Saturday, May 16, 2009

Hold The Mayo. The Truth about college basketball recruiting.

O.J. Mayo like many 21st century basketball prodigies are exploited for their athletic talents. That's a strong statement considering the reputation that college basketball routinely sells to its fan base. Who can forget the hype surrounding Lebron James getting a hummer before graduation. This move was the unofficial announcement that he was going pro. His nationally televised game was a sneak preview to the fact that college hoop fans would never witness (pun intended) NBA talent for college basketball prices.


Carmello Anthony took the conventional path by deciding to enter college. In the minds of most college basketball fans, Anthony made the "right decision" because it resulted in a National Championship. Translation, college hoops fans got what they wanted earlier especially the rabid fan base of Syracuse. This is the mentality of an extortionist. If you ask most college basketball fans, they also buy into the argument of college basketball's ruling class. You know the one about how pro ready college basketball players should spend at least 2 or 3 years in college for more "development".


Most con artist are great at what they do. They're skilled at making people believe that a bad decision for the party that stands to lose the most, is really "good" choice for the person that their ripping off. That sentiment sums up that state of college basketball recruiting.


Many of these young people are being "groomed" to be the next big thing on and off the court. Most of these kids attend athletic factories posing as private and "christian" schools. Many of these kids are shuffled around the country in hopes of more "exposure". Club basketball has become more important than playing for your local high school team. Some of these athletic factories do very little to prepare these kids for the academic rigors of college.


Opportunistic "guardians" often allow less fortunate kids to live with them hoping to cash in after the kid turns pro. Mayo used is basketball gifts as a means to an end considering most people in this country aren't really concerned about the education of poor children. Rodney Guillory knew that and so did the sports agency Bill Duffy and Associates. The power brokers of college basketball have become accustomed to just looking away and prosecuting when the game of dirty pool needs an eight ball to shoot in the side pocket. Mayo's story isn't the first and sadly it will not be the last.


Amare Stoudimare had similar challenges as a young phenom. He moved around out of necessity and quite frankly out of pure survival considering that his mother was an unstable parent. How else could he survive? If some college recruiter or runner paid for his meals when other would not then what's the big deal? I'm not an advocate of breaking rules but how can I ignore the human element to the plight of a kid with very limited options.


Often times, this is the environment that merges with the elements of hopelessness, lack of parental care and an overly critical society, creating the crossroads for some of these kids to join gangs or to select from the fast food menu of crime as a means of survival. In rare cases some kids with all world athletic talent are protected from these options. (Carmello Anthony) So when Sonny Vaccaro presents a kid with an opportunity to turn pro in the international game then how could anyone in good conscience berate a kid for making a life decision.


For those who advocate that these guys are missing out on the safety net of a college education, may I suggest you take a look at your favorite teams graduation rates. Some of the teams that do have decent rates aren't graduating players with degrees that would hardly be competitive in the real world. In other words, most of these guys aren't recruited to college because these institutions are interested in kids earning degrees. For every Myron Rolle there is 30 Somari Rolles.



Tim Floyd and USC are embarrassed yet again. Is Tim Floyd a weasel? Sure only under the guise of an organization like the NCAA that is posing as the moral authority concerned about the education of division one basketball players. He is apart of a culture that pays him to win at any cost. As the old saying goes, If you ain't cheating you ain't trying. (I wonder if deep throat will make a comback for the sake of reforming college sports)


Floyd isn't the first weasel in college basketball. Ever heard of Ed Martin? What about Eddie Sutton's near destruction of the storied Kentucky program. The term program should be the key indicator of what this is really about. Most of us are wired to believe the residual public image the"matrix"(NCAA media machine) feeds us. In this movie programs don't hack programs. People actually do the magic trick and that's even after we've seen the man behind the curtain.


Thousands of former college athletes can probably tell us stories that would expose our favorite programs for what they really are. The question is could we handle it. Do we really want to know the truth? Is Colonel Nathan Jessup (character from the movie A few good men) correct about us not being able to handle the truth? You Darn right he is!!! And he'll order the code red on College basketball recruiting if we would let him.


The 2009 draft class will feature international prospect Rickey Rubio, an eighteen year old kid that is being allowed to apply for the NBA draft because he will be 19 during the calender year. His stats in the euro league are pedestrian at best. His latest scoring average is just 10 points a game. Rubio is a point guard in Europe and this season has improved slightly in the scoring and assist column.


Brandon Jennings was thought to be a international bust by some analyst. Rubio however is being advertised as possible lottery material. Jennings is Averaging 7.6 points per game to go along with 1.6 assist per game. Rubio appears to be a better passer at the pro level but he has been playing with professional basketball a lot longer than Jennings. This


It's hard to imagine Rubio being an all star at the NBA level. I don't believe that Jennings will be one either however a fair question should be raised here. How can an unproven American basketball player be undervalued while an international product that is not much better be NBA ready?


No wonder the NCAA wants a two year requirement to be enforced by the NBA. This is the perfect time to get this done. Jennings looks like a failure while Mayo, Tim Floyd and USC look like lone gunmen yet again. Gotta strike now while they can still alter the Zapruder film. Looks like a classic Oliver Stone flick right? Think again.... We could conger up images of Kelvin Sampson stalking kids as a serial dialer or John Calipari's involvement shady recruiting tactics at Umass. (Some may argue that he's up to his old tricks at Kentucky)


College sports has become a DE facto pro league right under our noses. What drugs are we taking that produces plausible exaggeration? Do we really believe that most of these kids are really "student athletes". The hippies of the 1960's would actually cringe if they learned of our new drug called delusion. This is worst than LSD. How can we look at Kentucky's scholarship dilemma and deny that it doesn't resemble a shady pro contract. (in terms of unloading unwanted players before the salary cap deadline) College Basketball lost its soul and competitive goodwill a long time ago. If you're one that supports the company line after delving into your favorite programs track record then I can say is may the best cheater win....

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