The Golden Rule

So we've finally reached the All-Star break in the NBA in what has already been one of the most memorable season's I can remember. I don't think the league has ever been as deep talent-wise as it is now. A new flurry of starts have burst onto the scene, guys are becoming involved in their teams success much earlier on in their careers, even as rookies. This new batch of exciting players from Kevin Durant to Kevin Love to Derrick Rose (all one and done's, all all-stars this season) ensure that the game will be at its height for the next several years. You look at this young corps of guys, most under the age of 23, and as an NBA fan, you have to be happy with the direction the league is going, even if it is at the expense of the college game.

With this unparalleled rise going on in the NBA, we are witnessing NCAA basketball going in a very different direction.  As a result of the "one and done" rule (players now must attend a college before entering the NBA draft, but can leave after only one year), NCAA basketball has lost most of its star power.  Most of the coveted recruits head to the NBA after their freshman season, leaving coaches stuck in a perpetual state of rebuilding...just ask Kentucky's John Calipari, who lost all of his starters from last year, four of which were freshman.  As a result, you never really get an idea of who is going to be good in the NCAAs until halfway through the season.  Up until that point, most of the public opinion about who the best teams are going to be are based on the coaches of the individual programs.  I think there are pro's and con's to this system, but that ultimately change is needed, allow me to explain.

On the plus side,  the parity in college basketball is as high as its ever been.  With no established four-year guys to anchor teams anymore, every season potentially belongs to any team.  This allows for more upsets during the regular season (The #1 team has already lost 3 times this season) and a more exciting NCAA tournament.  Just last year you had a slew of historic upsets, capped off with 8-seed Northern Iowa taking down 1-seeded Kansas in the second round.  If the games are more exciting, viewership will inevitably rise and the NCAA potentially makes more money, so this new rule hasn't been all bad for the game.  It also allows for smaller programs to be more competitive since the power conference teams face rebuilding situations on a year-to-year basis.

However, true fans of the college game will agree that this new structure is not a good model for consistency.  The whole beauty of college sports, the goal of every coach at this level, is to eventually build a dynasty. Just ask Billy Donovan and the "O' Fours" who decided as a group to bypass the draft after their sophomore season to come back and win a second title, which they did successfully.  This becomes nearly impossible when all of your top recruits jump to the pros after just one year.  There is literally no chance to develop the young talent that these coaches have worked so hard to get.  Starting over year after year seems like an exercise in futility to me.  I think that the best solution to this problem would be to mandate a 2-year minimum at the college level.

With the two year rule, young players in college get a chance to develop and mature for an extra year and effectively improve their draft status upon entering the NBA.  At the same time,  college teams have a bit more consistency when trying to build a program.  I think that this is the best alternative to whats in place right now, a much better solution than allowing for high schoolers to enter the NBA draft.

The problem with allowing high school players to enter the draft is that is severely dilutes the talent pool in the NBA.  Look at the players in the league from 1995-2005 (the high school years).  Aside from a few exceptions (T-Mac, Kobe, Garnett, Howard)  the majority of the high school players that were drafted were clearly not ready to play at the professional level.  NBA teams are stupid enough to take a risk on these young guys with the hopes of finding the next Kobe, but the fact of the matter is, the risk totally outweighs the reward.  If we want to keep the NBA as deep and exciting as it is right now, then the best way to do that would be to keep high schoolers out.  If kids want to bypass college and go to Europe and play for a year, fine with me.  The two year college rule would benefit both the NCAA and the NBA equally and allow for both levels of basketball to excel. That's just my two cents anyway.