Friday, April 30, 2010

UK Basketball Is Dangerous

I find it strange that no one seems alarmed the University of Kentucky had 5 players declare for the NBA draft this year. The UK program is in the process of taking the student out of the student athlete equation. John Calipari sees no reason to sugar coat the truth. If you're coming to Kentucky you're coming to play basketball and for no other reason. Not academics, not quality of life, and not the college experience. His recruiting pitch goes something like this, "If you can keep your eligibility for 1 semester I'll send you to the pros. Nobody's gonna ask you to stay or try to make you feel guilty for leaving. We all know the deal, 1 and done. That's what I can do for you. Here's the number for the guy that will take the exams for you. Be careful, if you get caught I don't know anything about it." We all know Kentucky will be on probation by the end of next season but is Calipari's approach really that off base? Is he the realist while we're the hypocrites? I agree he's doing what the players want and if the end result is an NBA career then everybody wins. The problem is most players won't play professional basketball very long (if at all) and will have no other skills to offer the world. The UK model leaves kids hollow, one dimensional, and under developed. Not everyone is going to be the next John Wall. Doesn't he owe those kids an apology?

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