So this is the Tax Ides of March, eh? Seems like the Ides has taken its time to get here this year. But actually, with the girls state tournament now behind us, warmer weather is supposed to be the program. Regardless of the historical reliability of The Farmer's Almanac or other prognosticator resources, the girls tournament is as good of a barometer of the advent of Spring as any.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek ran a cover story a week ago about the ruckus at the University of North Carolina concerning academic fraud to cover the deficiencies of some of their football and basketball players. Shocking. It is a little surprising to me that a school of that stature would either, 1) allow it to actually happen as described, or 2) not be able to squelch the whistle-blowing actions of the few. If true, I'm surprised at the basketball coach (Roy Williams), not so much so at the football coach (Butch Davis) who was fired.I think that we can all agree that the concept of "student-athlete" for maybe the top 5% of D-1 football and basketball schools is a misnomer. And the ratio probably goes higher as you go further down the list of schools who play D-1 sports. Those second and third tier schools have less luxury to find the kid who can make it on both the field/court and in the classroom. Winning is a big deal. Not winning gets the coach fired.
"Jock classes" have always existed. Back in the 60's at ND, we had "99 Kline" and "A-B Brennan". I took Father Brennan's philosophy class freshman year. It was an A if you showed up at class, a B if you didn't. I aced it, of course.
I do think that the "1 and done" rule for elite basketball players is stupid. In the main, its an opportunity for the school to get the services of an elite player (or in the case of Kentucky/Calipari, players) for a season with the kid only pretending to go to classes for one semester. The Spring term is a meaningless semester because if they fail their classes, it doesn't matter...their one season is over. Calipari won a championship with this rule a couple of years back.
I find it curious that Derek Rose of the Bulls has been Mr. Teflon with his fraudulent SAT score. He's made millions, is a paid product-spokesman and seems to be oblivious to the dirt left in his wake.
Mark Cuban suggested a couple weeks ago that the NBA's Developmental League was a better option for these top players from a pure basketball skills progression perspective, but I didn't pick up on any tidal wave of support for his position. The balance between the NBA and the colleges on this matter is pretty delicate. Follow the money.
ND has had its share of academic problems with players. Quarterback Golson got caught cheating in a class and was dismissed from school for a year. And their leading scorer on their current basketball team was kicked out of school in December for an "academic issue". It used to be Cliffs Notes. Now you have the Internet. Do kids actually think that instructors are that dumb?
Not much else to report from here. Working the weekend. Lots of basketball (not the Hawks, of course!)...and Selection Sunday.
Make it a Good Friday in your neighborhood.
BCOT
No comments:
Post a Comment