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Kentucky Represents Everything Wrong With College Basketball

posted Mar 18, 2012, 3:59 PM by Daniel Fugitt
That was a statement made by poster "SomeBeach1" on InsideCarolina.  Since any kind of rebuttal cannot be posted there...nor can the request for clarification be made, I will do it here.  Just what in the hell does he mean?  Does UK have a slew of players that are in trouble with the law?  Does UK have a team full of guys who are not good kids and not stand out citizens? No?  Oh, well I suppose he is referring to the fact that the 2010 Kentucky Wildcat team helped raise over one million dollars for Haiti disaster relief or that UK's current APR is 974, well above the 900 standard and on par with UNC as well as TOPS in the SEC. 

What I am sure he is focusing on is not the fact that UK players have given back to the community or performed extremely well in classrom, but on the fact that UK has had seven players leave for the NBA over the past two years before their eligibility expired.  Let's discuss this for a moment.  First off, UNC fans, don't be salty.  You've had your recent "one and dones" (Marvin Williams, Brandan Wright and Harrison Barnes) as well as guys leave early (Raymond Felton, Sean May, Rashad McCants, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Ed Davis...there may be more, this is just off the top of my head).  What I can't help but notice is two things.. 1) Carolina's recent top flight recruits have underwhelmed and 2) Why are you upset at a player getting a job?

Are UNC fans upset with the fact that UK is simply recruiting really good players and allowing them to flourish?  Perhaps.  Carolina's recent crop of blue chippers have underperformed for the most part.  

  • John Henson, the #3 overall player in his class, did relatively little his freshman year and while a very solid player now (in his JR year) is still very much a complimentary player.  He is stout defensively and can rebound with the best of them, but still has a raw offensive game.  Though his jumper now has spotty range to 17 feet and he has developed a nice right handed hook, he wont kill any one with that part of his game and is expected to return for his senior year.

  • Harrison Barnes was the consensus #1 overall player in his class.  He was the first freshman to be named a Pre-Season All-American and was expected to dominate right out of the gate.  Well.... he didnt.  He posted an extremely lackluster first half of his freshman season and seemed timid at times.  In a loss to Minnesota, Barnes went 0-12 from the field, 0-3 from behind the arc and finished with six points.  He did, however, surge in the 2nd half of year, dropping 40 vs Clemson and finished with a 16ppg average.  His sophomore season picked up exactly where his freshman left.  He has been steady all year and is currently averaging 17ppg.  He has never shown a killer instinct and is criticized by many in the media as not having the ability to take over when his team needs him to.  He is, however, expected by most to enter the NBA draft following this season, though there is rumblings from some that he is considering a return to for a third year in Chapel Hill.

  • James Michael McAdoo was the #8 player in last years class and has posted oustanding numbers at 6ppg and 4rpg, while shooting 42% in 16mpg. ...     He has come on of late though, scoring 14 and 17 in two of his last four games.

If you are a freshman in college and someone offers you a multimillion dollar contract to work at their firm, do you take it?  I sure hope you would.  You would be dumb not to.  The whole point of college is to get a career.  If you can get one before graduating, more power to you.  Folks are not criticized for jumping at that opportunity.  Why is basketball any different?  At the conclusion of every basketball season, John Calipari tells his players if they can go and get drafted high, they need to go.  It's in their best interest...AND HE IS RIGHT.  If you are a lottery pick, you better go.  You stand little to gain from coming back.  Time to leave college and provide for your family.  I will never understand why anyone can be critical of that.

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