By Mike DeCourcy
These kids never learn.
When a potential college basketball star such as Alex Legion – who was Billy Gillispie’s first recruit at Kentucky -- transfers at the semester break thinking he’s scamming the system, he really is cheating himself.
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For the past month, because my best friend’s daughter was taking her first crack at the SAT, I was playing along answering the practice question of the day to see how my education is holding up a few years (or decades) after completing school. Well, I got every English question right – it sure seems easier now -- but discovered I no longer have a clue how to handle algebra.
I get basic arithmetic, though.
Legion decided following Saturday’s loss to North Carolina that he would transfer from Kentucky. He’ll finish the term at UK, then begin the spring semester at a new school.
Because Legion is going to leave now, his freshman season will consist of six games. That’s it. Six games. Let’s see if I can put this into terms a fourth-grade math student could understand: 6 < 30. Yep, that covers it.
Because most other college sports don’t continue from one semester to the next, basketball players are among the few who can transfer at the semester break and begin playing at a second school the following season. They sit out two semesters -- for Legion, it’ll be spring and fall 2008 -- but are never out a “full year.” If that sounds like a good deal to you, maybe I can interest you in a subprime mortgage.
With the availability of early season tournaments, teams routinely now pack in as many as a dozen games before their first semesters end. If the early whispers are correct and Legion winds up back at Michigan, and if we use the Wolverines’ current schedule as a guide, there’ll be about 22 games remaining when he is eligible to compete in the 2008-09 second semester.
By the end of his sophomore year, Legion might have played as few as 28 total games in two years. That’s less than half what the average player gets in his freshman and sophomore years.
That’s just dumb.
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Mike DeCourcy is a Sporting News senior writer. He’s covered NCAA basketball for about 25 years, and for SN since 1995. The man knows everything about hoops. Seriously, it’s freaky. ↵
UK Freshman (Stupidly) Decides He Wants Out
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