As much as I love college basketball, it has its flaws, mostly concerning players being forced to be one year out of high school before going to the NBA. Now I understand that this rule is enforced by the NBA, but it must be changed. Look at the offseason issues in college basketball, and you will see that they are plagued with sleezy coaches. Rick Pitino's issue has nothing to do with this rule, but everything to do with his own sleezy ways. I'm sorry, but if you wanna take trashy girls to crush town inside of a restaurant after hours, you're digging your own grave. I will say he has handled the situation as well as he possibly could, but maybe he should just try not being a scumbag who cheats on his wife. As far as basketball-related drama is concerned, two coaches stand out: John Calipari, and Tim Floyd.
Now the difference between these two coaches is that one is a good cheater, and the other is Tim Floyd. Now Tim, if you want to pay O.J. Mayo to come to USC, fine, I'm sure you are not the first coach to make a monetary offer to the kid. However, you may want to have someone else hand him the money, maybe one of your pee-on assistants or managers. Or was that a part of the deal?
O.J. said, "yeah, I'll come play for your school, but you better hand me that money yourself, in Las Vegas, in front of other people, so I know you are willing to throw your career out the window to have me for a year."
Think, Tim, think. However I personally am happy that you did not think this through, because college basketball is better off without scumbags like yourself. Good riddance.
Now Tim, if you wanted to be a true sleezy recruiter, you should have consulted John Calipari, for he has mastered the art of being sleezy. If someone would like to respond to this question, anyone reading this, please do: how does an entire season of basketball (not to mention it was the most victorious season in NCAA history, minus winning the championship) get erased from the record books because of recruiting violations, and the head man of this program does not even get a slap on the wrist? Talk about a weasel. Not only did John Calipari avoid any sanctions against himself (like he cares about Josh Pastner and Memphis, and the recruiting shackles that he put on them) but he is now the highest paid college basketball coach in the nation, in a new program where he will prosper.
I am not the first to say this, but the NCAA and NBA must come to an agreement on when athletes can make themselves eligible for the draft. This one-and-done thing has been tested, and it is clearly bad for college basketball. When kids could go from high school to the pros, when did we hear about these kinds of violations? You can go back to the Fab 5 from Michigan, or Tarks' term at UNLV, but they were few and far between. Now that they have to come to college for a single year, the bidding for these high profile recruits is on. We would be naive to believe that Tim Floyd was the only coach to offer O.J. Mayo money to put on his school's uniform, or that this was the first kid Tim Floyd has paid to play for USC. We would be naive to believe that Derrick Rose is the first high schooler to have someone else take his SATs for him, and that he is the first recruit that John Calipari has assisted in getting into his program.
If college basketball fans want to put a stop to this, or atleast hinder its frequency, the NBA must either allow high schoolers to turn pro, or require that they attend college for a minimum of 2 years. The O.J. Mayos, the Derrick Roses, the Greg Odens - they ruin the college game. College basketball is all about building a program, and it is impossible to do when players come and go in a year. Why not give them the option to go pro? If they feel they are not ready, then have them commit for 2 years.
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