Day 240
Fresh Start_240: Staying in school
Going to college is
something that is taken for granted by this generation. The value of going to
college and getting the experience of becoming an adult and gaining responsibility
is something that you cannot but a price tag on. Going to school even if it is
for two years, that experience of challenging yourself is something that cannot
be put into words. From getting your first A in a class, to the first time you
wake up hung over 5 minutes before you have class, and racing not to be late.
However, college sports,
in particular college basketball puts a different spin on college. The majority
of college players only play one year and go to the NBA with dreams of
providing for their family and making it big. John Calipari is the mastermind
and engineer behind the “One and Done” revolution that this generation is
living through. Examples of this in this year’s draft are D’Aaron Fox, Malik
Monk, and Lonzo Ball. What these players do is just use college as an extra of AAU
basketball, but just on National TV.
The ESPN 30 for 30 on
Calipari “One and Not Done” goes into great detail on why Calipari embraced the
“One and Done” rule and his thought process behind it. Calipari uses the rule
that the NBA introduced in 2004 that made it so that no player can enter the
NBA until they were 19 years old (or one year of college) to bring kids the
ability to experience a childhood dream and provide for families.
When you take a step back
and look at it through the lens that Calipari uses, you can make sense of why
players choose to take that route. Basketball for a large group of children is
an escape from reality and a form of release. Much of that group is situated in
poverty and use basketball as a way out of the living situation they grow up in
and a way to bring money into the household. That intent shouldn’t be looked
down upon because much like the real world, every situation is different. How can
you emphasize with someone if you have no idea where they come from or what
they have been through? Having these kids go to college for even this limited
amount of time and play for a coach that in most cases could be coaching at the
NBA level, and expand his game to better his chances of getting to the NBA is a
perfect scenario for many people.
What gets lost in all of
this is, the players that don’t have that amount of talent, and will make it to
the NBA. Or the players that have to develop their game over the course of the
four years of college to have that chance that a Monk, Fox, Fultz, or Ball have
right of high school. The player that stays two, three, or four years in school
is like the white horse in a horse race; pretty to look at, but most likely not
going to win. Players don’t stay in college because of the glamorous
opportunity of the NBA looming over the decision to stay at college. The
million dollar check is on the table for most guys, and like you would expect
many of them don’t walk out on that opportunity.
Two players this week have
left that check on the table, at least for another year. Michigan State guard
Miles Bridges decided to stay another year and play his Sophomore season under
Tom Izzo. Bridges has said that he needs to “work on his game” and what better
opportunity to do that than to play for Michigan State and have a shot to
improve his already high draft stock. The other was Duke guard Grayson Allen,
who will be coming back for his Senior season for Coach K. Allen might have
some unfinished business losing to South Carolina in the 2nd round
of this year’s NCAA tournament. Both players could have declared for the draft
and went easily inside the first 15 picks of the 1st round. Bridges
was a projected lottery pick already, so he might be looking to be the first
pick of the 2018 draft. Allen saw the writing on the wall, that he has to clear
up the tripping incidents and become a better all-around player if he wants to
be picked inside the Top 10 of a draft class.
Allen is a decent player,
but can make a name for himself in his Senior year, improving his 14.5 points,
3.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. If Allen averages 18, 7, and 5 next season.
Without getting into trouble for tripping and, cleaning up his character, there
should be no issue with Allen being a Top 10 talent for the 2018 draft. While Bridges
on the other hand averaged 16.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. If Bridges
gets to the point where he is averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds next year,
that will be hard to pass up in the draft, and that is the only way that
Bridges can “improve his game.” The talent level that Bridges has is hard to
come by, Izzo should be lucky that he is “stealing” Bridges away from the NBA
for at least another year.
On Monday night, Scott
Van Pelt said that “the real world will be waiting for you… stay in college for
as long as you can.” This is the contradicting point to the Calipari “One and
Done” side of the coin. Being a college kid and playing basketball is something
that is incredible, but can you leave that check on the table?
The players that declare
for the draft put pressure on themselves to succeed right away, but at least
there is a check at the end of the month. The players that come back, they put
pressure on themselves to improve their game with the hopes of getting a bigger
check than the one they left on the table a year before; which would you rather
have?
Sources:(espn.com)
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