College basketball is one of the most popular sports in the United States today. It is looked at as a pure form of the game and the national championship of college basketball is revered by many and a lifetime goal for some. Despite this reverence of the sport at that level, there has been a disturbing abuse of college basketball progressing over the past few years. More and more players today are using college basketball not as a time to perfect their abilities in the sport, but instead to use it as a springboard to the pros. College basketball players have been abandoning their education in return for a sink or swim shot at the pros. This trend is undermining the true mission of a university and causing distress in the lives of many young athletes. To best illustrate how this trend of leaving college early, or forgoing it entirely, has gained popularity over throughout the decade, we will look at some statistics. In the 1998 NBA draft, there were 33 underclassmen available for the draft. Of those 33, there were nineteen juniors, five sophomores, two freshmen, and four high school students. If you think that 33 is high for the number of early entries into the draft, look at the figure for 1997, this was 40! In the 1996 draft, only two of the top fifteen picks graduated from college. Not to mention that only fifteen of the 29 that came out early in '96 were actually selected in the draft. Now, with all the talk about how college is the time where players truly develop their skills and get themselves ready both mentally and physically for the demands of playing on a professional game. Being in the NBA is no walk in the park by far. Many very capable basketball players out there do not have jobs. That is not because of the influx of young, new talent. It is because the NBA is a league of not just talented basketball players, but instead the best basketball players around. Aspiring pros need to know that the millions are not going to be handed to them. If you watch the NBA nowadays, you will hear the commentators talking about one player or the next, and occasionally you hear talk about players being signed to ten day contracts. These are men who make SortsCenter's plays of the week, and they hove only ten-day contracts.
Association such as the NFL and NBA aren't filled with a lot of people. Barely anybody will actually make it that far, and some people practice for countless hours. "According to a poll from last year only 7.6% of highschool athletes play for college level sports, and only 1.7% go pro from college sports. And when you think about it people who play for college had to practice for such a large amount of time and there not even pro (Manfred)!" So why should the 55.5% of students who play ...
In the last ten years many young and talented high school basketball players have chosen to enter the NBA draft. These 17 and 18 year olds decide to skip college, and instead they choose to take a big risk and enter the NBA, hoping to become stars and earn millions of dollars. In many cases, these youngsters’ careers are a failure because they don’t turn out as talented as they thought to be. They end up spending only a few seasons in the NBA because they are not good enough to compete at that level. Many of them have to move on to doing other things, such as playing basketball overseas, doing everyday jobs, or going back to college to earn a degree.
In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young Black male basketball athletes, that the value of education appear to be less important in the development of these young men, “According to Sailes (1997), there is an over-representation of Black males in particular sports and an under-representation in other segments of American society. He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males.”, (Robinson, 2004:1). The idea of the attainment of a professional basketball player’s salary in the NBA, without even having to go to school for the time it takes to earn a degree is very appealing to some players. Those with a wealthy, or even upper-middle class upbringing may not view material assets as a priority. In the Black community, we have theorized that money and success play a more important role than education in most households. Although these two seem to go together, one resulting from the other, this does not apply in the sports world. Our research will examine the role that the family value system plays in influencing Black vs. White male athletes to turn professional, as opposed to obtaining a college degree before turning professional.
Every March college basketball fans and million alike anxiously await the start of the NCAA tournament. For a three week period from the middle of March to the beginning of April the entire country is engulfed in college basketball’s premier event. The tournament consists of 68 of the best teams in the game all competing for one title, NCAA National Champions. Colleges and Universities all across the country compete bringing students, alumni, and fans alike all carefully watching, waiting for that one bracket breaking upset or spectacular buzzer beater. It is truly the one sporting event that draws the attention of the entire nation. Although many people may argue that the NCAA tournament and March Madness is just another sporting event, it is a widely popular competition that is viewed by millions of fans and even non-sport viewers year after year.
Did you know that there are roughly 550,000 male high school basketball players, 15,000 are good enough to make it to play college basketball, one third of that or 5,000 play well enough to make it to division I which is the highest in the NCAA basketball league, and only around 348 go on to play one game in the NBA. On the other hand there are rare cases of players having extraordinary talents and making the jump from high school basketball straight to NBA without any college experience. The debate on this topic is two sided, the first being that the jump from high school to the NBA should not be allowed and the second being that they should be able to do what they want.
Major collegiate athletics programs are able to generate millions of dollars for their institutions, but are not able to show any evidence of successfully graduating their black male athletes that contribute to their success in generating those millions of dollars. These universities in turn, are failing these student athletes whom were promised that they would nurture them intellectually as well as athletically. A four year report published by the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education presents statistics that shows that the six major sports conferences in the NCAA (ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Pac 12) have weak graduation rates for male African American Student athletes. Jessica Anderson of the associated press wrote an article titled, Black Athletes' Graduation Rates Weak where she used evidence from the University of Pennsylvania’s study as well as information from The Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education to present findings that showed that only about, “50.2 percent of African-American male student-athletes graduated within six years and that 96.1 percent of the schools graduated African-American male student-athletes at rates lower than student-athletes overall” (Anderson). Yet, the evidence that African American male student athletes are struggling to graduate as compared to their white counterparts does not simply stop there. In fact, Shaun Harper the executive director of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania reports that, “50.2 percent of black male athletes graduate within six years from colleges compared with 67 percent of athletes over all, 73 percent of undergraduates, and 56 percent of black undergraduate men” (Harper)....
According to livestrong.com, only 3 out of 10,000 high school players actually make it to the NBA. If you do not get drafted, then you cannot play college basketball and that just ruined your dream of ever playing professional basketball. Though, most players do not think about what they will do after the NBA. The money would be great, who would not want millions of dollars for playing basketball? Though, like I said early most NBA players go broke within five years after leaving the league. On average most college degrees take five or six years to get and how will they pay for it if they do not have the money. They are supposed to be adults and some parents will not help their kids. Some want to teach them a lesson or some just can not afford it. Also, it is their retirement, why would they wanted to spend their first five years back in school when they could've already done their school work when they were there on scholarship and had free
It is becoming more and more a trend for high school and underclassmen basketball players to forgo their college eligibility to enter the NBA draft. Most professional sports have restrictions to limit mentally and physically immature players from throwing away their college education to be unsuccessful in the professional ranks. In the National Football League, NCAA football players are not allowed to declare for the pro draft unless they have been in the school’s program for at least three years. In professional baseball and hockey, although they do draft players straight from high school, they have a minor league system set up. These minor leagues allow players the time to develop and still play against an excellent level of competition. This helps their growth process so that when they get into the real big leagues, they are somewhat ready to play and be a factor.
Throughout the country young men and women are losing their priority for an education. To attend a university should be a highly cherished privilege, and it should be an even greater honor to play athletics for the university. Therefore, the writer supports the decision that the “student” comes before “athlete” in student-athlete. Playing for pay should be considered a job for “professionals”. In the rulebook, the NCAA views college athletes as armatures. This statement sums it up best. When athletes go to college, not all of them go in with the mindset that athletics is going to be their future job....
College basketball has gone from amateur competition to multi-million dollar tournaments and will continue to get larger and larger. The student-athlete is no longer a student and has become more and more of an athlete. Admissions are loosened and deals are made in order to get the best basketball players in the land. Athletes who are not students are criticized when they leave for the pros even though they are probably doing the right thing by not perpetuating the myth of academics and athletics. College basketball has become a multi-million dollar industry whether schools will admit it or not and the student athlete is the one getting played.
Many NCAA basketball players who make the decision to enter the NBA are not mentally prepared to deal with the responsibilities of life in the NBA. Young players depend on others who influence them or help make bad life decisions. What the young players visualize as the reward for playing in the NBA is the big money and with that big money make many mistakes financially. In th...
Too many college athletes are given the chance to go into a professional draft that doesn't require the athlete to complete all four years of college and earn a degree. This is a problem because athletes lack the college experience that will get them ready for real life situations as they carry out their sports career. In college they will learn skills and have extra time to be better prepared. Without staying in college for fours athletes won’t see that theres more options for them besides sports. It will be hard for them to see if they have other interests besides sports.
First, college basketball has paid off by losing its most talented players to the NBA as many as three years early. This has resulted in not only an overall lessening of the game, but in certain circumstances caused the downfall of once great basketball programs. This is how it happens, as colleges recruit players based on what their needs are or what they will need shortly in the future. So let us say that one school has a great core of sophomore and junior players for the upcoming season. The coaches do not have the need or the room for many new top-notch players.
...ame all crossed paths as college kids. Building on collegiate stars gave pro basketball an identity. It allows players to develop better due to the superior coaching staff in colleges. Staying in college will also let players develop a valuable following, which benefits the NBA.
Herbet D. Simans, Derek Van Rheenen, and Martin V. Covington focuses their argument on academic motivation of student athletes and what drives them to want to succeed in the classroom as well as on the court or field. Although Flynn also focuses on academic motivation of student athletes, he also discusses how colleges tend to spend more money on sports related necessities for the students instead of towards their education. Flynn’s argument displays how colleges are basically a business...