To Stay or To Go

Today’s athlete is more hung up on going pro, than actually getting an education at a college that is willing to pay them to play a sport at their school. The main question to ask is, why don’t they stay in college longer? The NCAA has made rules where all sports, other than basketball, have to attend school for a minimum of 3 years.2 Why doesn’t the NCAA do the same thing with basketball? I believe that these student athletes, that play college sports, should stay in school for a minimum of 2 years and earn an Associate's degree before allowing that individual to turn professional. What would it hurt? Yes, they could get injured in a college game or practice but the risks are the same if they were to go professional. Another problem they face is the lack of maturity when they go from one year in college straight to the NBA. Many of them have not lived on their own for longer than a year, and even then, they did not have to pay bills or set up a budget to live on. If the NCAA and NBA could get on the same page of being able to keep these athletes in school longer, than the rewards would be amazing.

To Stay or To Go

The athletes would be able to polish their basketball skills more, learn to take responsibility away from the gym, and get an associates degree from a major university. Most NBA athletes go one and done and enter the NBA start off with a very slow career.ome of which really don’t ever make it as a star in the NBA. I say all of this due to the stardom of LSU’s Ben Simmons, who is projected to be the number one overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Ben Simmons has made the news for not attending classes at all in the Spring semester. His GPA is so low that Ben Simmons would not even be eligible for National Player of the Year. Many people have said that he should stay in school for another year and learn how to become a more mature adult. Charles Barkley was quoted as saying "We should have a rule: we're gonna stay for three years." Barkley said "Your first year, you have success. Your second year, you struggle. They call it a sophomore slump, but it's really not a sophomore slump. A sophomore slump – I tell people – they just know who you are now. They've got tape on you. So then it's up to you your third year to make that adjustment. You're not going to get a lot better between your junior and senior year. But if you make adjustments your junior year because of things that happened your sophomore year, then I think you're ready." "If you go to college for one year, that's really just six months. You're not going to get a lot better or stronger as a player in six months. But if we keep you in college for two years, you're going to get a lot better as a player and a lot stronger physically. There's a huge difference between six months and two years."1

The fact of the matter is that I believe, along with several past professional athletes, it would be more beneficial overall for the college athlete to stay enrolled for at least two years so that they can learn how to deal with failures in college/life before they try to go professional. They will learn how to become a better fundamentally sound athlete as well as a student-athlete and earn an Associate’s degree from a major university thus giving them options after basketball.

References

1http://247sports.com/Bolt/Charles-Barkley-says-Ben-Simmons-isn't-ready-for-the-NBA-44146869

2 http://www.ncaa.org/remaining-eligible-professional-draft-inquiries

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