ESPN.com - NCB - Credit NCAA for trying, but plan misses

This is the season for sunshine and blooming flowers, for Easter finery and the optimism of spring. And in college basketball, it's also time for the Great Exodus, as agents from across the country proclaim, "Let my people go!"

Every day another underclassman or three decides to forgo the rest of his college education to make himself available for the NBA draft. Steven Hunter from DePaul. Troy Murphy from Notre Dame. Gilbert Arenas from Arizona. Well, just about everybody from Arizona except Lute Olson and the student manager have declared for the draft.


	Troy Murphy isn't going to return to college merely because the NCAA will loan him $20,000.

Wait a minute. Steven who?

NCAA officials are worried that so many young men are leaving school prematurely and endangering their futures. Of course, they're also concerned that if college basketball's best players keep leaving early for the riches of the pros, CBS won't be so inclined to pony up $6 billion the next time the TV contract is up for negotiation.

So they're finally going to try to stop the bleeding. No, they're not going to cough up any of their own money and offer it to these players. Let's not get ridiculous. But they've decided that it would be OK for somebody else to loan the players enough cash to allow them to get by while they're in school.

Last week, the NCAA management council voted to allow student-athletes to obtain one-time $20,000 bank loans based on future earnings. A step in the right direction is what council chairman Charles Harris called it.

We will concede that it's a step, but whether it's in the right direction is open to debate.

"I think it's scary," Xavier coach Skip Prosser said.

Only a small percentage of players are good enough to play professionally. But a very large percentage think they are. So what happens to the kids who take out $20,000 loans based on future earnings only to find that there are no future earnings?

"We might be creating a whole group of guys with incredibly high debt," Prosser said. "I just think you could be creating a big opportunity to place kids in financial jeopardy."

University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins has been down this road a few times with his players.

Danny Fortson left school after his junior year and signed a contract for $6.7 million over three years. DerMarr Johnson left after his freshman year and signed for $5.65 million over three years. Dontonio Wingfield bolted after his freshman year and even though he was drafted late in the second round and eventually washed out of the league, he still made hundreds of thousands of dollars for the time he spent there.

Does anyone, then, really believe that a $20,000 loan is going to keep XU's David West or UC's Kenny Satterfield in school if they're convinced they're ready for the NBA?

"Why would it?" Huggins asked.

Huggins believes the problem is overblown anyway. College basketball seems to be doing OK despite the annual exodus. If there is a problem, he said, it's one the NBA must deal with.

"They get people ill-prepared to do what they have to do at that level," Huggins said. "It's hard enough for guys who have been in school for four years and have some maturity. Now you're talking about 18-year-old kids."

While the NCAA diddles around with loans, the NBA is attempting to find a more realistic solution in the form of a developmental league for players who don't want to go to college, aren't ready for the NBA, but might be someday.

That league, which begins play next fall, may create another drain on the NCAA's basketball talent, but it makes a lot more sense than the loans.

"I think college basketball will be fine," Prosser said. "I worry about those kids."

Yes, there are too many kids leaving school on a whim, kids who would be better off staying where they are and getting an education. Credit the NCAA for trying to find a way to keep those players in school.

But this isn't it.

(Contact Bill Koch of the Cincinnati Post at http://www.cincypost.com.)

Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

ALSO SEE

Weekly Word: 'Zona short on scholarships

The Word's Answer Man