bad news for fans of Davidson, George Mason, Gonzaga, etc... With the great players having to stay in school longer, expect few upsets, kinda like the women's tournament where the top seeds advance all the time, because only a small window of teams get the great players.
i hope this gets approved by all parties involved Sadly for Duke fans, they will never win another championship.
:huh: Rules like these help Duke. Duke has lost a ton of guys (especially when the high schoolers were allowed to leave early). What will kill Duke is nudging that 3-pt line back.
This definately needs to be passed. This will stop colleges from "renting" players to make a title run. NFL does it right. Three years removed from high school. You can either goto college for those three years and stay in shape and get better or stay at home, waste away and hope you make a practice squad somewhere.
I am indifferent to the rule. I think that when all of the high schoolers started going early, it was ridiculous, but I do think that all of those kids learned from the mistakes of those before them and high schools developed programs to legitimately make these kids ready for the NBA by emphasizing weight training, etc... (LeBron, Amare, etc...). So I think it is sort of unfair to the guy who really is ready to go, but can't. Because in the NFL, you're never "Ready" to go early after your 1st year. But in basketball, you can be. But as a college basketball fan, I like it.
I was kind of on the fence a few years ago as I thought if the players were ready they should be able to go. But when it comes down to it the NBA is a business and has every right to protect its image. The abundance of early entries has killed the league's image in the last decade. There aren't as many recognizable names any more as a group of twenty or so all develop at the same agonizing pace. Some eventually break out but quite a bit more fail. Not to mention they lose many college fans that can't recognize or follow players because they never went to their school or played in their conference. Players then have to become journeymen and lose the luster that a Bird or Magic has with staying with one team for a while -- which again hurts the league's image. The rule benefits the players for a few reasons in my eyes. The argument that Lebron and Kobe made it is weak. For every one of those 100 do not make it...and will rarely be anything. Without a rule in place is does not only hurt the player but goes ffurther down the line. It gives the AAU and prep coaches a lot more power which is scary which puts pressure on high schools. A lot of parents obviously thinks this will benefit them but if they go to school the players will either earn a degree or more than likely be able to get a job through the college if things don't work out in the league, thus the parents will still be supported. Players that would have jumped come to college and are humbled by those around them. They can work on their game and their second year contract will be even more impressive. Not to mention those that shouldn't have made the jump can stay in it they receive the proper advise to go -- from a coach that meets with GM's...not an agent or a parent. If they are really struggling for money they can go to Europe...or get a regular job like others do.
What do Kobe, Melo, Bron, Paul, Dwight Howard and many others I am forgetting have in common? They are all big stars and they all had little to no college. I get what you saying and it's all well and good, but going to college won't make these players stars. The cream will always rise. All it will do is make the kids a little more ready once they get to the NBA, but even then, that's not the kid's fault. That's the GM's fault for drafting the wrong kid. The only difference now is that for every 100 high school kids that used to fail, it will be 100 college kids that will fail now. The number of roster spots in the NBA is still 350 either way.
My problem is people focus on the minority, like Kobe, Howard, etc. Of course Kobe and others were ready, so why will it hurt them to go to college? But the truth is GM's thought another couple hundred were just as ready. If you watch draft tapes from the over years when they came out Kwame was no more of a project than Howard. It is easy to say these things now. And Kobe was the 13th pick, so some might consider him a gem. It isn't as blatant as you would think. 90% of them aren't ready. The league is also looking out for the dumb GM's who make the move...that is another reason it is in place.
