QUINTIN JAMES
Assistant Sports Editor
The past few years in college sports, athletes and schools have gotten in some trouble over student athletes receiving improper benefits.
The NCAA rules state that student athletes cannot make money off of their own likeness nor can they receive money from boosters and coaches as gifts. This means that student athletes can’t accept money for autographs and merchandise among other things.
The majority of students who receive these improper benefits are 5-star basketball recruits who have to go to college for a year before entering the NBA because of the age limit.
11 years ago, high school players were allowed to come straight to the NBA, but after a rule upped the age limit they now have to play at least a year of college or go overseas before entering the draft. This rule was supposed to make sure that players don’t go to the NBA too early.
On the business side of things, the NCAA and college schools can get one year out of a really good prospect that gives the school some shine for a year and helps the school financially. Coaches have been in bidding wars over the past few years trying to recruit the best players in the country to come to their programs.
Many recruits who only plan on attending college for a year might choose a team not necessarily known for their basketball program to improve their draft stock and capitalize on the playing time they will receive.
Some examples of that are Trae Young from Oklahoma, Michael Porter Jr. from Missouri, Ben Simmons two years ago at LSU and Dennis Smith Jr. last year for NC State. Their teams were not that good, but they had freedom on the court because of their supreme talent.
Players seem to be only signing on to college teams because they’re forced to. They should give the scholarship money to playrs who will stay there for four years and let the superstars go and get paid.
A lot of these five-year recruits come from households who don’t have a ton of cash so these players are often essentially their families’ meal ticket. It’s hard for a player growing up poor to not take cash from someone to support his family or to survive and eat on campus.
Coaches and athletic directors are widely believed to be paying players to attend their schools and this will not stop until the NCAA allows players to make money off their likeness or the NBA lowers the age limit back down to 18.
Having high schoolers go straight to the NBA has worked before as players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and others have made great careers skipping college. If a player is good enough for the NBA out of high school, there should be no reason he has to go to college for a year.
These players who are “one and done” essentially don’t go to school for an education, and it’s a waste of time for everyone involved in the long run. This has created many problems in terms of improper benefits, making grades for classes and team chemistry on many teams.
Additionally, the NCAA should allow players who did not get drafted in the NBA to come back to school to play. The NBA draft is only two rounds, and 60 players get taken every year.
Hundreds of players declare for the draft and if they don’t get drafted, they end up going to either the NBA G-League or overseas to play basketball.
If you still have college eligibility left, the NCAA should allow you to return to your team for the next season. This makes it so players not drafted can go back and get better while still being able to take classes and be a student. The MLB does this as players have a choice to sign a contract with their team or to go back to school for another year.
This would be much better for lower mid-major schools whose players leave early for the draft to get paid and end up not getting drafted.
Every player has the right to test the waters and see if their game is good enough for the next level. If you’re a sophomore who went undrafted, you should be able to re-enroll back to school for the fall. If this change happened, more players would be comfortable entering the draft knowing that they have a backup line in case things don’t go well.
Some say the NCAA is a corrupt, money hungry organization that uses players for profit, and looking into it, the claims against them can be true. There are no positives to having players play a year of college before the NBA draft and has hurt college basketball in many fans’ eyes.
Teams like Kentucky, Kansas and Duke are retooling their team every year with one and done players instead of the old school 4-year player and more schools are getting in trouble for paying players to attend their schools.
Players who are in college and want to go to the NBA shouldn’t be punished for trying their luck and should be able to go back to school to play NCAA basketball. It wouldn’t hurt college basketball and many players would return to keep playing if they are undrafted.
These are a couple ways the NCAA would improve its product and should rethink their rules. If not, the NCAA can continue to deal with the problems they are dealing with already.