No, it’s not the fact that the NCAA came up with a completely arbitrary number regarding the duration of term in college (football is 3 years, basketball is only 1 year. I would assume that the team owners and commissioners had something to say about that).
‘One and done’, especially at Ohio State, causes issues with a team’s APR rating (basically a formula that accounts for graduation rates of students). Greg Oden, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook go pro in basketball, your APR score drops since they left in the middle of a semester. It doesn’t matter if you go pro, transfer schools, or just quit the team and drop out of school. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the purpose of college is to work towards gaining the skills you need to be successful in a specific professional. Let’s say I bailed on the engineering program early because NASA was offering me a $100k signing bonus to be a genius engineer. I doubt the engineering school would be slapped with penalties and have scholarships revoked.
Secondly, OJ Mayo was who we thought he was: any university’s nightmare. Reports show that Mayo had been taking cash and gifts since high school and through his ‘one and done’ season at USC. Uh oh USC. That means since he was directly affiliated with you for 4 months, you now face the wrath of the NCAA. And Mayo? He gets to go pro. Thankfully, the NCAA has no judicial powers outside "we’ll take back your trophy" and "you can’t play in the postseason", or this could turn into the Spanish Inquisition. The NCAA probably feels it should be above the law, so I wouldn’t be surprised when the NCAA minds rule "off with his head".
I can’t blame Mayo, especially since cash and gifts aren’t technically illegal. All he was trying to do was get paid the entire time. It would have happened on the priest’s watch if he decided he was going to St. Johns or Notre Dame. But the truth was, you could tell from the beginning. OJ Mayo has always had a little bit of flair and attitude, the polar opposite of Greg Oden. Maybe it had something to do with committing to USC in 6th grade.
I can’t blame Mayo. I can blame the NCAA. A two-year rule in college basketball affords at least some accountability from the player to the university. A three-year rule would make college basketball equal to college football. 3+3=3.
5 comments:
I blame Mayo. When you sign a scholarship you agree to the terms and conditions within that agreement. I have never signed one but I would bet there is language regarding violating team, university and NCAA rules.
The problem is the punishment. Even if they made him pay the scholarship back, NBA money will render that insignificant.
Perhaps universities should be permitted to sue former athletes for rules violations that result in lost revenue in the future because of decreased scholarships and no post postseason earnings.
Just a thought.
TWO YEARS SHOULD BE THE MINIMUM. ODEN AND KK BOTH SCREWED THE PROGRAM FOR THE FUTURE BY JUST DROPPING OUT WITHOUT ANY GPA FOR THE QUARTER OR SEMESTER. I WOULD HAVE TO LOOK AT THE MONEY TOO, JUST NOT SCREW OVER THE PEOPLE THAT HELPED MAKE THINGS HAPPEN FOR ME! GO BUCKS
Yea well Ohio State is inherently screwed from the quarters point of view.
Oden/Conley/Cook screwed the program, but I wouldn't dare blame them because they didn't take cash and the went to the NBA (Cook for a while).
Change the rules to at least make them sensible. I don't see why football is 3 and basketball is 1.
Hey Poe:
I have a question for you. Drop me a line at buckeyecommentary@gmail.com.
Uhhhh...the NCAA has nothing to do with the number of years that college athletes stay in school. It is the professional leagues that set the numbers. The NFL requires a player to be at least three years out of high school before he may sign a contract. The NBA recently increased its required number of years from zero to one. A potential player could, theoretically, just sit out a year, or go play in Europe (as Koufos almost did). Obviously, in football this isn't possible, since there are no foreign leagues that offer a similar level of competition to NCAA football. It's simply a job requirement. If it were up to the NCAA, I'm sure they'd require all athletes to finish their degrees.
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