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New NCAA President Wants To Look At One-And-Done Players In College Hoops

Apr 29, 2010, 4:25 PM UTC

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â†µAny time you get a new person in the throne running a big organization like the NCAA, you spend a lot of time feeling out their position on the pressing issues facing the organization. Brian Cook took a look at new NCAA president Mark Emmert’s views on a college football playoff system on Wednesday. On the basketball side, with the 96-team tournament crisis temporarily averted, one of the big issues is the one-and-done trend thanks to the NBA’s age minimum. USA Today got some answers that suggest it’s certainly on Emmert’s radar:â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I think it creates difficult problems inside universities when we’re trying to promote an emphasis on (players being) students as well as athletes,” he said Wednesday. “It certainly creates a challenge for individual programs.”â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥[...]â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“I have not obviously talked with the heads of any of the professional sports,” he said. “But the impact of their policies and rules on intercollegiate sports is significant, and I intend to build relationships with those people to see how we can work together to mutual advantage if we can do that. The one-and-done rule would just be another example of things we could work on.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“We have to make sure we’re proactive in building those relationships, and I’d expect to continue to do that with Stern and others.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µWhen debating the NBA age minimum, one’s viewpoint really depends on how they’re approaching the whole thing.â†µ

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â†µFor the average college basketball fan, the age minimum is a great thing. Who didn't enjoy watching John Wall this year? Anything that pumps in talent is enjoyable for the fans. For academic types, the age minimum forces many kids into school who have no intention to be students and every intention of becoming a pro athlete as soon as possible. They see the students who leave without a degree and lose a lot of sleep. There are those who believe the rule is overly paternalistic and you get the old cliché of "old enough to fight for your country, old enough to earn a living however you choose." â†µ

â†µâ†µEmmert’s view is a little bit more complicated than the average fan because of his responsibilities. While he has to look out for the business interests of the NCAA, which benefit from these one-and-doners, he’s also beholden to the academic types who cry out about how Johnny Basketball doesn’t have a degree. (Emmert himself was, after all, president at University of Washington. It’s not as if academics aren’t a concern of his.)â†µ

â†µâ†µMaybe I’m misreading public perception, but it feels like there’s at least a growing consensus that one-and-done is silly. The go pro or go to school for three years method employed by MLB would be great, but I’d even settle for two years in college hoops. For fans of the game, I think there’s reason to be hopeful knowing that this is at least on Emmert’s radar from the first day.â†µ

â†µâ†µ(H/T to College Basketball Nation)â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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