Zion Williamson entering NBA draft after 1 year at Duke
Duke knew exactly what was likely to happen when they offered him the place. Surely you cant be blaming the kid.
Someone will be able to transfer in.
Agree. 1) The athletes are in a different “pile” than other applicants. 2) It was understood that these players would likely be one-and-dones – his spot (and the spots of others leaving Duke early) will be filled by new additions to the basketball team.
Considering we are talking about less than 3-5 per year in basketball, and only a handful in other sports (most of those coming in second or third year), I really don’t think they are taking anyone’s “spot”. Plus, look at it this way, that’s 3-5 spots for transfers.
The Duke basketball team will have 13 scholarship players on it next year. It wouldn’t matter if every single player on the team left, they’d have 13 scholarship players and a few walk ons. Those places are Coach K’s to give and they aren’t taking anyone’s place except another basketball player.
One full ride $75k scholarship is pocket change in comparison to what a deep run in the ncaa tournament yields to the league & schools.
I don’t blame the athlete, but I do take issue with a school that admits an athlete whom has NO intention to graduate, clearly this is about the money and its an absolute embarrassment for the school and faculty. It just boggles my mind that Duke recruits the one and done.
Without the $ and exposure from basketball, Duke would not be Duke. They have earned the right to recruit whomever enhances the profile of the program and by extension the university. In his one year, Zion Williamson will have done more for that enhancement than the rest of the team combined. Duke used him in the same way he used Duke. Everybody wins.
I have no issue with sports at colleges but I am now on board with pros being pros even if they are in college, these colleges need to pay there players a lot of money and stop using them. BTW Zion got the short end of this stick. No degree, and a year gone from his paycheck.
The player is exploited, not the other way round. These kids shouldn’t be fake school admits at all but paid professionals. Stating he takes a spot from an actual student is both petty and disingenuous
Again, Duke gave the spot away. I guess the title of the thread is misleading, its Duke’s fault 100%.
Duke is a willing participant in a system that basically forces incredibly talented basketball players to pretend to be college students for a year. It’s not like tennis, where a great 16 year old player can turn pro and go on the circuit. It’s not like gymnastics, where the truly superb one in a million athletes can go to the Olympics at 16 and turn pro and the endorsement money will roll in.
The only people who benefit are the colleges. The one in a million players don’t benefit because they are placed in a situation where focusing on academics would be one of the stupidest things for them to do. The players who are unlikely to ever make a career as a pro may benefit if their coach decides not to punish them for not making athletics their top priority. The recruited athlete’s job is to remain eligible and not to take any classes that conflict with their primary purpose – basketball. The more outstanding of an athlete a student is, the less his priority should – or can – be academics since the team expects 110% commitment to the team.
(I’m talking about men’s basketball here. For non-revenue producing sports, the situation for athletes is different. And obviously the tennis players who are recruited are those who weren’t good enough to be winning professional tournaments at age 16 or 17).
Is Williamson going to finish the year at Duke and continue taking classes and writing papers and taking his final exams? Or is he going to devote his time to being in the best shape ever so he can showcase his talents to the pros?
Duke students and alum love the fact that their basketball program is one of the best in the US, year in and year out. I would be more worried about the D1 football colleges that have 6 year graduation rates below 50% and little chance for most of these players ever making a living playing their sport professionally.
Coach K is already worried about college basketball and the rule change coming in 2022? when the NBA is going to allow players to sign out of high school again, a la Lebron James. Even now there is the G League and European basketball, so the players don’t have to go to college if they don’t want to. The colleges aren’t using them and they get what they are promised out of high school - exposure, an education, a showcase. Oh, and some great coaching.
Zion’s mother is being investigated for taking money from Nike, and maybe that had something to do with Zion deciding to leave. Whether she did or didn’t, no one wants to go through that ordeal while the student is still in college.
If the superstars want to leave after high school, that’s fine and college basketball with create stars out of those remaining. Zion had a great year and created buzz going into the draft. If he hadn’t played in college, not sure the same buzz would be there.
Christian McCaffrey left Stanford with a 1.5 years of eligibility left. He’s making millions, so you can’t say he made a bad decision any more than you can fault Steve Jobs or Bill Gates for ‘dropping out’ of college.
Zion wanted to go to Duke. He could have played for money overseas but elected to go to college (for 1 year).
Blaming Duke for taking Zion makes about as much sense blaming Harvard for admitting Gates.
The OP of this thread has comically constructed a strawman argument out of a single straw. Duke is making money hand over fist from its basketball program and, considering the current NBA draft rules, Duke offers the current “one and done” NBA draft prospects more than any other school. Coach K has multiple Olympic team gold medals and is the all-time winningest college basketball coach. Attacking this arrangement reduces to a criticism of the existence of private colleges and/or college sports and/or professional sports.
These kids are being paid - a $100,000+ education that will last a lifetime and access to a professional sports career. Sounds like a good deal to me!
@twoinanddone The future of “one and done” players is an interesting question. Zion spoke to this directly when he said being part of March Madness was an experience that money couldn’t buy. Kind of like an elite athlete “bucket list” item. For his part, LeBron has said many times how he regrets never being a college player. I suspect the top basketball programs like Duke, Kansas and Kentucky will continue to recruit NBA prospects, who will participate as a kind of “tradition”. And they will also have had the same number of college classes as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.