Scott said the NCAA needs to re-examine the recruiting process and do a better job educating families
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott yesterday "called for NBA stars such as LeBron James to follow through on their complaints about the NCAA and be part of changing the system," according to Pete Thamel of YAHOO SPORTS. Scott said, "We need to have conviction that status quo is not an option." Scott said comments by James and other NBA players are a "real breakthrough." He considers the NBPA allowing players to enter the NBA out of high school a "key part of change moving forward." Scott: "The most influential voices have the opportunity to persuade the NBA and the NBA Players Association that they ought to let high school players go to the NBA if they are ready. I think that’s one of the key pillars to the solution space here." Scott said that the NCAA "needs to re-examine the entire recruiting process and do a better job educating families about their options." He added that he would "like to see a three-year minimum, much like in baseball or football, for players who decide to attend college." Scott: “Everyone would benefit if there was a clear distinction, a fork in the road. You either get paid to play basketball or you use basketball as a way to get access to a better path, that’s through the NCAA and college basketball.” Scott also "called for the NCAA enforcement model to be changed." He said, “The NCAA has lost too much credibility around the whole enforcement process with our schools.” Meanwhile, a Pac-12 task force is "expected to present their findings at the next board meeting, which will take place at the Pac-12 tournament next week" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/28).
WHAT NEXT? FS1’s Jason Whitlock said of a solution to the NCAA’s problems, “The professional leagues need to be involved. College football and basketball have been great farm systems for the professional leagues. They need to be footing the bill on paying these guys.” FS1’s Jason McIntyre said, “Why can’t we let the free market decide? What's wrong with letting the free market decide? If an athlete is a big-time college basketball player and the local car dealership wants to pay him, let that happen" (“Speak for Yourself,” FS1, 2/28). ESPN's Mark Jackson said, "Let's let these kids come straight out of high school. If they have the opportunity to come out of high school and turn pro, let them do it. To me, it's a no-brainer" ("Rockets-Clippers," ESPN, 2/28).
TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY: On his "Jalen & Jacoby" show on Monday, ESPN's Jalen Rose said that college hoops players "should boycott the tournament." ESPN's Jay Williams followed that up yesterday with a video posted to Twitter, where he said players should "go a step further." Williams: "Wouldn't [it] be crazy if we saw players just not boycott a game in the NCAA Tournament, but boycott the Final Four? ... That's how you make change" (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 3/1). However, ESPN's Dan Dakich tweeted, "So all the other 12 guys on scholarship on an NCAA team should 'boycott the NCAA tournament' because the one guy on the team that’s 1 and done can’t get a car or promote a fast food spot w their likeness..try running that by a team.... idiotic" (TWITTER.com, 2/28). In Houston, Jenny Dial Creech writes under the header, "NCAA Woes Need Solutions, But Boycott Not One Of Them." While former players like Rose "mean well when they make statements like this, it's a bit misguided." What we can take from Rose and Williams is that players "have more power than they think." Creech: "So, yeah, if players boycotted the biggest moneymaker of the year, it would make an astronomical statement. But it would also take away the biggest moments of a lot of lives" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/1).
WAITING ON THE WORLD TO CHANGE: In Louisville, Tim Sullivan writes the notion that allowing college athletes to be compensated will "disrupt the NCAA’s delicate balance is founded on a fallacy." Sullivan: "Spare me the silliness that bringing an underground economy above board will irreparably damage the quality of competition." If college athletics is to "regain its relative equilibrium in the face of unrelenting scandal, a solid first step would be to acknowledge that life is fundamentally unfair and that money talks louder than socialism on campus" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 3/1). FS1’s Whitlock said President Obama criticizing the NCAA is the "final straw." Whitlock: "When you've lost Barack Obama, you've lost the room. ... When he’s calling out the NCAA, I just don’t think the system is sustainable. It just doesn't have the credibility with the public to continue on, and so yes, I think we are finally at a place where the NCAA is going to have to take some accountability for the problems in itself and change” (“Speak for Yourself,” FS1, 2/28). In Charlotte, Tom Sorensen writes the only way for the NCAA to fix college basketball is to "blow it up and start over." The current NCAA model is "terribly flawed" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER 3/1).
