Bob Knight rails on NBA minimum age rule...interesting take

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2771573


"Now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn't even have to go to class. He certainly doesn't have to go to class the second semester... That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports."
-- Bob Knight

[79Warrior]

The General is absolutely right.

[NYWarrior]

The General is absolutely right.

yes he is.   spot-on.

[ChicosBailBonds]

The General is absolutely right.

yes he is.   spot-on.

His comments about refs doing 5 or 6 games a week was quite good as well.

[augoman]

love him or hate him..., you gotta admit he's right!

[SoCalwarrior]

How is it any different than when a sophmore or Junior leaves early?  They can do the same thing and skip class if they know they are entering the draft.  The NBA age limit doesn't have any more effect on the integrity of college sports as it already faces with kids that leave before graduating.

Knight's comments came before the game with Texas, so it was obviously in connection with Durrant.  Who by the way is a 3.0 student and confirmed he will attend classes in the Spring. 

[augoman]

SoCal, I don't know the circumstances re his comments, but if a player is in for 1 year, they could slide right thru. whereas a soph or junior is at least going to have to remain eligible for the 2 or 3 years.  I guess his statement meant, to me, that the athelete would also have to be a student, if not just 'serving' a one year sentence.

[SoCalwarrior]

Yes, an NBA bound Freshman would only have to go to class for one semester opposed to a sophomore who may go three before dumping.  But I think the issue of integrity is more or less the same.  Sophomores and Juniors who dump their spring semester loads do it for the same reason as the Freshman.

If the NCAA or individual schools really cared, they'd enforce tougher criteria for the spring semester.    They're playing basketball during the Spring semester, so make attendance and minimum grade requirements mandatory during said semester. 

[drewm88]

You'd have trouble setting up regulations for grades requirements in the middle of the semester. You could potentially have only a small part of the semester's grade determined during the basketball season, and what happens if that small part happens to be bad for a player? They still have most of the semester to bring it back up, but they're ineligible?

[maxpower773]

The General is absolutely right.

yes he is.   spot-on.

His comments about refs doing 5 or 6 games a week was quite good as well.

Chicos, what has he said about the refs? I don't think I've ever seen anything about it, knowing him though seems like it'd be pretty interesting.

[SoCalwarrior]

You'd have trouble setting up regulations for grades requirements in the middle of the semester. You could potentially have only a small part of the semester's grade determined during the basketball season, and what happens if that small part happens to be bad for a player? They still have most of the semester to bring it back up, but they're ineligible?

A grade requirement would be tricky, but requiring attendance would not be.  The schools should be the ones policing this.  Look at the Blackledge situation.  I think he is fine by NCAA standards, but not by MU and the teams. 

[rocky_warrior]

It's at the end of the article originally linked:

n the subject of officiating, Knight did not let a public reprimand by Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg stop him from blasting game officials who work five or six games a week.

"To have some guy 54 or 55 years old referee six times a week is a real disservice to the kids who are playing," said Knight, who was reprimanded last week for criticizing officiating in one of his games.

"They have plenty of other places they can go. They can go to the NBA, they can go to the NAIA, they can go to junior college, they can go to high school. For years, the NCAA has hidden behind individual employment contractors. I think that's all [baloney].

"You say, 'All right, if you're going to work in this league, this is how you're going to work. And if you don't want to work in this league, fine, you've got other leagues to work in.'"

Knight said he would support an effort to have the Big 12 hire its own officials who do not travel the country working different games in different leagues several nights a week.

"But these guys are so greedy, they end up trying to work these six games a week. And they're not capable of doing that," he said. "Check schedules and you'll rarely see where kids play three games a week. These kids are 19, 20 and 21 years old."

[drewm88]

SoCal, you're probably right on the attendance thing. I know everyone misses classes, but considering that these  guys are probably only taking 12 credits, plus they get first pick on registration, they could probably handle it. (Not to mention the full ride.)

[DoubleMU0609]

SoCal, that was exactly the point I was going to make.  It should be up to the coaches of D1 basketball to impose their own standards.  I think it just makes MU look that much better that we actually do impose the academic requirements that we do. 

I seem to remember a few years ago the NCAA trying to crack down on graduation rates (Cincy) and having the MU program throughout its history as a good example of how to run an academically sound program.

[SoCalwarrior]

What sucks is that if the NCAA leaves it up to the school, then it's not a level playing field.  I'm sure others know the specifics, but Crean has an academic and attendance policy for his players.  If James says, I'm going to the NBA so I'm not going to class anymore - Crean would bench, suspend or expel him.  If Oden does the same (or maybe he's even doing) I get the feeling that Thad and Ohio St. would let him play since technically he's not breaking any NCAA rules.

[IAmMarquette]

What sucks is that if the NCAA leaves it up to the school, then it's not a level playing field.  I'm sure others know the specifics, but Crean has an academic and attendance policy for his players.  If James says, I'm going to the NBA so I'm not going to class anymore - Crean would bench, suspend or expel him.  If Oden does the same (or maybe he's even doing) I get the feeling that Thad and Ohio St. would let him play since technically he's not breaking any NCAA rules.

That's a pretty bold accusation. I'm more concerned with (and proud of) the fact that TC is willing to run a clean, honest program, than with what Thad & his 45-year-old freshman may or may not be doing in Columbus.

[spiral97]

hmmmm.. anyone happen to have any classes with DJ and able to report on how often he's there during non-away game times? 

[muwarrior87]

I don't have any classes with him but often see him around campus leaving or going to academic buildings which leads me to believe he's attending his classes. He also has one of the higher GPA's on the team so he's gotta be attending some stuff.

[drewm88]

From what I hear from friends, the players show up to class on a regular basis. I only have Fitz in one of mine, but he's there when the team's in town.
A buddy of mine had 3 players in one of his classes last semester (including Blackledge). I guess these 3, especially Blackledge, were near the last to finish tests on a regular basis.

[Untucked]

Knight is a frustrated old coach who knows he will never have players that will be good enough to leave after one year, ever again. The programs that are legit will have the kids still go to class. At some schools, the kids that stay for four years don't go to class very often.

Maybe a kid the would have gone to the NBA right out of high school, will stay in school after he finds out how much fun it is.

You know what is good for the integrity of college sports, beating up on you players, right Bob.