It’s been a couple of years since the magical run of George Mason in the NCAA basketball tournament. Since then, a strange consistency seems to be evident in the world of College Basketball these days. It seems as if the proverbial “playing field” has been leveled off as far as talent and recruiting is concerned. Teams such as Gardner Webb University, who beat perennial powerhouse Kentucky this past week to open up the NCAA basketball season, are seemingly unafraid going into match-ups with these high-profile schools. Hello again, and welcome to the Panther’s Perspective for week nine. The college basketball season is one of my favorite sports seasons and the new-look, competitive, Division One ranks in college basketball are going to be even more fun to watch if this competition continues, and it probably will.
Has the NBA caused this plateau of talent at the college ranks? This has been a question under debate for a long time. With the increase in big-time upsets, and the NBA’s policy of at least one year in college, the big-time, Division One programs are still struggling with smaller programs head to head. Despite the NBA’s policy, these little teams are winning. Perhaps this policy has still done little to restore the recruiting dominance of blue-chip athletes by schools such as the Kentucky’s, North Carolinas, Duke’s, and Florida’s. Although they may still have an edge due to prestige, players are still leaving these schools early for the NBA causing a flooding of freshmen and sophomores into high pressure situations come tournament time.
On the flip side, those players that are going to smaller programs are not lured year by year by the glamour of the NBA. These players are staying three to four years on a regular basis and acquiring more team chemistry and experience along the way. This is apparent when they match up well with the high-profile teams. These are the players who work harder to make it to the next level. Look what the Gators have done the past two seasons. This is a rare case when you can retain a core nucleus of top-notch guys through their senior seasons and look what they accomplished, winning back to back National Championships.
It looks to me as if there is more pressure on the recruiting for character as much as talent for these schools. You may find that a hard-working senior will be much more effective than a flashy sophomore who is going pro after his sophomore season. Anyway, I am not complaining one bit. The parody is great, especially come playoff time. And I’m sure the advertisers love this trend because of the viewer ship of the March Madness tournament season. I see these corporations putting pressure on the NBA to retain the at least one-year-in school policy for that reason. It is the same reasoning behind the Bowl Championship Series in College Football. The sponsors and advertisers just make way too much of a killing by placing their names on a Bowl Game than they would competing for air time with a tournament. The parody in NCAA basketball is a win-win for three of four parties involved. The NBA gets top-notch talent early, the fans get to see more competitive games and upsets and the marketers salivate over the increased viewer ship of college basketball. The only parties getting screwed are the Colleges and Universities that make millions off of these un-paid student athletes anyway. I say, so be it!