By: Craig Yamada

Part 2 of 2…

Unless you are a blue blood school like Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas or Duke who are rich in tradition are always overflowing with McDonald’s All-Americans every year. The “reloading” strategy isn’t always plausible for an average school. Coaches are forced to actively recruit to replace a player they will only have for one year thus breaking any foundation they have worked so hard to build in that season. Job security for coaches has always been rough, but with the “one and done” rule in effect, it makes it that much more frail. And we the starving fan base are forced to wave goodbye to our favorite players after just one year of having them represent our alma mater.

 

 

Is this selfish of us as a fan group? Absolutely.

But is it fault of the player? Absolutely not.

 

Players deserve every right to pursue their dreams when they deem fit.  But if they do attend college, there needs to be some kind of educational commitment by that player if they are awarded a scholarship. But that player is also occupying a scholarship that someone else could use who will make earning a degree a priority.

 

Isn’t the point of college to get some form of education? I used to think it was, but knowing that some of these blue-chip recruits have already made plans to be “one and done” before they even declare for a college, where is the motivation for the student-athlete to attend class or pursue a degree? Likely they just need to pass their classes in order to qualify to participate in basketball activities, unless a coach has strict policies. The college season is so short for some of these potential lottery picks and they often declare for the draft by mid-April. So why force them to be in school for that one year? Let the kids enter the draft out of high school and provide for their families. And then college basketball can focus on players that do want to be in school. Two seasons minimum of college declared athletes will end up benefiting both the college and student-athletes that do want a career post basketball. Much like marriage, college scholarships should be a two-way commitment for both the player and the school alike. The schools can no longer be a “have to” requirement for these kids if they don’t need to be there. I personally think scholarships should be awarded to those athletes who feel like education is a priority for them.  There couldn’t be a better time for the “two and through” era to begin.