NBA rule detracts from college game: Our view
This Saturday and Monday, the University of Kentucky will try to do the unfathomable: win the NCAA men's basketball championship with a perfect record of 40 wins and no losses. No team has completed a perfect season culminating in a national championship since Indiana did it in 1976. And that was with eight fewer games.
To understand why Kentucky has a shot at perfection, one need look no further than its roster. When the NBA conducts its draft later this year, it is possible that four of the top dozen picks could be taken from this Kentucky team. That's an amazing prospect considering that the NBA draws talent from around the world.
What may be even more amazing is that three of these young men, including potential top pick Karl-Anthony Towns, are freshmen.
Kentucky has gotten to where it is by catering to the "one-and-done" crowd — young players so talented that they would have gone straight to the NBA from high school, but now they have to be one year out of school, thanks to an NBA rule adopted in 2006.
The NBA has every right to act in its self-interest. And it perceives an interest in having more mature players. But for everyone else, the rule is a brick.
For the relatively few players who could go straight to the NBA, the one-and-done rule temporarily denies them of the ability to put their exceptional skills to the most financially beneficial use. Many come from very modest backgrounds and are eager to make themselves and their families more secure.
For the majority of players who want or need the college experience, as well as fans and the general public, the rule detracts from the college game.
This is manifest in what is playing out right now in the NCAA tournament.
Kentucky, and to a lesser degree some other teams, employs a kind of quasi-professional game played by those who wouldn't be there but for the NBA rule. Kentucky coach John Calipari has raised one-and-done to something of an art form. In 2012, his Wildcats won the national title, then fled for the NBA. Two freshmen went first and second in the draft; four other players, mostly freshman and sophomores, were selected in first 46 picks.
Calipari is operating within the rules, but the one-and-done phenomenon undermines the game's spirit and runs counter to the one of college basketball's most appealing features — the ability for "Cinderella" teams to go deep into the NCAA tournament with a lot of heart and team chemistry and a little bit of luck. And it makes it harder for fans to identify with teams if their rosters turn over so much from year to year.
While it is true that some of the players who stay in college for three or four years are hardly dean's listers, at least they get grades high enough to maintain their eligibility. The one-and-done set needs only passing grades for one semester, as eligibility to play in the spring is determined by grades in the fall.
The NBA would do well to consider Major League Baseball's rule. It allows players to choose between college and going pro but stipulates that if they choose a four-year college, they must stay through their junior year.
For college basketball, that would provide greater continuity — and a game played by athletes who actually want to be in school.
Paste BN's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique Paste BN feature.
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