NCAA report on Adidas/ College Basketball

[xubrew]

Let's keep keeping it real.

This whole thing is stupid. All this hand ringing over a problem that isn't actually a problem while ignoring things that actually are problems is beyond stupid.

Out of the 353 (now) div1 schools, less than ten of them are regularly impacted by the so-called one and done rule. And, if you think Eli Capilouto thinks that basketball is a "necessary evil" then you have absolutely no business whatsoever telling other people to "keep it real," because you're insane.

If university presidents and the NCAA really cared about players leaving school after playing just one year, then they'd change the rule to say that anyone who is in good academic standing could not have their scholarship taken away regardless of what was happening with the basketball program. Even if they quit the team, they get to keep their scholarship so long as they are meeting the eligibility requirements to keep it. If they really cared about them graduating, then they'd make that a rule. Over 100 freshman basketball players a year leave school. Only about 8(ish) of them are leaving to go to the NBA. Yet, everyone ignores that and only focuses on the very select few who are leaving for a legitimately good reason. What about the players who have the option of remaining in school completely taken away from them?? Why isn't that a problem?? The answer is that the university presidents, as Go put it, only care a little bit, and don't care enough to do anything about it.

[XUGRAD80]

lets do that....

1....The report itself says that players leaving early is a problem......the question then is, "why do they see it as a problem"?


2...To quote the report itself...from page 3

"Lost in the talk of big money and corruption is the colleges' central mission to provide higher education to students"

"The commission believes that the answer to many of college basketball's problems lie in a renewed commitment to the college degree as the centerpiece of intercollegiate athletics."

"College basketball, like college sports generally, is to be played by student-athletes who are members of the collegiate community, not paid professionals"

3.....Who is the commission reporting to? The NCAA Board of Governors.

4.....Who makes up the NCAA Board of Governors? It a 20 person board made up of almost entirely University PRESIDENTS.


Brew....your points are well taken.

But even if its only because of how it effects the general perception of a university....the college presidents do care about how the athletic programs are viewed by the general population. Much of that perception is based on the academic successes of the athletes, along with how the athletes are viewed of as people. The problem isn't always what actually happened....for example, hookers in dorm rooms is nothing new....but the problem is how the public views it, and how that effects donations and government support of the institution.

the whole perception by the general public that "one and done" is a problem....makes it a problem for the university.

[xubrew]

Yes, there are many out there who seem to feel that the best course of action we can take to bring peace to the Middle East is to get rid of the one and done rule. People everywhere attach way too many problems to this rule that are simply not at all impacted by this rule. It's not as if all of this fell out of the sky in 2006. Freshmen players left college before the one and done rule. Freshmen left for the NBA before the one and done rule. High school graduates declared for the draft and went undrafted before the one and done rule. Getting rid of the one and done rule would literally fix nothing. And, it's beyond the authority of the NCAA anyway.

I don't want to get too much into this simply because it's too boring to talk about, but there is an NCAA Board of Governors, and an NCAA Board of Directors. When it comes to legislation and rules, it's the Board of Directors that pretty much covers that. When it comes to decisions about budgets and financing the national office and things like that, it's the Board of Governors.

Truth be told I really don't know what the Board of Governors does. They meet about twice a year for about three hours at a time, and if you look at the reports they seem to spend most of their time discussing what was discussed in the previous meeting. I know this is a cynical viewpoint, but I'm not really sure the Governors do much of anything other than feel good about themselves for being on the Board of Governors. They're not going to do anything about the one and done rule. Well, I guess no one really can other than the NBA.

[XUGRAD80]

Oh yeah....it’s a symptom, it’s not the disease. And it’s an NBA rule anyway. The report DOES acknowledge that it is going to take cooperation among many different entities, including the NBA, to bring about any real change and improvement. Getting rid of the one and done rule would be the result of a greater emphasis on putting the student back into the student-athlete. It’s not that getting rid of the rule will cause that to happen.

Just so you know...

My daughter went to college and works as manager in a payroll company. My son went into the USAF and works as a maintence and repair coordinator for an private jet maintence company. They both make more a year than I ever did....after getting a degree in history and education at XU. College is NOT for everyone and not going doesn’t make anyone less of success. I’ve no problem with kids leaving early for a guaranteed NBA contract or the chance to play professionally. It’s not always a good long term decision, but then again, neither is staying in school always the best decision.

While I personally would like to see more emphasis being placed the student part of the student-athlete equation, I’m afraid that is no longer possible at many colleges and universities.

[Drew]

Sure...let’s “keep it real”. How many board members and university presidents do YOU know?

What’s “real” is that many of them see athletics as a neccessary evil, and while they do see athletics as a way to raise the exposure of the universities, they are still more interested in the education of all the other students and in the image of the university. The question posed was “is there something wrong with that”? With “that” being the athletes not completelimg their education. My point being that those whose life is dedicated to the EDUCATION of young people, and not to the JOB TRAINING of young people...will say YES, there IS something WRONG with that.

I realize that the vast majority HERE don’t give a da&n about the education of the athletes. But the vast majority of people HERE are NOT educators or academics. However the vast majority of university presidents and board members ARE. And it’s the university presidents that are pushing the reforms and pushed for this report.

I think that it’s important that we fans realize that ours is only ONE point of view and that there are others.

As long as University Presidents collude to keep the players from garnering even a small piece of the pie its hard to take any of their moral grandstanding over completing a degree seriously.