February 25, 2004
Taking Exception
Duke alum Beau Dure had some bones to pick with my post concerning a player who bolted Billy Donovan's basketball program at Florida for a $500,000 per year contract at FC Barcelona:
Fiction of going to class? Clay Buckley and Greg Koubek were regular attendees in my computer science class. Phil Henderson's philosophy attendance was more sporadic, but that explains why he was one of the rare Duke players of the 80s and early 90s not to graduate.
Beau's correct here in pointing out that I overstated my case. There will always be a number of institutions for which the term "student athlete" has some real meaning -- with schools like Duke, Northwestern and Stanford being just three that come to mind (and with a nice geographic distribution to boot). But not every player who can be a star, or even just ride the pine in Division I college basketball, has the ability to be a top flight student. And if faced with the choice between having to deal with NCAA regulations and an arduous schedule of class, practice, and travel, I think a real paycheck, unlimited practice time, and a chance to live for a few years in a foreign country will win out every time.
In fact, I hope more American kids consider this option over the next couple of years. There are choices out there, and individuals ought to be able to consider them all, and make an informed choice. And, as I'm sure Beau knows, a growing number of American kids are eschewing American college Soccer to sign development contracts as teenagers to play in Europe.
And with European players displaying an attention to the fundamentals of basketball that many home grown players might lack, I have to wonder whether or not spending a few years in Barcelona or Milan instead of Chapel Hill or Bloomington might not be a bad idea for players looking to have a career in the NBA.
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