One and Done College Basketball Player

Since the NBA put its new draft rules in effect, the one that states high school athletes need to wait one year after graduating before entering the draft, college basketball has had many more one and done players. Simply put, the college player is done with college after one year and enters the NBA. While I don't think this is bad for the college game itself, I do think it hurts the university and other college players.

Many college teams are now recruiting players with the full understanding that they will be gone after a year. This decreases the number of scholarships available to a player who is going to college for the right reasons and to play college basketball. You'll notice I said go to college for the right reasons and then play basketball because if basketball is priority number one college isn't the place for these athletes. I have no problem with the athlete that plans to play in the NBA, but I do have a problem with a player who views college as being forced upon them by the NBA draft rules. The universities are the ones that need to take control of the situation, and yes I do have the answer.

The scholarships that get offered to college athletes are worth around 40,000 dollars a year. The university offers these scholarships to an athlete knowing they are going to leave after one year, doesn't that seem a little bit ridiculous. So why not have these athletes sign a contract. Now I don't mean they have to sign away four years of their lives, but I do think it is reasonable to have these players sign at least a two year contract for the privilege of a scholarship to a major university.

Now this doesn't mean that a player coming out of high school has to go to college for two years because he doesn't have to go to college at all. I think that would be best for everyone. If a player doesn't want to go to college for two years he can play in another professional league other than the NBA. He could go to the CBA or play in Europe for a year before going to the NBA. Now that would be a promotion for the NBA letting their future stars play overseas or in a smaller town where they only have to worry about basketball and not college.

If the a high school player really wants to play in college I don't see why they wouldn't mind sticking around for at least two years, and since the NBA won't let them in early they just have to play somewhere else for a year. There is no reason why colleges should bend over backwards so an athlete will attend their school for one year. Let the players who wish to get paid to play go elsewhere. If they really want to go to college they would have no problem signing a contract.

Doing away with these one and done players would mean we would miss out on seeing the NBA stars of tomorrow in the college ranks. Personally once these college players go to the NBA I rarely if ever watch them, yet I understand why they go. College is a place for young adults to develop but some high school basketball players don't need any more development to go to the NBA. However, the NBA won't let them in straight out of high school anymore so they go to college for a year because they have to not want to. Scholarships are a privilege and should not be given to an athlete who is forced to go to college, let them go elsewhere and leave college to the people who want to be there.