Who's using who?

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Who's using whom?
Colleges exploit kids as much as the NBA

This being March Madness, you’ll hear gushy TV talk about college hoops and the value of campus life. You'll hear how the kids leaving early -- or straight from high school -- for the pros don’t get the big picture. Money can’t replace an education, you’ll hear again and again.

You’re best to greet these pronouncements skeptically for obvious reasons.

College basketball is huge business for the TV networks and institutions of higher learning. The ACC and Big Ten pull in almost $5 million from conference tournaments, according to their most recent tax records. The Big East Conference reports nearly $8 million in postseason income.


Class of 2001
High schoolers taken in the first round of NBA Draft
Player Pos. High school (Home) No. Team
Kwame Brown C/F Glynn Academy (Brunswick, Ga.) 1 Washington
Tyson Chandler C Dominguez HS (Compton, Ca.) 2 Chicago
Eddy Curry C/F Thornwood HS (South Holland, Ill.) 4 Chicago
DeSagana Diop C Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) 8 Cleveland


So, the kids who cash in right out of high school -- the Kevin Garnetts and Leon Smiths -- might be the only ones who don’t come off looking like hypocrites. They’re basketball players, not serious students. Why perpetuate academic fraud and park them on a college campus for a season or two, banking on their physical skills and knowing they have almost no shot of earning a degree?
If you’re OK with this rent-a-player business, then don’t raise a stink when NCAA studies reveal the Arkansas and Georgia Techs of the B-ball world haven’t graduated African-American players.

Do you really believe Kwame Brown, if he hadn’t been the No. 1 NBA pick last year, would have played four years at the University of Florida? No way. Same for the other three high school kids taken in the first round.


Class of 2002
High schoolers who could enter NBA Draft
Player Pos. Ht., Wt. High school (home) College
Amare Stoudamire C 6-10, 245 Cypress Creek (Orlando, Fl.) Undecided
Carmelo Anthony SF 6-7, 210 Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) Syracuse
DeAngelo Collins PF 6-10, 225 Inglewood (Inglewood, Ca.) Undecided
Lenny Cooke SF 6-6, 210 none (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Undecided
Sani Ibrahim C/F 6-10, 225 Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) Undecided


This summer’s NBA draft is likely to include another handful of teenagers, led by 6-foot-10 center Amare Stoudamire. Word is Stoudamire may already have an agent and is a lock to enter the draft. Of the five players identified by NBA team officials and talent evaluators, only 6-7 Carmelo Anthony, a Syracuse signee, has the grades to attend a four-year school.
Stoudamire, who backed off a verbal commitment to the University of Memphis, has been enrolled in six high schools. Lenny Cooke has five high schools on his resume, but at 19 couldn’t play this season because he was too old. Sani Ibrahim is attending his third school in as many years since relocating from Nigeria.

Hopefully, these kids all will make a nice living in pro ball. But from the sounds of things, the last place they need to be is in a classroom taking up space. And the college game isn’t any worse for their absence.

"It just makes Dicky V and Billy Packer have something to talk about," cracked longtime hoops guru Sonny Vaccaro, an Adidas official. "You’re talking four or five kids of thousands, really. No matter how you feel, there is no basic argument for these kids not taking the chance."

Unlike last year’s kiddie corps, which accounted for half of the first eight players drafted, the 2002 batch lacks the overall size and doesn’t have anyone sniffing the top-pick in the draft. All five players, assuming they enter the draft, would still likely be selected late in the first round or early second.

According to one NBA general manager, Stoudamire is probably the best of the bunch, tentatively slotted in the first 15 to 18 picks. But Zac Schlader, who signed with Austin Peay, outplayed him in front of 25 NBA scouts in a December game.

The same club official doesn’t advocate Stoudamire and others go pro, but neither does he see any dire consequences. “If you don’t make it, you can always play in Europe where you can make six figures," he said. "It is not like you are barred from attending college as a regular student for the rest of your life."

Joseph Forte doesn’t have any regrets about leaving North Carolina after two years, though his early departure is certain to dull future NCAA graduation rates. He’s blunt about the deal -- he was on campus to hone his hoop skills.

And leaving early, even bypassing college, is a gamble hard to pass up.

“If these guys got to college, maybe they don’t develop into whatever they were supposed to be," said Forte, taken 21st overall by the Boston Celtics last year. "They have the hype now, so take advantage. Granted all them are not going to make it, but all the people who go to college and go to the pros are not going to make it. It is just a gamble.

"Some kids need the financial stability. Therefore, they go to the league."

Like March Madness, it’s just business.


Talent stuffers
Speaking of coveted teenagers, it’s hardly a surprise finding Duke with another recruiting bunch that may be best in class. The Blue Devils landed four McDonald’s All-Americans. And depending on how you play with the numbers, recruiting guru Bob Gibbons says they signed four of the top 20, five top-50 players and 6 of the top 100.


Top Recruiting Classes
School McDonald's All-Americans
1. Duke 6-11 Michael Thompson, 6-10 Shavlik Randolph, 6-4 J.J. Redick, 6-3 Sean Dockery
2. North Carolina 6-8 Sean May, 6-3 Rashad McCants, 6-2 Raymond Felton
3. Villanova 6-10 Jason Fraser
4. Michigan State 6-11 Paul Davis
5. Florida 6-3 Anthony Roberson
6. Illinois 6-0 Dee Brown
7. Maryland 6-8 Travis Garrison
8. Tennessee
9. Syracuse 6-7 Carmelo Anthony
10. Georgia Tech 6-10 Chris Bosh
Source: Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports

North Carolina gets a desperately needed talent infusion with three Big Macs and a couple raw big men -- 6-11 Damien Grant and 6-9 Byron Sanders. Word is Michigan State landed the best big man in Paul Davis, a 6-11 player in the mold of Dirk Nowitzki with perimeter skills.

The ACC has four schools in the top 10, with the surprise being Georgia Tech. Gibbons is high on 6-3 guard Jarrett Jack and 6-10 forward Chris Bosh . "Paul Hewitt may have gotten the sleeper of the whole thing in Bosh, a big guy who can make a difference," Gibbons said.

The 25th edition of the McDonald’s All-American Game is April 4 at Madison Square Garden. On March 26, many of the same players -- plus likely schoolboys-to-the-pros Lenny Cooke and Sani Ibrahim -- are booked for the EA Sports Roundball Classic at the United Center in Chicago.


Ground zero
The fallout from Nolan Richardson’s implosion should be intriguing and painful to watch. Money shouldn’t be an issue with Arkansas brass offering a $3 million buyout. But, if Richardson still has the coaching bug -- and all coaches do -- basketball people suspect he’ll have an extraordinarily hard time landing another college gig. They also wonder what recent events mean to his Hall of Fame hopes.
Thinking is Arkansas won’t replace him with an African-American coach. And some of Richardson’s parting shots could cut deeply into Razorback recruiting for years to come.

“He just lost it for about 15 minutes," said a college basketball insider. "It’s a shame whether you like him or not. No one deserves to go out like this."

Where longtime AD Frank Broyles goes for a new coach is unclear. Arkansas doesn’t have a coaching pedigree or pipeline to fall back on. Richardson has been the man since Eddie Sutton left for Kentucky in the early 1980s, and it would be goofy to hire a Richardson disciple in the current climate.

How the departure of Richardson weighs on recruiting is another daunting question. Arkansas’ hold on in-state and talent in neighboring Tennessee and Mississippi had slipped even before recent events, with an increasing number of top players lured to Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Mississippi State.

“It is tough job, especially with the damning statement [Richardson] made about ‘Why would a black athlete come there if not for Nolan Richardson?' " a source said. "And there is substance to that. I’m a firm believer that kids got to a school because of the coach, unless it is Duke."

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.