Sunday, April 03, 2011

What College Basketball Needs To Fix

With a title such as this, this post may be better suited for a doctoral thesis rather than a simple blog post.  However, this is short and sweet, and suggests alignment between the pro and college games.

  1. Insert the Charge Circle.  This is the most obvious change that needs to be made.  Player control fouls are the most inconsistently officiating calls made by referees. Insertion of a charge circle not only takes some burden off of officials, whose scrutiny (and incompetence) is at an all-time high, but also aligns itself with the NBA.
  2. Align the NBA and college 3-point shooting distances.  Moving the distance back by a foot has done nothing to curb long-distance shooting. Student athletes Players practice in order to perform at the next level, so why don't you prepare them for the next level? And, you'd save a bunch of money on painting the arc.  More money can go to ...
  3. Extend profit sharing to players.  According to a recent report by HBO's Real Sports, the NCAA pulls in $757 million annually.  As we all know, they see very little of that, and it's through the means of an education and room and board, a means which is not preferred by a significant number of players.  There are some institutions where players are getting plenty in return (Duke, Stanford, Georgetown, to name a few), but those are exceptions to the rule.  This can be done through NCAA tournament payouts which would go to players as well and would carry ripple effects for schools under probation.  The concept of "amateurism" is a joke, and it should exclude D-1 football and basketball.  How many professional basketball players can say they've played in an arena seating 76,000 during their NBA careers?  
  4. Enable a hybrid draft entry system.  This would allow high school players to enter their name into the NBA Draft.  However, they would be forced to sign with an agent, could not withdraw their name, and would not be able to play in the NCAA (for the same sport).  This option should be for types like LeBron, Kobe, KG, and even those with failed careers who were drafted early out of high school such as Kwame Brown.  For players who forgo the initial entry route, they would have to be enrolled in college for 3 years prior to entering their name for the NBA draft.  What would this do?  For starters, it would help the college game because continuity is king.  Professionals would act more like professionals.  You will always have the outliers, and you will always have players who flee for Europe, and spend years toiling there before they get signed by an NBA team.