The world was less than shocked recently when it was alleged USC college basketball star OJ Mayo has been receiving cash, gifts and a car from agents intent on getting him to sign on as a client. Is anybody truly surprised?
You know who’s really to blame here? Mayo? USC? No. It’s the rule that says that kids can’t jump straight from high school ball to the pros. Instead, the misguided rule forces basketball prodigies with no real interest in higher education to attend college for one year before turning pro.
Who is this rule helping? It’s not helping the colleges that have to deal with one year wonders who aren’t at college for the purest of reasons. Meanwhile the kid goes off the pros and his millions and college coaches are left to deal with the negative impact a rent-a-player has on a program. With the very big exception of Carmelo Anthony, have any of these guys ever delivered in a major way for a university? Anybody remember Tim Thomas at Villanova?
The one year of college rule isn’t helping the kids much either. We’re not talking about ball players who might actually realize they could do more with their life by chasing an education rather than pursuing a major league career with minor league talent if exposed to college. We’re talking about basketball prodegies. If some kid is forced to go to college for just one year and knows a major payday is coming from the NBA at the end of that year, what are the odds he’s cracking the books in a serious way? Zero! And what does that lead to? Temptation and a mess. A mess like the OJ Mayo situation.
Someone should remind both the NBA and NFL that this is still a free market economy. If a kid thinks he’s got the talent to go pro, he should get that chance.
If he fails, he can always pay or work his way through college like the rest of us.
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