I’d like to start off by stating a fact that many of you who have ever watched sports with me already know:
I really do not like Jay Bilas.
It started as a purely personal thing. I would find him commentating West Virginia games with increasing frequency, and it just seemed like he never pointed out anything good that my Mountaineers did, choosing instead to only highlight what they would do wrong. The dislike carried over as I watched him comment in a manner that I deemed unfair against other random teams I decided to watch on a slow weekend. I would find myself thinking, ‘Jay Bilas is the last commentator I want talking throughout my game.’ And yet there he always was: my nemesis, Jay Bilas.
And yet… when I see him comment on non-game related topics, usually the state of college basketball, I usually cannot help but agree with what he says. It’s an extremely confusing dichotomy in my head- the primary job of a college basketball commentator is, after all, to commentate- that I find myself agreeing with my nemesis more and more in non-game, ideological type conversations that may not matter to many… yet nothing is more important to me than the philosophical, political type conversations regarding different aspects of college sports.
This morning I found myself in a similar predicament while watching college gameday. I’m only half listening as I clean up the inevitable mess that plagues my room every Saturday morning from whatever shenanigans were going on in the previous night. So I pay little attention as Reese and company offer seemingly random amounts of money to some undeserving pretty boy that ESPN producers think visually represents the average student at whatever university (today was Michigan State). Suddenly, though, my attention is commanded by a conversation that seems to come from nowhere. The CGD crew has started to talk about basketball players more and more are declaring for the NBA draft after their freshman year of college. The first commentator to speak is, of course, Jay Bilas. His argument is fervently against the so-called One and Done’s because it hurts every aspect of the entire draft process. The player doesn’t fully develop. The team suffers from the loss of a potential four-year player. The NBA suffers from underdeveloped talent. The list goes on. Finally, Bilas summed up his argument by saying that no one is in control of the situation, and freshmen will continue to declare and hurt everyone involved until someone takes charge, or is given control, of the situation. He recommended a chancellor to govern NCAA basketball and set some ground rules regarding draft eligibility, pointing to the “baseball rule.”
(For those unaware, the rules regarding baseball are something like this: you may declare right out of high school, but should you choose to attend a collegiate baseball program, you must play for three years before again being eligible to declare for the MLB draft)
Well, damn. He’s done it again. The chancellor suggestion is enough to raise a few eyebrows, especially considering all the controversy that Roger Goodell has caused in the NFL’s version of an active judiciary. But overall, it’s hard for me not to agree with him. I had the treat of watching the east regional final in last year’s college basketball postseason, a 73-66 win for my mountaineers over the Kentucky Wildcats. Win or lose, though, it was one of the most exciting basketball games I think I’ve ever watched. Watching that game, it was hard to deny the raw athletic ability of John Wall and co. Still, when I watched Rome is Burning the next day, I completely agreed with Jim Rome’s analysis of the game. Despite a matchup that was probably a wildcat win on paper, a veteran, disciplined WVU team pulled out the win. Here lies the heart of the Freshman phenom problem. As talented as every freshman on that Kentucky squad was, they were still beatable. They were exposed. They were flawed. John Wall was terrific- but his lack of basketball IQ showed at times. DeMarcus Cousins was a dominant force in the paint- but his maturity level was definitely freshman. These are players that would have benefitted from more time on the college level. Do you think NBA coaches and assistants want to have to deal with all of the stress it takes to coach in professional sports, PLUS teach rookies things they should have learned in a four-year college career? And take a moment to think just how good Kentucky would have been should they have kept that entire recruiting class for four years. That team would have been absurdly good. A national championship would be considerably more than a distinct possibility.
…and that’s all for naught. Cousins now plays for the kings, John Wall for the wizards. And though they were briefly reunited in their romp of the sophomore NBA players, their combined force will never again be what it could have been, and should have been, another epic three years of college basketball at the University of Kentucky.
Realizing a lot of players do it for the money, Jay Bilas followed up his mini-speech with another one-liner that I was forced to agree with: “Do you think Grant Hill has ever wished he had more money?” Of course he hasn’t. Grant Hill, a successful four-year player from Duke, has enjoyed a long and very prosperous career in the NBA. In the long run, John Wall will make millions of dollars. I don’t think declaring a couple years early for the NBA would change the fact that he will be a multi-millionaire for a very long time.
And I will even go a step further than Jay. You know all that “parody” that’s going on in college basketball lately? No one seems to have an answer for its source. I’m not saying this is the only reason, but I think it’s definitely one. Top tier programs that are used to their 25 and 30 win seasons are still getting most of the top recruits, but they’re not staying around. You know who is staying in college for four years? The second-round draft picks at these middle-of-the-road and mid-major schools who are developing into complete players over four years. You can take your 1st round draft picks all day- I’m gonna back the team with the experienced players and the teamwork that can only be built over multiple seasons of blood, sweat, and tears. Ask Kentucky who’s gonna win the matchup of those two teams.
No player has ever been hurt by extra practice or extra coaching. No player has ever been hurt by an education. Right now, we fans are watching good basketball; I’d like to get back to watching great basketball. One-and-done’s, I’m looking at you.
So is my nemesis, Jay Bilas. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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