I’m sick of college basketball being one big NBA tryout

This Wednesday, my beloved Duke Blue Devils faced off against the University of North Carolina for the first of two annual matchups. As arguably the best rivalry in college basketball – maybe even all of college sports – it promised to be an amazing game. So amazing, in fact, that the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama was in attendance at Cameron Indoor Stadium to take in the magic.

Sorry, Mr. President, but we let you down. The Tar Heels crushed the Blue Devils 88-72 in a game that couldn’t be called captivating no matter who you were cheering for. It’s hard to blame one specific factor for the result, as Duke seemed to collapse in all areas. However, there was one moment that altered the game immeasurably – and dominated social media for the rest of the night.

Just 30 seconds after tip-off, star Duke player Zion Williamson slipped and fell to the ground. It didn’t look like a remarkable injury except for one thing: his left foot completely blew through his sneaker, the shoe falling apart like it was held together by spit and hope. Williamson was out for the rest of the game, and while Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski says it is only a mild knee sprain, sources say number 1 will not play Saturday in their rematch against Syracuse.

The video of the sneaker’s collapse made for good social media fodder, especially paired with the clip of President Obama mouthing, “His shoe broke!” But when it was pointed out that Williamson was sporting Nike footwear, all proverbial hell broke loose.

Nike has been ridiculed on Twitter for days, and stock in the company dropped 1.4% by 9am the next morning. That translated to over $1 billion in lost market value. The story even caught the attention of Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who tweeted, “Something is really wrong with big time college athletics.” The senator also retweeted others who pointed out that Williamson did not get paid for this Nike shoe deal, in fact gets none of the money poured into college basketball, and now risks losing millions if he is unable to play in the NBA.

Here is where I finally circle back to the title of this post - I’m sick of college basketball being one big NBA tryout.

Now, don’t take this to mean I am refuting the points made by Senator Murphy. On the contrary I am emphasizing them, and asking for us all to take a hard look at the true root of these issues. Division I college basketball (particularly the elite teams) have become an NBA factory, with top recruits playing one year before jumping ship to the lucrative contracts offered by the professional league.

As a Duke fan I have become very accustomed to this, and I know I am lucky to have that problem. But there is something inherently wrong with players seeing college as nothing but a temporary stepping-stone. Take Williamson for example: he has by all accounts a very minor injury. Yet, there are some who want him to sit out the rest of Duke’s season to avoid getting hurt again before the NBA can draft him. Let me repeat that – they want one of the best college basketball players in the country to voluntarily sit on the bench for the last month of the regular season and the NCAA tournament, because he’s just biding his time anyway.

Now, Williamson isn’t going to do that, and the pool of people arguing he should is very small. But the fact that it’s even up for discussion is a clear symptom of the larger issue.

There are an incredible number of resources put in to recruit and sign scholarship players for college basketball – not to mention that the players get a full ride to some of the most expensive schools in the country. All of that time and money spent, just for players to go to school for one year (and probably miss many classes for away games) and declare for the NBA. And then the cycle starts over again.

To be fair it is hard to completely blame the players – every year they stay in college is a year they lose out on millions of dollars they could be earning, and without having to do homework on the team bus. And as evidenced by the Williamson scare, staying in college means risking career ending injuries that can end an NBA career before it begins.

I have complicated feelings about college basketball players earning a salary, getting money from apparel sponsorships, or other changes that would turn the sport into a minor league NBA. That’s a longer conversation, but one that desperately needs to be had.

For now, I turn to basic reforms that have been proposed. First, allow players to declare for the NBA right out of high school at 18 – if they don’t want go to college and are talented enough to go pro, let them. If an individual does want to play college ball, include a contract wherein they agree to stay at the school for at least two or three years. Don’t waste the efforts of recruiters who will have to start over after one season, and don’t waste a free, high quality college education on someone who doesn’t want it. Again I am not shaming these players – a degree and typical career is not their path, and we should start acknowledging that.

Like I said, this is going to be a long, complicated discussion – the length of this post proves that. But it starts when we all agree that something is wrong, and it benefits teams, players, and fans alike when we try and fix it.

P.S. Get better soon, Zion. We need you.