NCAA to more closely monitor Men's Basketball

[Shox21]

If the rules are changed and a kid can go directly to the NBA from HS, what happens if he declares for the draft and is not selected by a pro team? Right now if a college kids hires an agent, he is done as far as college is concerned. Where does he go then -- overseas?

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

If the rules are changed and a kid can go directly to the NBA from HS, what happens if he declares for the draft and is not selected by a pro team? Right now if a college kids hires an agent, he is done as far as college is concerned. Where does he go then -- overseas?

or the D League

Or CBA

theres numberous routes

[Shox21]

If the rules are changed and a kid can go directly to the NBA from HS, what happens if he declares for the draft and is not selected by a pro team? Right now if a college kids hires an agent, he is done as far as college is concerned. Where does he go then -- overseas?

or the D League

Or CBA

theres numberous routes

But no college education. I guess if the education were important to you, you would opt for school. Unfortunately, once your playing career is over (and for some that's not too many seasons), you don't have much to fall back on in order to earn a living. All you know is basketball -- can you coach, even at the high school level, without a degree?

[rrshock]

Actually, if a HS kid declares for the draft (under the old system), no matter if they hired an agent or not, they were no longer eligible to play NCAA basketball.

[fastbow]

Maybe the NCAA could find a more creative solution to the whole problem. Instead of pulling full schollies from schools, just pull the given dollar amount from their athletic scholarships. Buy a recruit a $20,000 car? That's one, maybe two players who have to pay their own way.

Basically, let the recruits get paid, but institute a salary cap. X amount a year, including scholarships.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

If the rules are changed and a kid can go directly to the NBA from HS, what happens if he declares for the draft and is not selected by a pro team? Right now if a college kids hires an agent, he is done as far as college is concerned. Where does he go then -- overseas?

or the D League

Or CBA

theres numberous routes

But no college education. I guess if the education were important to you, you would opt for school. Unfortunately, once your playing career is over (and for some that's not too many seasons), you don't have much to fall back on in order to earn a living. All you know is basketball -- can you coach, even at the high school level, without a degree?

School is an option you just wouldnt be able to play basketball for said school.

Actually, if a HS kid declares for the draft (under the old system), no matter if they hired an agent or not, they were no longer eligible to play NCAA basketball.

I know for underclassmen you have a certain date in which to pull out of the draft. I think the same still holds for High School kids.

[McShocker]

Maybe the NCAA could find a more creative solution to the whole problem. Instead of pulling full schollies from schools, just pull the given dollar amount from their athletic scholarships. Buy a recruit a $20,000 car? That's one, maybe two players who have to pay their own way.

Basically, let the recruits get paid, but institute a salary cap. X amount a year, including scholarships.

This has to be one of the worst ideas I have ever seen on SN. And there have certainly been a lot of bad ideas over the years.

[fastbow]

Maybe the NCAA could find a more creative solution to the whole problem. Instead of pulling full schollies from schools, just pull the given dollar amount from their athletic scholarships. Buy a recruit a $20,000 car? That's one, maybe two players who have to pay their own way.

Basically, let the recruits get paid, but institute a salary cap. X amount a year, including scholarships.

This has to be one of the worst ideas I have ever seen on SN. And there have certainly been a lot of bad ideas over the years.

Why? It's win-win! O.J. gets his 30K, the USC coach doesn't have two whiny guys at the end of the bench he's never gonna play anyway, the boosters have their glamour boy, and the agent gets his cut!

What's not to like?

[rjl]

It's a common myth that college is for everyone. Some people just aren't cut out for it.

[Shox21]

Maybe the NCAA could find a more creative solution to the whole problem. Instead of pulling full schollies from schools, just pull the given dollar amount from their athletic scholarships. Buy a recruit a $20,000 car? That's one, maybe two players who have to pay their own way.

Basically, let the recruits get paid, but institute a salary cap. X amount a year, including scholarships.

How does letting the recruits get paid preserve their amateur status? Don't the students who transfer in from foreign countries get slapped with penalties (sitting out games) for getting paid? Paying athletes is a worse than BAD idea. If they want to be paid, let the pros pay them. They will get paid (if they are good enough) AND they don't have to put up with that pesky little thing called going to class and getting an education.

And if someone knows, please answer my question about whether you can coach, high school or above, without a college degree.

[Shox21]

I know for underclassmen you have a certain date in which to pull out of the draft. I think the same still holds for High School kids.

Okay. But the NBA draft is late June. A high school kid pulls out of the draft, say in early to mid June. Not much left in way of scholarships to most schools by that time. You have severely limited your choices. I would think you would need to be very, VERY sure you are good enough to get picked up by a pro team if you are going to declare straight out of HS. Tough choices here. Most HS kids are not mature enough to make life altering choices.

[SubGod22]

I know for underclassmen you have a certain date in which to pull out of the draft. I think the same still holds for High School kids.

Okay. But the NBA draft is late June. A high school kid pulls out of the draft, say in early to mid June. Not much left in way of scholarships to most schools by that time. You have severely limited your choices. I would think you would need to be very, VERY sure you are good enough to get picked up by a pro team if you are going to declare straight out of HS. Tough choices here. Most HS kids are not mature enough to make life altering choices.

It'd be kind of like WSU in baseball. And I remember seeing it happen with some HS kids when they could go pro. Some committed to a school and that school waited on them to see what would happen. If the kid went pro they would either sit on the schollie or go find someone else. Or sometimes had someone waiting just in case. If the kid didn't go, he already had a school lined up.

And lets face it, most of the schools that would draw that talent could afford to have the kid go pro as they have plenty of other talent already there.

[Aargh]

Then there's the Korleone Young School of Hard Knocks. Young could probably coach there.

[Shox21]

Jay Bilas has an article on ESPN, but you need to be an insdier to read it.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/columns/story?columnist=bilas_jay&id=3396642&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dbilas_jay%26id%3d3396642

[WSUGrad1995]

A lot of college athletes do get paid. Tuition at a private school could be $40k/year and up. Even at public schools it can be very expensive. Lacking sufficient athletic ability, I got to pay my own way through 4+ years at WSU.

I think paying athletes beyond school expenses is a bad idea. I think it would take the focus even further away from education than it already is.
To me the best path is to allow those with enough ability to try their skills in the open market or professional basketball. Personally I think the value of a college education and the experiences are worth a lot, and most kids would be better off going that route even if the professional option is there. I grew up solidly middle class so I recognize that other's opinions may vary.