Woodling: Basketball coaches concerned

By Chuck Woodling     Jul 7, 2004

You’re darned right college basketball coaches are concerned about the National Basketball Assn. plucking players right out of high school.

Hey, to echo Pink Floyd, leave those kids alone.

Fine, but college basketball coaches can talk all they want about the NBA raiding the high schools because they might as well be talking about whether it will rain. They can’t do anything about the weather, either.

Oh, they’ll try.

In fact, when the National Association of Basketball Coaches meets today in Indianapolis, the subject is certain to come up. It usually does at the annual NABC Convention.

“We’ll say we need to put the pressure on for a minimum draft age — probably 20 — but I’m guessing,” Kansas University coach Bill Self said. “But we have no leverage, so nothing will happen.”

College coaches cannot control socio-economic forces any more than they can control the length of television timeouts during the NCAA Tournament. Baseball drafts high schoolers, so does the National Hockey League.

Only the National Football League, among the major pro sports, does not draft players out of high school, yet it’s probably only a matter of time before some stud prep running back files suit to allow him to turn pro, as he should be able to do.

Self, who will be at the NABC Convention, figures the coaches have bigger basketballs to bounce than the high-school-to-NBA issue.

“The recruiting model,” Self said. “To me, that’s the biggest priority.”

A committee of coaches has developed a suggested recruiting model that will look out for current players and prospective ones. The model will be given a full hearing by the coaches, then voted upon. If ratified — and surely it will be — the plan would be sent to the NCAA for approval.

If the NCAA passes it into legislation, it would mark the first time college basketball coaches have decided how their business should be conducted.

Lately college basketball has suffered more black eyes than a potato punching bag. In the Big 12 Conference alone, we’ve had the shocking Dave Bliss affair, the Larry Eustachy embarrassment and the seemingly endless Missouri-Ricky Clemons brouhaha.

Money corrupts and college basketball at the NCAA Division One level is so lucrative that wrongdoing is inevitable. That’s another force the coaches can’t control.

What the coaches are trying to do is prevent scandal from erupting on a grand scale. At the same time, they’ll try to portray college basketball, in particular, and college life, in general, as a nurturing maturation process that will prepare high school grads for life in a way that a pro contract worth millions of dollars simply cannot.

In other words, money can’t buy everything.

Then again, why should college coaches be so concerned about the NBA drafting high school players anyway? Sure, the NBA snatched a bunch last month, but the pool of leftovers is prodigious. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski might have lost a couple of signees to the NBA, but just think of all the college coaches — like Self — who didn’t.

Speaking of Krzyzewski, I don’t think he had any intention of taking that job with the Los Angeles Lakers. More than likely, he was feathering his nest.

Every now and then, a coach — even a firmly established one like Krzyzewski — needs to allow his name to be dangled in the media in order to prevent the faithful from taking him for granted and whispering, “What has he done for us lately?”

This time-honored tactic always results in an outpouring of love and inevitably a salary adjustment.

Coach K’s turndown of the Lakers was a boon for college basketball, of course. Another boon would be a recruiting model that would de-intensify recruiting and enhance the college experience itself.

Nothing will ever sub for the NBA’s riches, obviously, but the coaches realize they have to pump up their appeal in order to improve the attraction.

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