So all it took was Zion Williamson and a busted NIKE sneaker to reignite the tired old debate about whether we should pay college athletes? Once again, individuals and interest organizations are lining up on both sides of the issue.
Anyone else finds it ironic that deep thinker DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins was one of the first to speak out and suggest that Williamson should shut him down for the remainder of the season rather than risk injury or jeopardize his position in the coming season. NBA Draft this summer? Personally, I’m just shocked to see Cousin advocating for anyone to be paid other than himself. That California lifestyle must be getting to him.
I usually try to ignore this topic, but seeing it debated all over the “media” touched me. Maybe it’s just that time of year? College basketball enters its best period with conference play ending and March madness imminent.
I freely admit that I am a traditionalist on this issue. I have been involved in college basketball for over half a century. My dad started sending me to Hoosier basketball camp in Angola, Indiana when I was just eight years old. While there, I had the opportunity to meet and hear people like Tex Winter, Fred Schaus, Johnny Orr, Bobby Knight, Lou Henson, John McGlocklin, Tom and Dick Van Arsdale, and Kent Benson. The camp was led by Dave McCracken, son of legendary Indiana University coach Branch McCracken.
So yes, I have some perspective on this issue. I also spent a lot of time with major league athletes during my undergraduate studies at Bowling Green State University. It was evident that these students were well taken care of in exchange for their participation in college sports.
First, their parents didn’t have to write the tuition/room and board check every semester like mine did. In today’s dollars, a four-year degree easily equates to more than $200,000 at most schools. Then you add in all the ancillary support that today’s college athletes receive. Tutors, equipment, training meals, personal trainers, nutritionists, first class travel, health insurance, guidance counselors and sports psychologists. Even in a non-Power 5 conference like the Mid-American Conference, you could tell that student-athletes were and are treated special. And good for them. They put in long hours training and traveling to competitions representing their school.
But in my day, most didn’t play college athletics to prepare for a big payday as a professional athlete. Playing college athletics was a privilege and you felt lucky to be able to play the game you loved on a big stage with the words Kentucky, Purdue, Kansas, Butler, Ball State, Davidson or Creighton across your chest. For more than 99 percent of today’s college basketball players, that sentiment is probably still true.
The main argument for paying college athletes is still the fact that colleges and universities make millions of dollars from their so-called “free labor.” It’s true that the popularity of college sports, basketball and football in particular, has turned into billion-dollar businesses. But just ask your local athletic director and he’ll tell you how those football and basketball revenues often go toward balancing an athletic budget that includes cost centers like wrestling, swimming, diving, soccer, golf, track and field, lacrosse, softball. , baseball, field hockey and more. The whole issue of Title IX hinges on gender equality in college sports, based on profits from revenue-generating sports. So the story of colleges and universities lining their pockets with tons of money on the backs of college athletes doesn’t sit well with me.
The NBA just stated that it intends to eliminate the requirement that an individual must play one year of college basketball, or the equivalent of 12 months, before being eligible to be drafted professionally. I completely agree that this so-called “One-and-Done” rule needs to be eliminated. If a 17, 18, or 19 year old has a path to a professional career right out of high school, they should be allowed to pursue it. God bless young man.
But previous experiments with making high school players eligible for the NBA draft have had very mixed results…at least from NBA management’s side. Yes, we have all heard of the legends of Kevin Garnett and LeBron James. Two generational athletes who successfully transitioned to the NBA right out of high school.
But beware. This is the exception rather than the rule. The overwhelming majority of high school players do not have to face NBA men every night over a 9-month, 82-plus game schedule. God bless young man.
It was NBA owners and general managers who initially advocated the One-and-Done rule. They wanted to give players an extra year to mature physically and have more time to gather additional information about them as NBA prospects. This rule was implemented after teams faced pressure to put high school phenoms at the top of the draft so as not to miss out on the next LeBron or Garnett. Instead, they ended up with Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Korleone Young and Leon Smith. Project busts that set their franchises back for decades. So, it will be interesting to see if NBA franchises play more lightly when it comes to recruiting high school players this time around?
In the meantime, don’t mess with my college game. The NCAA tournament is sacred ground to me. March Madness is the pinnacle of my entire year of sports watching. My enjoyment of college basketball didn’t diminish one iota when James and Garnett went straight to the NBA. And it won’t suffer once the new generation of high schoolers is scooped up by the NBA. You will always have kids who play hard for their schools. You have effort, emotion, buzzers, turnovers, cheerleaders, pep bands and dedicated bass fans. What’s not to like?
College basketball has everything the NBA doesn’t. Long live college basketball. God speeds up young men.
