Nothing divides me more – splits me right down the middle, in fact – than college basketball. Like the month of March itself, I roar like a lion at the sheer excitement of the NCAA basketball tournament, but I weep like a lamb at the sheer injustice of the college basketball system.
On the one hand, the NCAA tournament is, in my opinion, sports’ best moment. Every team can win, every game is an elimination game and therefore matters, the fans and players genuinely care. Nearly every year there is a “Cinderella” team, from Villanova in 1985 to George Mason in 2006. So many of the games come down to the wire, to a final shot on the last possession of the game. If March Madness doesn’t get your adrenaline flowing, then, as a sports fan, you’re dead inside.
On the other hand, big-time Division I college basketball is the most egregious exploiter of young people in sports. Fewer than half of these “student-athletes” actually graduate and a tiny fraction of them ever get a chance to play professional ball. Which means that a majority of the players simply leave after four years of generating obscene profits for their schools, no diploma in hand, prohibited by strict NCAA rules from seeing even a nickel of that hard-earned money themselves. They are four years older, nothing more. God forbid they have accepted a few free tickets during their time working without pay for their University – then they are not only used but ostracized. It’s a sickening, self-serving system.
With any luck, the NBA’s developmental league will someday grow to be a ubiquitous network of teams, like major league baseball’s minor league system. At least in that model, a high school kid with talent has a choice of taking a college scholarship or heading right to work as a professional, where he can earn a living – albeit a modest one – while still pursuing his pro sports dream. It’s not a perfect system but it’s better than basketball. Leave the NCAA tournament for kids who want to be in school. Build the minor leagues. I promise I’ll watch both.
