Case of the Mondays: The whole college system is a joke

Mondays suck… even around here.  So we're taking time out on
Monday's to make ourselves feel better and rant about something that
pisses us off.

After filling his stat line again on Saturday (16 points, seven
assists, three steals), Kentucky freshman John Wall said he had "no
choice" but to enter this year's NBA Draft.

That
echoed UK Coach John Calipari insisting to radio host Dan Patrick
earlier in the week that Wall would turn pro after this season.

"I joke about coming back, and like you say, he tells me, no," Wall said after UK's 101-70 victory over Arkansas on Saturday.

When a reporter noted that players must obey their coach, Wall smiled and said, "Yeah. I really have no choice."

Calipari told Patrick he'd wrestle with Wall rather than let the freshman return for a second UK season."

Coach might," a smiling Wall said. "He might pull my eye out. You never know."

Kentucky.com  (via SLAMOnline)

Ha ha ha… everyone get a nice good laugh at the mockery of collegiate athletics. 

Everyone is drooling over the possibility of John Wall in the NBA.  It's easy to see why.  The kid does seem to have a special feel to him.  In a few weeks, we'll probably be writing up a "Case of the Mondays" about teams starting to tank in an effort to get an edge in the John Wall sweepstakes.

But the way this is all being handled is just so sleezy (which should be no surprise since John Calipari is involved).  They're making a mockery of college and the system.  

College gets kids ready for real life.  For John Wall, real life means life in the NBA.  But life in the NBA is more than finding a lane to get to the rim or reading a defense to set up a teammate.  It's about being a grown-up… and dealing with grown up problems like everyone coming to you with their hands out.  Just ask Kendrick Perkins

“At the beginning, every one I knew had a hand out and I was spending like $200 and $300 a week. That adds up. It got to $11,000 a month. That adds up too,’’ Perkins said. “You have to learn to distance yourself from people, even if that means staying inside at home more. You know, out of sight, out of mind? That first year in the league was tough for me. You’re worried about offending people if you say no. But you eventually learn that you have to do it.”

In the NBA, no one is there to hold your hand.  I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm concerned about John Wall going to class and studying.  I know what's going on.  But that time in college is worth something beyond the B he's trying to pull in Intro to Western Civilization.  Being forced to go to class and try to maintain grades of any kind teaches responsibility.  It teaches kids they have to at least earn the right to play. 

But with the one-and-done already a foregone conclusion… Wall only has to make it through one semester of the bare-minimum, easiest classes Kentucky has to offer.  After that, he's done.  He'll barely have to do anything in the second semester because he knows he's gone. 

Life lesson lost.

Yeah, I know what you're saying.  So what?  If he wants to come out of school early, its his choice.  Hell, if he wants to come out of high school early, let him.  And the way things work right now, you might as well.

But I see the value in college.  I see the value in learning how to be a teammate… in learning how to hone your skills… and in learning how to become an adult.  In the end, everyone will benefit.  The players will be better, more mature, and more well known.  They'll go into the NBA with better skills, and they'll be better equipped to handle big-boy life with millions of dollars in their bank accounts. 

I'd prefer a minimum of two years in college… and if that's not possible, ditch the age requirement altogether.  Either solution ends this joke of a system.  Until either of those two things happen, college will be nothing more than a halfway house for potential NBA'ers that makes a mockery of what everyone else is trying to accomplish.