NCAA Basketball Scandal

Haven't been keeping track, and don't show much interest in college anything until the draft. Are they getting rid of NCAA basketball altogether?

Oh my god the horror that all these guys get is a tuition!!! They should not be paid by the NCAA or their schools. Wait they already are by free tuition! What they should be able to do is have endorsement deals that are separate from the school and NCAA. But the focus at school should be education, and the fact we talk about that free tuition like it’s nothing is part of the issue. Systems should be put in place to ensure that free education is always there even if they leave school early for the NBA.

 The fact that so many people get free tuition is awesome in many ways and I did not in anyway down play the value of a free education. BUT obviously their needs to be and will be changes. 
 I like your idea of them being able to market themselves rather than the NCAA getting all those rights. The colleges pays nothing but the player is free to generate revenues for themselves. Right now March Madness alone generates almost a billion in revenues, I wonder who is getting fat on all that money.

In a way I get both sides of the argument. In Baseball and Hockey you have a choice, go pro or go to college. In Basketball and Football they use College as a developmental league. Making tons of money off these players and free education doesn't even come close to giving the players a fair share. You see reports all the time like Sullinger saying he couldn't afford Gatorade after practice and the coach wouldn't give him money for it. Also players not having money to get food after the school meal halls where closed. You know when you get out of a late practice or late on the weekends.

It seems crazy that athletes making their schools and the NCAA billions should want for anything basic. Yet the NCAA could consider a lot of these things extra benefits. I don't think they should get paid, but they should get more than they do. Again free education is a fraction of the revenue being made off these student athletes. Most major schools pay the coaches more in salary than it cost them to give the players free education.

I know it’s a shame the schools prevent the players from taking real classes.

Very few athletes are ready at 18 or 19 to play in the NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL. The MLB and NHL have true minor league systems to develop those players though. The NFL and to a lesser extent the NBA use College to develop those players without having to pay them. I don't buy it's impossible for 19 and 20 year olds to play in the NFL. Just like with other sports some are more physically ready than others. Notre Dame gets at least 3-4 guys a year that are physically ready or able for the NFL. The idea that you get a 220 OT that grows into a 300 pounder in 4 years is far fetched at any major division one school like Notre Dame. More like 280 pound guys that turn into 300 pounders. So many of these guys are so huge and strong it's not funny at 18 and 19. Major high school programs do a very good job now a days.

The players have been getting paid since at least the 50's with Wilt Chamberlain at Kansas. It isn't a matter of them getting paid, it is a matter of coming up with something that is fair and equitable.

Most College freshman aren't red shirted and most that are, are because of the depth at that position because players have to stay for 3 years. College Football gets awesome true freshmen also. You will always have phenoms at a young age in all sports. Think about the depth in College Basketball if they had to stay for 3 years. LeBron type players are stuck in College football for 3 years, so you've never seen them in the NFL. They do exist though.

Also sorry, I know this is a Celtics thread but how about you college football player get an education while you are going to school. Ya know because even a small percentage of 4+ star recruits actually make it to the NFL and have substantial careers. Be smart - get educated - set yourself up for life the way you can control. This is what the focus should be on.

How many people are having the chance to make a career for themselves thanks to playing sports even though they know they have no chance to go pro with it? Do you think everyone should receive a salary or only the players who are likely to make a sh*t load of money in the future anyways?

Well I'm one injury away from dying. I see this narrative come up every so often and I don't get it, speaking just about basketball how often does a top 10 player gets injured enough that it hampers the rest of their career? It happens what, every 5 years or so with one guy? I guess when you move that sample size to 1st round players it gets a bigger, but most of those guys wouldn't stick in the league anyways and the fact is that if they get injured while playing for a college they should be able to finish their studies and then have a career, which is much better than the alternative of going pro and making 1 year of salary and getting injured and having to start all over again. Of course the fact that NCAA could revoke their scholarship is absolutely wrong and it should not happen. If a guy gets in college with a sports scholarship then he should be able to finish his studies regardless of what happens. That's a different issue that indeed NCAA should fix.

And good luck setting up any work field where some people get payed and most don't. It does not work and it's frankly ridiculous. Now people should make money out of endorsement deals, I can't think of any reason that would prevent them from doing so and it's honestly preposterous that they're not allowed to make money out of their image. If they're good enough to go pro, it shouldn't be difficult finding one of such deals. And save this hysterical rhetoric for political debates on twitter, they shouldn't "shut up and gladly accept" anything, if they feel it's their right to be paid by the college they go to then fine, protest and demand your money. Thing is, I don't agree with that. First and foremost these guys are students and they should remain so, you change whatever is wrong with society enough that it puts people "below the poverty line" with education. No college activity that you do for any academic reasons nets you any cash from the college itself and that's for a good reason. Because nothing is bigger than education, simple as that. When a college starts paying a few dudes for the ability to shoot some balls, it makes them their employee rather than a goddamn student. The trade-off of doing that is not worth it just so DeAndre Ayton can make a lot of money a year sooner than he would anyway. It's the "f*ck you, pay me" mentality that doesn't really work in real life, these guys aren't in that point yet.

And the fact that you need to bring up rodeo of all thing as an example of civility and overall human decency is kind of sad, but I'll indulge. How much money does a rodeo dude makes? And if more people cared about his sport, like they do about college basketball, wouldn't he make more money out of endorsement deals?