What changes should be made lieu of the FBI probe?

Should "one and dones" be eliminated? i.e. guys be allowed to go straight from high school.

Should shoe companies and agents be allowed to simply pay players under the free market system?


Should universities be allowed to pay players?


Should no changes be made at all?

"One and done" should be thrown out. There should be no artificial barriers for adults to enter into a labor pool. If you are good enough to play right out of high school go ahead.

Universities should pay players but at the same time make academics matter. If they are getting paid they should be attending class and actually doing work.

Agents should be able to talk to/enter into business with college players after their Junior or Senior years.

"One and done" should be thrown out. There should be no artificial barriers for adults to enter into a labor pool. If you are good enough to play right out of high school go ahead.

Universities should pay players but at the same time make academics matter. If they are getting paid they should be attending class and actually doing work.

Agents should be able to talk to/enter into business with college players after their Junior or Senior years.

Allow players to enter the draft after high school.
If a player chooses to go to college, they are ineligible to enter the NBA until after their sophomore season. They can go to the G-League or overseas if they want to leave early.
Allow college players to be paid for appearances and receive shoe contracts.

Stay away from universities paying players; that opens up Title IX lawsuits and prevents other sports, which bring in no money, from demanding equal pay.

Yeah i agree, especially in regards to universities paying athletes. The corruption really only occurs with High major kids. i.e. NBA prospects. Mid and low major kids aren't being paid and neither are D2's D3's and NAIA. Why should the kids that don't really generate revenue or contribute to winning be paid? Scholarships should suffice for those sort of players.

Market based forces, which is the main reason behind paying them in the first place, takes effect if you allow shoe companies and agents to pay the players. Quasi socialism prevails otherwise.

This is one of the issues I agree with Bernstein on. If the NCAA went away I would be completely fine with that.

The NCAA should be paying these kids. They should also be allowed to enter the pros once they are 18. If the NBA wants a minor league system or uses the D league for the kids fresh out of high school, I am fine with that.

But I hate the NCAA so much and am so tired of seeing them get rich off of free labor.

I think the NBA is working towards establishing a minor league system for every team. The G league is supposed to be that but not every team has a G League affiliate. There are 26 G League teams in existence currently. Once they have one for each NBA team it should be a no brainer in terms of eliminating one and dones. The caliber of basketball In the G League would be much better than what college basketball has to offer anyway.

I think the NBA is working towards establishing a minor league system for every team. The G league is supposed to be that but not every team has a G League affiliate. There are 26 G League teams in existence currently. Once they have one for each NBA team it should be a no brainer in terms of eliminating one and dones. The caliber of basketball In the G League would be much better than what college basketball has to offer anyway.

It probably already is and it can't draw flies which is why I contest the relationship between player and school is symbiotic (not directed at you, just continuing my point)

They will be able to draw flies once they're able to pool from the top high school stars each and every year. There are a number of college teams (Chicago State) that don't draw either. Once they leave College Basketball strictiy to guys that have no chance of playing anywhere professionally the symbiotic relationship means nothing.

Even with the one and done system you still get to watch future No. 1 overall draft picks. Once you remember that from the equation you will be stuck with the type of talent that Depaul has had for the past 10-12 years. They will be playing for your Purdues and Georgetowns instead of Illinois State. College Basketball is really about your blue blood programs. Once the caliber of talent depreciates the interest will wane also.

The overwhelming majority of college fandom today is cheering for players who are not future pros.

The game isn't even marketed as an opportunity to watch future pros.

The development league teams are better right now than college teams (save, possibly for less than a handful) and yet no one is watching.

The developmental league is littered with fringe NBA players right now. ONce it becomes populated with guys that are in teams plans then it will become more popular. The G league isn't designed for that anyway. The NBA is simply looking to cut out the middle man in the developmental process. It will be designed for people that have no business going to college.

When you state that college basketball isn't driven by future pros oh yes it is. There is much more interest in the teams that have future pro prospects. Look at the interest that Oklahoma has generated this year alone. Trey Young is part of ESPN's marketing campaign for college basketball. Which coaches generate better shoe deals Coach K or the guy at Wichita State? When you talk about Billion dollar contracts for College basketball they're referring to Duke and Kentucky not UIC. When was the last time UIC has even been on ESPN by the way?

If it is about a "symbiotic" relationship between fans and school then why don't UIC Depaul and Chicago State draw? Why did Oklahoma have its best single game attendance number in 9 years this Dec.? Why did UCLA's attendance suffer Pre Alford?

As much as we like to romanticize about the purity of college sports crappy teams don't draw. No one wants to see a bad product. You remove the McDonald All Americans from college teams and push them towards the G league and the interest in college basketball suffers tremendously. No one wants to see guys like Eli Cain play basketball. That is what you'd be left with

Good teams without future pros draw. Alternatively bad teams with good players do not, as evidenced by the Kennedy era at DePaul

You are more sophisticated than to think Oklahoma is the same school as UIC, DePaul and Chicago State. There are so many factors beyond the presence of Trae Young that it is not worthy of discussion.

UCLA has always sent players to the pros so comparing pre and post Alford attendance only strengthens my position that it isn't individual players that are driving interest.

Dilute the overall talent in the NCAA but allow Kentucky to continue to be a winning franchise within that diluted context and UK fans will continue to show

When the product was down they didn't come out to UCLA to watch basketball. There was a difference of about 2-3,000 in the final year pre Alford.


If Kentucky is the tallest midget I still believe there'd be a drop in attendance. The ratings for college basketball would surely take a hit as well. We won't know for sure unless these changes take place but I'm interested to find out. I'm sure that there has been a dip in U of I's attendance also.

Depaul is a tad different than the other local schools too. There was a time when Depaul was big box office in this city. The actually have a rich tradition but they have put out a garbage product for 20 years. They had 1-2 years under Leitao but aside from that they have been garbage. There are many in this city that long for the Halycon days of Aguirre. People aren't excited because the team stinks.

There was a four year window between the end of the Westbrook years and the beginning of Alford years. UCLA produced Darren Collinson, Jrue Holliday and Norman Powell as future NBA players during that window.

Darius Bazley, high school senior and top prospect for the 2019 NBA Draft, has retracted a commitment to Syracuse and intends to enter the D-League this fall, possibly carving a new path to the NBA, as Yahoo’s Shams Charania reports.

Get the NCAA to fold