| UK Senior: 2013 |
The mediocrity and parity of the 2013 tournament where literally any team could win regardless of seeding has been a long-time coming. The NBA is the major culprit by requiring that "all players be age 19 or older during the calendar year of the draft." The major D-1 programs like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, etc have been severely hampered by defections to the NBA while mid-Majors have developed and redshirted players over a 4-year period. This has balanced the playing field significantly. Add castoffs, transfers and stricter compliance standards for major programs afraid of NCAA sanctions and parity is inevitable.
Lets take a gander at the NBA players that would have been eligible to play this year:
Kyrie Irving (Duke)
John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Eric Bledsoe, Eric Canter, Anthony Davis, Brandon Knight (Kentucky)
Kawhi Leonard (San Diego St)
Tristan Thompson, Avery Bradley (Texas)
Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech)
Dion Waiters (Syracuse)
Bradley Beal (Florida)
Damian Lillard (Weber St)
Andre Drummond (UConn)
Jared Sullinger (Ohio St)
Harrison Barnes (UNC)
All of the players listed above would be juniors or seniors this year. Is it any wonder why Kentucky and Texas did not make the NCAA tournament? Calipari (UK) has had two #1 NBA draft picks and 9 overall in the first round (including 5 in the top 5) since 2010! Rick Barnes (Texas) lost arguably the best perimeter defender and young center prospect to the NBA. Duke lost arguably the most talented point guard, 2013 All-Star starter and NBA rookie of the year winner Kyrie Irving to the NBA. The list goes on and on. So who is the big winner? The NBA of course with a bevy of young, talented prospects making names for themselves and their teams.
The quality of games in the NCAA tournament, once graced by future NBA players is the equivalent of a high-end pickup game where scoring is at a premium. But the NBA will not be beneficiaries forever. The cupboard was quite bare for the 2012 NBA draft and the 2013 draft has many experts projecting a historically weak class (see below).
Maybe it's time for another rule change. The NCAA could allow undrafted players to return to school (1 per team) rather than being forced to ply their trade in Europe or the D-league.
TOP TEN 2013 NBA DRAFT PROSPECTS
| 1 | Ben McLemore | Kansas | Fr. | SG | 6-5 | 195 |
| 2 | Nerlens Noel | Kentucky | Fr. | C | 6-10 | 228 |
| 3 | Anthony Bennett | UNLV | Fr. | PF | 6-8 | 240 |
| 4 | Otto Porter | Georgetown | Soph. | SF | 6-8 | 205 |
| 5 | Cody Zeller | Indiana | Soph. | C | 7-0 | 240 |
| 6 | Trey Burke | Michigan | Soph. | PG | 6-0 | 190 |
| 7 | Shabazz Muhammad | UCLA | Fr. | SG | 6-6 | 225 |
| 8 | Alex Len | Maryland | Soph. | C | 7-1 | 225 |
| 9 | Marcus Smart | Oklahoma State | Fr. | PG | 6-4 | 225 |
| 10 | Victor Oladipo | Indiana | Jr. | SG | 6-4 | 210 |
Do you think the NBA has is recruiting under-developed talent and has the quality of play in the NBA suffered because of it? The arguement has been made that many young NBA athletes have not developed fundamentally.
ReplyDeleteWell, the NBA cannot recruit, but the money tempts kids to not fulfill their college eligibility. But you have to remember, the NBA will never really suffer bec they have mature adults from 20-35. Whereas the college game has kids from 17-22 approximately. Even if they are not finished products when they come into the NBA, they can develop or be designated to the D-league. While that is going on you have superstars like Kobe, Lebron etc to carry the NBA. The college game relies on incoming freshmen to carry their brand nowadays and that is why the quality of the college game has gradually plummeted. With top college players continuing to defect to the NBA, the trends looks likely to continue.
ReplyDeleteOn another note I am surprisingly leading our office bracket...I need Louisville to reach the finals and lose the final so that I can get the big money...Can you manipulate some of the statistics and make that a realty....lol
ReplyDeleteGood on you, although typically the winners of brackets know nothing about college basketball. lol. I can only guide people with statistics, although maybe I can payoff an official or two..lol
ReplyDeletehttp://deadspin.com/ed-rush-resigns-following-accusations-of-targeting-sean-470811443