College basketball, as we often are reminded, is about academic achievement and molding fine young athletes. To quote one of the NCAA’s favorite aphorisms, college athletics is about the vast majority of the 400,000 NCAA “student-athletes” who “will be going pro in something other than sports.” Still, every year, there are a few “program changers” who attract extraordinary attention and stir passionate debate.
Last month, I wrote about the “Basketball Underground,” a term I have used to describe how big-time college basketball really operates.
As the stakes increase, even in tough economic times, the Basketball Underground will continue to flourish. The big move last month was by Jeremy Tyler, who announced that he’s skipping his senior season of high school to go to Italy and play professional basketball.
Tyler is a great talent. He wants – and should have every right – to maximize his abilities. The question is: What is the best use of Tyler’s time for the next couple of years? Some believe he’s making the right decision, given the many factors, including the sham of “one and done,” the decline of basketball development in the United States and NCAA rules. Others believe that not only is Tyler making a grave mistake himself, but he’s setting a bad precedent for young men who may follow Tyler off the same cliff.
It’s a quick leap from Brandon Jennings to Jeremy Tyler to the ruination of basketball as we know it in the United States. To me, it’s absurd to make such a big deal about five to maybe 10 players a year. For the vast majority, college is absolutely a place for a young player to develop his or her game, gain maturity, receive a quality education and go on to achieve great things in life. But it’s not for everyone. Further, education is not the sole domain of the traditional classroom.
Sonny Vaccaro is advising the Tyler family. He also advised Jennings and his family. Because Sonny is such a divisive figure in basketball circles, it is easy to reduce this whole debate to Sonny’s mission to topple the NCAA.
Greg Johnson, associate director for The NCAA News, wrote on its blog: “Vaccaro likes to champion himself as the only person who has the best interests of elite prospects in mind. He loves to rail about how unfair it is that a student-athlete receives ‘only’ a free education. He has no idea how intercollegiate athletics works and doesn’t want to know.”
Sonny knows. Believe me. And so do most current and former college players as well as the sports media.
Wally Renfro, senior adviser to NCAA president Myles Brand, claims in a USA Today interview, “(Vaccaro) helped create an environment in which the value of high-school and college education has been diminished in the minds of many young basketball players.”
And that might be true. But let’s not overlook the fact that hundreds of college coaches and athletic departments accepted Sonny’s shoe-company money. Nike, adidas and Reebok are corporate entities whose only purpose is to make money. The NCAA, on the other hand, has lofty goals that explicitly state student-athletes “should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises.” It’s not like the NCAA can legitimately take the moral high ground when it comes to Vaccaro and the notion that he is the only one in these circles who diminished education in the minds of young basketball players.
Tyler explained his reasons for bypassing college to Yahoo! Sports, saying, “In my profession with what I’m doing in my life, it doesn’t need a full college degree. I’m definitely going to take classes over there. I want to be there, have fun and learn stuff that I don’t know. I’m going to study the culture, study the language and how their lifestyle is different than mine. I don’t know another language. I want to learn something else.”
Tyler has been criticized for “dropping out of high school,” even though he said he would do no such thing. He will, instead, continue his studies in Europe and earn his GED. It is worth nothing that, according to Jeremy’s father, Louisville, the school he orally committed to, encouraged Jeremy to finish up his high school-studies by taking online courses and enrolling early in college.
I would like to believe college basketball is the best place for young men to develop their athletic and academic talents, but we should not blindly accept this as fact. Henry Abbott of ESPN’s True Hoop blog, makes this wonderful point: “If you love basketball, then you will love having the free market work its magic on basketball development. We have an NCAA model with limited practice time, questionable education, faked test results, all income pushed under the table and a certain few individuals making all the big money from TV and sponsorship deals. That’s going to be there. But now a few players are expanding horizons and trying different models. Trying different models is good for basketball.”
Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples stopped just short of playing the race card, but race is worth examining. Writes Staples: “Set aside the obvious racial overtones for a moment and consider only the sport-specific double standards. We celebrate individual athletes when they turn pro at a young age. Maria Sharapova was the darling of the tennis world at 17. Joey Logano is tearing up tracks and getting paid at 18. We celebrate entertainers when they turn pro at a young age. Nick Jonas, 16, is an actor, a musician and a paparazzi magnet. Miley Cyrus, 16, just might control the universe.”
I believe any backlash against Tyler is driven more by economic preservation than by racism, subtle or otherwise, but it is a fair point.
I should also mention that athletes and others who have gone to college for three or four years have become colossal failures in life. A small percentage have even committed horrible crimes, including Bernie Madoff, Rae Curruth and Michael Vick.
Then there is LeBron James, who is a wildly successful NBA star, product endorser and astute businessman. All despite never attending college.
Yes, on average, those who graduate from college will enjoy greater success, happiness and wealth than those who do not. But a college education does not guarantee success by any measure. Nor does the lack of a college experience put someone on the fast track to flipping burgers. As the late author Percy Walker once wrote, “You can get all A’s and still flunk life.”
The NCAA and everyone else, for that matter, should continue to promote the value of a college education. But don’t single out Jeremy Tyler as what is wrong with basketball.
He just might turn out to be what is right.
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