all honesty, it is stupid. The only thing that a player is going to get from one year of being forced to play in college is a chance of injury. If a player is good enough to go pro and make that cash money, let them go and do their thing while they still can. To Greg Oden: don't be a fool, get the hell out of school.
Naturally I need something to blame for the tournament's trip to boringtown as well as for my dreadful performance, and luckily it's pretty obvious. For those of you who did not know, the NCAA instated a rule this year that high school players must play at least one year of college basketball before entering the NBA draft. That is why such talented players as Greg Oden and Kevin Durant have stuck around to play for their respective schools. It's also why a team like UNC can start three freshmen and be one of the best teams in the nation. Some of these players are too good for college basketball.
What is the point of making a kid attend school for one year if he knows that he will be leaving after that year? There is no incentive to actually do well in school beyond keeping passing grades. They will never have the chance to form an identity with their college like Ewing at Georgetown or Jordan at UNC. College is supposed to be a place to learn, no matter what you are studying. If these kids come into college with an attitude that they should already be in the NBA, they will not learn half as much as they would if they had to buy into a system and stay for a few years. If they feel as though they should be in the NBA, let them go. College basketball would be more exciting without them.
If there is going to be a rule that keeps players from going straight into the NBA out of high school, the time spent in college should be raised to at least three years. That would be enough time for a player to actually learn something about himself as a basketball player and perhaps as a person also. This would also be a tribute to good coaches, because their efforts would be realized through the building of a team rather than simply pulling in a nasty recruiting class. Until this rule is changed I will just have to root against schools like UNC and Ohio State who will undoubtedly try to pull in lottery picks that they know will be leaving after one year. That isn't college basketball.
On a side note, if I could go to college somewhere fun (read: not here) for one year and never go to class and know I was coming out of school with a 10 million dollar salary, I wouldn't hate it. But in all honesty, it is stupid. The only thing that a player is going to get from one year of being forced to play in college is a chance of injury. If a player is good enough to go pro and make that cash money, let them go and do their thing while they still can. To Greg Oden: don't be a fool, get the hell out of school.
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