Magic. Bird. Bradley. West. Alcindor. These names hang in the rafters of college basketball glory. They are members of an exclusive club of elite stars who anyone who knows the sport consider to be some of the greatest to ever play the game; any one of them could appear at the top of the list, depending on whom you ask.
If you ask the gurus over at Sports Illustrated, they’ll give you a list of the 75 greatest basketball players of all time, which they released as part of a special issue in anticipation of the 2013 NCAA basketball tournament. On that list you’ll find, along with the names above, the likes of Bill Walton, Oscar Robertson, David Robinson, Bill Russell and Patrick Ewing. And as I started to shuffle through the excellent analysis they gathered, I started to notice something: an all too glaring revelation staring me right in the face — one that sent a sour feeling through the pit of my stomach.
All of them played a long time ago.
Of the names on the list, none of the top 20 “Greatest college basketball players ever” played within the last 25 years; only one of the top 30 on the list even played during my lifetime — no joke — and only a handful of the entire list played in the 21st century.
But the most glaring of facts, one very telling of our generation, is that they all played at least two seasons — and most of them three or four — at the college ranks before they moved on to the NBA. This is something that doesn’t happen anymore — a travesty by any stretch of the imagination.
And so we arrive at one of the biggest problems in sports today. There are no good college basketball players anymore — because they don’t stick around long enough for us to call them that.
This is where the college basketball experience has gone stale. As we approach another exhilarating March Madness, we have few players to get excited about and of the select few, none are upperclassmen.
Now, the tournament’s excitement starts and ends with who wins the office bracket contest. Gone are the days of the Magic/Bird-esque rivalries. Gone are the days when a team “banded together”and cut the net after a several-year battle to reach the end of the tournament and earn that coveted title.
Today, college basketball has traded substance for formality, eternal legacies for a short high and the munchies. Thanks to the result of the NBA Draft eligibility rules set by the 2005 collective bargaining agreement, and continued in the most recent 2011 CBA, basketball players now use their college experience only as a short-term stepping stone into professional basketball.
Nowadays, if a player fits the bill, he’ll go to college for one year to meet the league’s diminutive requirement, then get out of dodge before he can waste a second more in the world without six-figure paychecks.
The current eligibility rules, that a player must be at least 19 years of age and one year removed from high school graduation, is the topic of much controversy, and reasonably so. Some who wish players could avoid college altogether will always complain. But there is far more noise coming from the other side of the debate — the one that says that the age requirement is too young. I wholeheartedly side with the latter.
This is becoming a monumental problem in the basketball world. The players bolting from their schools to join the pro ranks for the sake of fast money is poisoning the sport by depriving college basketball of a quality product. The phenomenon of “one and done” players in the NCAA is wearing thin. And something desperately needs to be done about it before college hoops are cast into irrelevancy for good.
Part of the problem is that few recognize the full-scale implications of the current eligibility stipulations. The lack of talent amongst a majority of college programs, and the lack of actual “college careers” from players is obviously hurting the fans’ experience. But this isn’t just about the viewers. Players, educational institutions, the NCAA, and the NBA are catapulted into chaos just the same. This is a simple argument: under these conditions, nobody wins.
By not pushing for the rule to be changed, the NCAA loses big time. If the competition was better and if the players who were well-known were around for a few years, it increases the popularity of college basketball, and in turn, its viewership. If the popularity of college basketball increases, it’s going to attract players to come and play with schools for a longer period of time. If more players decide to stay longer, the competition, and therefore the quality of product, will go up. It’s a simple math equation that somehow escapes an organization that claims to pride itself on its association with academia as well as sport.
While keeping high school stars from being able to jump right to the NBA benefits colleges monetarily, it only does for a measly six hours of required course work. And while some will argue that the rule is designed to improve the NBA by getting those players’ names on the back of their jerseys faster, I argue differently. I think the league is running low on the flow of incoming talent. Its established stars are reaching new heights, but its younger prospects spend much of their time either on the bench of veteran teams or playing for (but not improving) really bad ones.
For the players, the decision to leave is purely economical. And with such easy access to the promise of a big salary, it isn’t surprising they’re opting to leave college as quickly as they can. But that doesn’t mean that they are making the best choice.
Let’s face it. These are life-changing decisions. Should we really put 19- and 20-year-olds into the situation where they have to choose between what’s smart (gaining experience and knowledge) and what sounds cool (fancy cars and designer clothes)? Probably not.
The prospect of making a lot of money is nice. And the always looming, although unlikely, possibility of a career-ending injury occurring during college is there, too. But these are outright foolish reasons that a player should forgo up to three more years of basketball experience and education, both of which could be extremely vital in the grand scheme of things.
A college player who refuses to accept the idea of sticking around a little longer is the one who is likely to hurt himself more than help. Not everyone will be Kevin Durant. In fact if you compare the number of players who take the quick jump to the NBA to the amount of players who end up turning successful pro careers, almost nobody gets to be Kevin Durant.
Taking that under consideration, someone with high hopes of making it in the NBA stands to benefit from gaining valuable experience at the college level. So why would they want to pass it up? Well the NBA tempts them with a lot of money and the promise of being a star. It’s hard to ignore the calls.
So the right solution is to put a stop to those calls from ever being made.
This isn’t rocket science. Nor is it a new concept. Basketball fans have been arguing for this rule to be changed since it was initiated. But there are too many hoops (pun intended) to jump through, for one a callous and negligent NBA commissioner who spends more time being stubborn than fixing his league’s problems or instituting progress. The NCAA doesn’t do its part either. And the players themselves don’t seem like they’ll ever see the forest for the trees. A never-ending cycle of misunderstanding and unrecognized errors of current rules seems to be upon us.
Fortunately, the product that we are presented each year in college basketball is gradually falling into a downward spiral. The tournament of no-names that results in the Final Four is riddled with shortfalls that cannot survive forever. People are starting to notice. Hopefully soon someone will put two and two together and this rule will get changed, for the sake of a great sport rooted in tradition and graced with a legendary history.