It's become pretty clear that 2007-08 is the year of the freshman in college hoops. Sure, last year's season-long Greg Oden vs. Kevin Durant dialogue may have flashed more star power, but this year's class is Grand Canyon-deep. Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon, Kevin Love — the list goes on.
Let's just say a college hoops fan looking to get acquainted with this year's newcomers has had to dip pretty deep into the cable package to get to know everyone. The climax of this came this past weekend for me, as I found UCLA/Davidson on WGN, the independent channel based out of Chicago. I don't know what was in the water in 1989, but a diver could get the bends swimming to the bottom of this basketball gene pool.
It's no secret that the surge of young talent into NCAA hoops came because, well, they have to be there. When the NBA enacted its new age limit policy before last season, it set in motion a chain of events NCAA hoops junkies could only dream of. Just think: If not for Commissioner David Stern, most of these freshman would be seven-figure bench warmers in the league's lottery dredges.
But more than that, think of the domino effect. When some of these flashy freshmen graduate (that would be from the sport, of course, not academically), they'll make up a pretty decent portion of the enviable lottery picks. Combined with the influx of foreign-born players and a few late bloomers who "only" managed to become stars in their junior and senior years, the vacuum at the top of the draft that previously sucked up anyone with a jumper has been calmed.
Take Arizona sophomore Chase Budinger, for example. I'm hardly a draft guru, but odds are Budinger might have considered his draft prospects in April 2006 as a high school senior, had he been allowed. But with the NBA age limit freshly in place, Budinger headed to the Wildcats. There, a funny thing happened. It turns out Budinger isn't the transcendent star some of his cronies or family might have tried to convince him he was. Instead, it turns out he's merely a very capable starter in a major college program. With the Odens and Durants of the world log-jamming the front of the draft in 2007, Budinger came back to Arizona for a second year.
But the dominos will keep falling. If Buddinger grows into a better all-around scorer (though after watching UA's game Saturday against Illinois, that's up in the air), perhaps this year or next he'll test the draft waters and leave early. Throw in some other guys who have stuck around, such as Georgetown's Roy Hibbert or any of the North Carolina studs, and now that one-and-done strategy for budding freshman stars doesn't look so appealing.
When the NBA's age limit rule came down, I held very firm moral reservations about it. Where else in our country can an employer refuse to hire someone based on his age, given he is a legal adult (as 18-year-olds are). How loud would the outrage be if McDonald's refused to hire people over the age of 55? With that said, the end result of the rule has been a win-win situation for pretty much every involved party.
NCAA coaches now know recruiting great prep stars isn't a total loss, given the previous risk of losing a guy straight to the NBA. While one-and-dones aren't ideal for the John Caliparis and Tim Floyds of the world, they at least can reap some publicity from winning these stars. At the same time, their fans aren't let down from the excitement of seeing that five-star recruit commit to their program, only to have him never step foot on campus.
The NBA guys win, too. A year of major college hoops is a decent screening process of blue chip young players. Do you think LeBron James would have fared pretty well against Northwestern and Penn State, assuming he went to Ohio State? Or, conversely, do you think NBA scouts might have been a bit more hesitant on the Jonathan Benders of drafts past had they seen them go through an SEC season? In essence, David Stern got his wish of removing much of the bust-potential from the draft process by installing at least one test year for young players.
And even the players get something out of this. No, they don't get to be millionaires at the same time they're allowed to buy cigarettes. They have to wait one more year. But the rule at least is more honest to young players with helium-filled egos than packs of yes-men driven by their own agendas. Is it unfair to make the Durants and LeBrons of the world wait a year and assume some degree of career risk? Certainly. But for the majority of college players like Chase Buddinger and others who found out they could get something out of college ball, the rule works. Now if only we could get Commish Stern to work on that BCS...
Leave a Comment