By Paul Sykes
Whether Marquis Teague attends Louisville, Kentucky, Bellarmine or Ivy Tech is a decision that is mandated by the absurd rule that basketball players must be removed one year from high school before going professional. Baseball players go professional right out of high school, golfers on the pro circuits. tennis phenoms, pro bowlers and gymnasts. The NBA rule is wrong,and should be revoked.
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What difference does it make if potential NBA players attend a year of college? We may ridicule the posturing and tactics of John Calipari and his NBA-bound players but in the end it is a coach taking advantage of the system. The rule is at fault here, not the coaches or players taking advantage. If improprieties are taking place on campus with these “one and done†kids, show me the smoking gun and charge the suspect. Proof. Documentation, not wild conspiracy theorists and doomsayers.
No rational fan is going to be upset if their coach lands great basketball players, even if just for a year. Would U of L taken Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe? You know Rick Pitino would have taken him. So would Tom Crean, Darron Horn, Mick Cronin and Bobby Huggins. Cardinal fans, we are not “holier that them.â€
I wish Mr. Teague the best of luck wherever he attends college. It’s a shame he has to spend a year on someone’s campus, however, when he thinks that his game is NBA ready. The rule needs to be changed. After all, these 18-year- old kids have the right to vote, drive and go defend their country. Do we need to force them into a year of college before they can go and attempt to make a living at something in which they excel?
College baseball has the best rule. You can leave high school and become a pro. But if you do enroll in college you cannot turn pro until after three years.
Just for the record, I am a big fan of Bellarmine basketball. Going back way past the Bob Valvano days. Joe Reibel and such. I consider Scotty Davenport a friend, cheer for the Knights and attend several games a year.
I hope Bellarmine has another great basketball season and will be there cheering for them. Not sure if their incoming class is as strong as Louisville’s but I know Coach “D” will get their best.
The most refreshing article to date on this subject.
Everyone just needs to calm the heck down.
Good job, Mr Sykes.
Nice jab at Bellarmine in the opening. In case you had not noticed, the Knights’ incoming class is practically as good as U of L’s!
Marcus Teague is a Wildcat. His brother Jeff just landed a 8 million dollar contract from NIKE to stock shoes or something like that. Kentucky is NIKE. Louisville is ADIDAS.
Nothing going on here, nothing to see…move along.
Well written article Paul. Everyone is giving Coach Cal a hard time because he is succeeding at what every other coach is also trying to accomplish, and thats recruiting the best players in the country. Coach Pitino is going after the same players(he’s just not getting them – not for lack of effort)is he bad too? Thank you for bringing out the real problem, and that is the rule to begin with.
Just unfortunate that Kentucky is the school benefiting from the rule.
well this role is not benefiting pitino…when they was going to nba streight from high school pitino was loosing players..now one and done dont want to go to uofl because rick run his way and players dont get freedom to run they style, is not about coaches no more thios kthos are being stars out of high school and is there way or highway. coaches like crepare let them do it there way,,he dont mind being cursed by cousins wall and bledsoe and thas why he is getting them,,all of those one and done will end up transfering out of uofl cous of pitino,,is his way or no way
I’m sure letting players do it their way is best for everyone. (Sarcasm)
Step 1: Use some Summer’e Eve and get the sand out of your Vagina.
Step 2: Grow up
Step 3: Go Cards!
Wow…you sure put a lot of thought and insight into that one, Tom. That’s really good stuff, seriously…have you ever considered journalism or maybe philosophy in your future? Such brilliant insights, statements, revelations…surely you must be some sort of rennaisance man…underappreciated prophet…perhaps you are Marcus Teague under a psuedonym. It’s not often one runs into such brilliance and clarity on fan blogs. You are absolutely “dead on’ with that one. Well played, sir. Excellent commentary from a knowledgable researcher.
Or a insecure, sexist UK troll. Yeah, that’s the ticket…
I think it is a silly rule also. I think if college wanted to fix it; they would make it a rule that each scholarship you give will tie up that scholarship for 3 years; and if the player leaves in one year; it will be a penalty of two years on the scholarships for that school and if they leave after two years; it would be a one year penalty. This would make it where the coaches would not be part of pushing kids to go pro. I think they need to drop the rule that kids have to wait a year out of high school to be in the NBA or add a year and make it two years.
“This would make it where the coaches would not be part of pushing kids to go pro.”
The coaches are in the best position to determine who is ready to go pro and who is not. It’s not a perfect comparison obviously, but how is a coach encouraging a John Wall-type talent to go pro any different than a professor recommending a star student to take a job? For talents like one-and-dones, their job is going to be basketball. Head coaches have contacts within the pro game who can give them honest evaluations of the players and the coaches in turn can advise a player as to whether or not they are prepared. Sometimes they will listen (Eric Bledsoe who has every reason to at least test the waters) and sometimes they don’t (Daniel Orton, Samardo Samuels).
Many players have very close relationships with their coaches, even when they only stay for one year. Coaches are exactly who should be part of the process for determining when players should go pro, along with parents and the players themselves. I have never heard of a coach encouraging a player to go pro without an option for return just to clear a spot on the team. Cal is not running players off – all five of the underclassmen who declared have legitimate shots at being first-round picks. That’s not irresponsible, that’s smart career planning.
So Nate, What your saying is that John Wall was being forced to either A) go to college for one year or B) leave the country at the ripe age of 18……It doesnt seem fair to judge him for choosing school. Also Coach K offered John Wall a scholarship, so I don’t really care what he said after the fact… HE WANTED JOHN WALL!!!
Ben, get yours facts straight hot-shot. Duke and UNC both recruited Wall naturally b/c he was a NC native. But for some strange reason the NCAA im sure is looking into, neither school accually offered him a scholarship… FACTS!!!
Thanks, Nate. Made the fix but the rule is still a bad one.
There is no NBA rule that says they must go to college. The rules says that they have to be one year removed from high school before they can play in the NBA. That’s why some players head to the European leagues for a year. I notice you didn’t mention the NFL which has a 3 year rule. Noe did you mention Duke, this year’s national champs, where Coach K won’t take “one and done’s”.
HaHaHa! You said, “It’s a shame he has to spend a year on someone’s campus”….
Yeah right!