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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/1 ... 8025658892

“There’s only a couple of players on the college team that actually can really play in every sport, so sometimes you have to look at the big picture,” he said, according to USA Today’s For The Win. “All of those kids are getting a free education. But let’s say we do it your way … we have to pay the diving team, the swimming team. That’s crazy.”

“Less than 1 percent [of college basketball players] are going to play in the NBA,” he said. “What about the other 99 percent that are getting a free education? Think about it.”

The NCAA is a farce. Colleges should not be in the business of being semi-professional organizations whose highest-paid employees are coaches of teams whose members (in most cases) do not get an education that will help them get a job after they leave college. Most of the schools are really only interested in keeping them eligible to participate, and some of them will go go to some very unethical lengths to do just that.

The only reason we have the system we have now is because it benefits the professional teams (basically providing free player development), the schools (who have alumni that are crazy about sports and lavish the colleges with money) and the television networks who make millions off college sports.

The Bobster wrote:The NCAA is a farce. Colleges should not be in the business of being semi-professional organizations whose highest-paid employees are coaches of teams whose members (in most cases) do not get an education that will help them get a job after they leave college. Most of the schools are really only interested in keeping them eligible to participate, and some of them will go go to some very unethical lengths to do just that.

The only reason we have the system we have now is because it benefits the professional teams (basically providing free player development), the schools (who have alumni that are crazy about sports and lavish the colleges with money) and the television networks who make millions off college sports.

What do you think will happen to UNC in the next year? I guess the NCAA are still investigating, but imho it should be one of the biggest punishments ever leveled against a program. They have been passing athletes with classes that don't exist for decades. Also, what do you think about the NCAA vacating all those Boeheim wins at Syracuse? The UNC punishment has to be worse than that.

I think it's crazy for the NCAA to vacate Boeheim's wins. Wasn't the system they set up for cheating happening even before Boeheim and used for football too?

Also, I'm not a fan of the NCAA. I love college sports, but think the governing body is closer to the IOC or the World Cup officials than some Dudley Doright angelic governing body. Not that I think they should pay athletes, but they shouldn't act like a lot of these kids are there to become lawyers or doctors. They shouldn't put so many regulations on them to limit amount of contact with the coach(although they might do that to protect the athletes from overzealous coaches). They shouldn't allow coaches to act in a Machiavellian manner lording over their subjects. They shouldn't punish the kids if they are hungry or want to go to the movies, or make a few bucks on the side to take their girlfriend out. A lot of the kids are poor, don't have any money or anything that isn't sanctioned appropriately given to them by the NCAA. Why not set up programs where they can earn a degree in basketball or whatever, where they can take that with them afterwards to get jobs in their sport. Something has to be done and someone should be overlooking it, like a commissioner. Not one governing body that oversees all sports, separate them. Especially for the largest sports, football and basketball.

They should go SMU on UNC and shut them down for a year and take away a good number of scholarships.

If you find institutionalized cheating - and we're talking the entire academic system, not just the athletic department - you've got the tail wagging the dog and they need to crack down on them hard.

Banning teams from the postseason for a year or to and penalizing them a couple of scholarships for major offenses isn't enough of a deterrent, so it's time for something more severe.

In2ition wrote:I think it's crazy for the NCAA to vacate Boeheim's wins. Wasn't the system they set up for cheating happening even before Boeheim and used for football too?

Also, I'm not a fan of the NCAA. I love college sports, but think the governing body is closer to the IOC or the World Cup officials than some Dudley Doright angelic governing body. Not that I think they should pay athletes, but they shouldn't act like a lot of these kids are there to become lawyers or doctors. They shouldn't put so many regulations on them to limit amount of contact with the coach(although they might do that to protect the athletes from overzealous coaches). They shouldn't allow coaches to act in a Machiavellian manner lording over their subjects. They shouldn't punish the kids if they are hungry or want to go to the movies, or make a few bucks on the side to take their girlfriend out. A lot of the kids are poor, don't have any money or anything that isn't sanctioned appropriately given to them by the NCAA. Why not set up programs where they can earn a degree in basketball or whatever, where they can take that with them afterwards to get jobs in their sport. Something has to be done and someone should be overlooking it, like a commissioner. Not one governing body that oversees all sports, separate them. Especially for the largest sports, football and basketball.

Why are academic institutions involved in big-money athletics at all? Why aren't they de-emphasized so that student-athletes working towards an actual degree are the participants rather that players who are only at the school to get the opportunity to move on to professional sports?

Yes, the system is broken, but only because the athletic departments are held to a lower academic standard in to many instances.

The Bobster wrote:The NCAA is a farce. Colleges should not be in the business of being semi-professional organizations whose highest-paid employees are coaches of teams whose members (in most cases) do not get an education that will help them get a job after they leave college. Most of the schools are really only interested in keeping them eligible to participate, and some of them will go go to some very unethical lengths to do just that.

The only reason we have the system we have now is because it benefits the professional teams (basically providing free player development), the schools (who have alumni that are crazy about sports and lavish the colleges with money) and the television networks who make millions off college sports.

nobody's forcing these players to play in college for free. they can always go to the d-league or europe/asia.

the only reason why some bball athletes want to play in the NCAA is because of the exposure they get playing for college powerhouses. you dont get that in the dleague or in china, even though they get paid.

most fans of the NCAA are alumnis or fans of the college teams, not the players. players come and go, but loyalty to the college or university where they graduated is eternal.

The Bobster wrote:The NCAA is a farce. Colleges should not be in the business of being semi-professional organizations whose highest-paid employees are coaches of teams whose members (in most cases) do not get an education that will help them get a job after they leave college. Most of the schools are really only interested in keeping them eligible to participate, and some of them will go go to some very unethical lengths to do just that.

great, then you'd know paying college basketball players salaries is a bad idea. punish the schools who cheat like UNC, but the NCAA becoming a semi-pro league is not the solution. if a great prospect is ineligible to play because he couldnt meet the academic standards, then he shouldnt play in that school. he should go a) overseas b) the dleague or c) to a school with lower academic standards d)take a course that fits his IQ level, like nursing (you can have a decent middle class lifestyle and send your kids to private school on an average nurse's salary)

The only reason we have the system we have now is because it benefits the professional teams (basically providing free player development), the schools (who have alumni that are crazy about sports and lavish the colleges with money) and the television networks who make millions off college sports.

the nba doesnt care about the NCAA. the age limit is there to only benefit the NBA. nobody is required to play in college "for free".

carey wrote:

The Bobster wrote:The NCAA is a farce. Colleges should not be in the business of being semi-professional organizations whose highest-paid employees are coaches of teams whose members (in most cases) do not get an education that will help them get a job after they leave college. Most of the schools are really only interested in keeping them eligible to participate, and some of them will go go to some very unethical lengths to do just that.

The only reason we have the system we have now is because it benefits the professional teams (basically providing free player development), the schools (who have alumni that are crazy about sports and lavish the colleges with money) and the television networks who make millions off college sports.

What do you think will happen to UNC in the next year? I guess the NCAA are still investigating, but imho it should be one of the biggest punishments ever leveled against a program. They have been passing athletes with classes that don't exist for decades. Also, what do you think about the NCAA vacating all those Boeheim wins at Syracuse? The UNC punishment has to be worse than that.

the punishment should destroy their bball program for at least 4-5 years. AT LEAST.

In2ition wrote:I think it's crazy for the NCAA to vacate Boeheim's wins. Wasn't the system they set up for cheating happening even before Boeheim and used for football too?

Also, I'm not a fan of the NCAA. I love college sports, but think the governing body is closer to the IOC or the World Cup officials than some Dudley Doright angelic governing body. Not that I think they should pay athletes, but they shouldn't act like a lot of these kids are there to become lawyers or doctors. They shouldn't put so many regulations on them to limit amount of contact with the coach(although they might do that to protect the athletes from overzealous coaches). They shouldn't allow coaches to act in a Machiavellian manner lording over their subjects. They shouldn't punish the kids if they are hungry or want to go to the movies, or make a few bucks on the side to take their girlfriend out. A lot of the kids are poor, don't have any money or anything that isn't sanctioned appropriately given to them by the NCAA. Why not set up programs where they can earn a degree in basketball or whatever, where they can take that with them afterwards to get jobs in their sport. Something has to be done and someone should be overlooking it, like a commissioner. Not one governing body that oversees all sports, separate them. Especially for the largest sports, football and basketball.

my solution is to let college players play part time in the dleague or any semi pro leagues. maybe toyota, mcdonalds, starbucks, wendys, geico should set up a bball league to promote their brands and have these college players play part time for them so they can earn money.

Do other types of scholarships required students to work at certain activities?

I mean, on the one hand the players are getting an education. But they're certainly not just filling it forms and having money put into their student aid account.

Dan H wrote:Do other types of scholarships required students to work at certain activities?

Yes, most of them do.

Mamy scholarships require the student to be in a certain major or maintain a certain minimum GPA, too.

Ah, okay. In that case yeah I think it's a bit much to ask to be paid. If they're investing more time and effort than other scholarship students it would be one thing. They also get free health care, I want to say as well, in case of injury.

I get your side of the argument, but the university and the NCAA aren't profiting massively off the talent of most college students. I don't know if we're comparing apples & oranges here but it's not apples & apples either.

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That was great, 'Bazz. Watched the whole thing.

I never watch any college sports. It's just so ridiculous. College basketball is completely broken. Every good player just plays for 1 year, and the huge salaries and ad dollars are crazy when the players get nothing. Then they don't even stay to get a real education or degree most of the time. It's ridiculous. In no way are they really student athletes. They just stay on campus and pretend to be students until it's time to drop out.

Mori Chu wrote:It's ridiculous. In no way are they really student athletes. They just stay on campus and pretend to be students until it's time to drop out.

In fairness, most of them play by the rules, unfair as those rules may be to them.

Mori Chu wrote:I never watch any college sports. It's just so ridiculous. College basketball is completely broken. Every good player just plays for 1 year, and the huge salaries and ad dollars are crazy when the players get nothing. Then they don't even stay to get a real education or degree most of the time. It's ridiculous. In no way are they really student athletes. They just stay on campus and pretend to be students until it's time to drop out.

so the idea is to pay those remaining mediocre basketball players who chose to stay in college.