High School And College Basketball

AAU basketball provides a very competitive environment for young basketball players; with an increase focus on skill level development it can be viewed as the extremely important tool that it should be. According to Kevin Clark a writer for the Wall Street Journal, “for some time, coaches have grumbled that the AAU’s emphasis on building stars and playing games over practicing produces a lot of talented prospects who have great physical skills but limited knowledge of the fundamentals (Clark, 2009).” Outspoken professional basketball analyst Charles Barkley gave his opinion, “the worst thing that ever happened to basketball (Sorensen, 2015).” He pointed out in a televised broadcast how there are too many AAU games and not nearly enough practice hours being put

Most African American that want to make it to the National Football League (NFL) or the National basketball League (NBA), do not realize there is a slim chance to none of actually going into a professional sport. Gates writes “African American youngster has about as much of becoming a professional athlete as he or she does of winning the lottery” (1). Not many African American youngsters know that there are “12 times more black lawyers than black athletes” or there are only 1200 blacks who play in a professional sport (1). There are 12 times more black professionals that are in the communities accommodating to the needs of those who need the assistance with either legal or health issues. The youth can achieve greatness in today’s society by getting a degree and forming a foundation to make enough to be financially stable.

In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young

Schooling is very important to NBA athletes for numerous reasons. A degree could save an athlete from becoming bankrupt if he cannot become successful in the NBA. It would give that athlete the skills and knowledge to work another job. Another reason why an education could be important to any professional athlete is the knowledge to manage and spend their money correctly once they earn their big paychecks. The capricious management of money occurs far too often in professional basketball players. Former NBA all-star Shaquille O’Neal recalls spending “1 million in 30 minutes”, according to espn.go.com. O’Neal also agrees that college athletes should stay for at least three years in college, and that an education is the most important thing to

Not only do the players play hard for the school, but they also have the potential to earn money through commercial signings and endorsements by third party sponsors. The NCAA should lift the “Principle of Amateurism” and establish a newer one that resembles the one of the Olympics. The Olympics’ amateur model resembles the NCAA’s “Principle of Amateurism” except for the fact that they do not have restrictions on commercial opportunities such as

         The NBA has seen many different players come and go throughout its 50 years of existence. In the last 15 years, there has been a boom of underclassmen leaving college early to enter the NBA draft. The last NBA draft in June, the top ten picks alone were underclassmen(Sports Illustrated, 264). Many more underclassmen are entering the NBA this year. The typical college career for the basketball players is playing until your junior year, then going pro. The NBA and the NCAA must do something in order to keep these young players in college.

This shows these athletes would do better off with the professional help of the NBA. A major part of my action plan is to provide these athletes with the option to either attend a college or university for one year and then enter into the NBA draft or become drafted straight out of high school with the understanding that they will have to play for that specific teams developmental league for one year before joining the actually team itself. Ultimately, this plan would allow athletes to receive the financial benefits needed in the short term while still developing and preparing themselves for years in the NBA.

“To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, that’s all their is to it” - Adam Vinateri (American Football Player). That quote sticks out for one reason; to me it indicates that in order to develop into the “best” or among the best, you must compete against the best. Actually my interpretation might not be that far off; according to Sports Illustrated, “What seems obvious, though, is that only a small fraction of the one-and-done players in this sample completely flamed out in the NBA,” “Only a handful turned into stars – and even a smaller number into true superstars – but on average, a majority of them managed to play significant roles in the league for at least a few years.” “So I ask, if these players are missing out on such important “development” by skipping the full college basketball experience, why are they producing at a higher level than their peers?”(Moore, SI) So players not only benefit from don’t actually “flame out” and out of a job after electing to either skip college or go 1 full year. It doesn’t stop there; Kevin Pelton at ESPN, crunched numbers between players who went to college one year (One and Done) and players who attended more than one; logged their first 500 minutes and the NBA. The numbers taken by an average concluded that the One and

In the last ten years many young and talented high school basketball players have chosen to enter the NBA draft. These 17 and 18 year olds decide to skip college, and instead they choose to take a big risk and enter the NBA, hoping to become stars and earn millions of dollars. In many cases, these youngsters’ careers are a failure because they don’t turn out as talented as they thought to be. They end up spending only a few seasons in the NBA because they are not good enough to compete at that level. Many of them have to move on to doing other things, such as playing basketball overseas, doing everyday jobs, or going back to college to earn a degree.

Even though the "one and done rule" is not a NCAA, policy it has an enormous effect on the NCAA today. Due to the "one and done rule," there are more players leaving the NCAA Basketball programs than ever before, which is directly affecting the organization's mission, goals, and objectives. Through the NBA's rule, the NCAA has no say over when a player can leave, which directly contradicts the organization's mission of creating an educated athlete that will allow for success within the future. The primary mission of the NCAA is located on page 1 of the 2011-12 Division I Manual states:

One view point in this issue is the view point of the higher up people at universities and the NCAA. College athletics are fully commercialized and is also a huge money making business. The benefactors of this largely successful corporation are the

NCAA is a national business this day of time. At least half of the world is watching a college game when it’s on NCAA, They make over at least 3 million dollars every game. The college’s players get none of that money that’s getting paid to NCAA. The players are the ones that are putting in the work, staying overtime, and killing their body.

The likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Amare Stoudamire, and Jermaine O’Neal are setting the tone across the nation for high schoolers considering by-passing college for the NBA. Two of today’s biggest stars, Garnett and Bryant, have never attended college, but both were immediately successful and popular in the pros (Head to Head). The biggest star in the NBA right now, Garnett, is having an MVP-caliber season and is leading his team to their best record in franchise history. The teenagers with high hopes admire these professionals living their dream and hope to someday be in their shoes.

In their effort to compete with other programs, coaches push the boundaries of recruiting. This is a huge problem in college sports that desperately needs fixing. For this problem, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has set strictly enforced rules for behavior like this. It is a very complex, broad set of rules. The purpose of these rules is simple. These rules are meant to encourage fair recruiting and too discourage offering incentives to collegiate athletes.

Imagine making the decision to commit to the University of Oklahoma to play collegiate basketball at only 14 years old. Most kids your age only dream about having such an opportunity! Once the time finally comes to hit the court, you only play for a total of six minutes because you sustain a severe knee injury, putting your life and sports career to a complete halt.