I’m a stressed college basketball fan and I would be lying to tell you any different. This season has had more ups and downs than a usual season though and think I have an idea of why.
College basketball is in a changing state right now, mainly because the top players are no longer forced to go to college. They have options now and thank the lord for that. The top players can now go play overseas for a year out of high school and then return to the states to enter the draft, or stay stateside and enter the G league for $125,000.
Those are options that players have not had before recently and though most top high school prospects have still made their way to college campuses, the multiple options have started to thin out some college rosters.
Great college coaches make the programs they service. Without their leadership and overall program culture, teams would be lost. The top programs have the top coaches and in return recruit the top kids and maintain their status at the top of their respective conferences.
That coaching is more important than ever with the current landscape of college basketball, since those top prospects can now leave after one year of school and even take their talents to other arenas. With those options comes some pressure, pressure on 17-to-19 year old kids to make adult decisions that have a large impact on their futures and pressure on programs to be even more enticing than in past years.
So there lies the issue for college programs. As a Carolina fan, I’m watching it take a toll with every game of this season. Carolina has traditionally been a program built on post presence and teams built off the upperclassmen. This year is different. This Heels team is an inexperienced as any I remember; only made even more glaring by the amount of losses they have already racked up.
In an attempt to grab those top talents, Carolina has joined in as a school that goes after the one-and-done prospects, seeing as though they are usually the one percent of the high school classes.
Cole Anthony is this year’s one-and-done for UNC and his absence after an early-season injury has compounded into an already young team being forced to play even more guys that had yet to see that level of competition.
UNC isn’t the only team to experience this, they may actually be the last of the blue bloods, and that shows where the college game has gone. It has changed. Turnover of players is at an all-time high and it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon. Back-to-the-basket bigs are few and far between and so is senior leadership, as more options allow young student-athletes the ability to become young professionals. The difference is that when they move on to their careers millions of dollars come overnight and so goes the amateurism that protected them in their previous years.
Professional basketball is getting more competitive by the day and the gap is closing internationally. European leagues, along with the rest of the world, aren’t as far behind as they once were from a competition standpoint. Just look at the world championships and Olympics, teams are putting up much better fights compared to years past. Of course, some of that comes with the NBA players making business decisions on whether to play in those tournaments, but basketball’s global touch has only lessened the once enormous gap in talent.
Much like the talent increase that has taken place globally, the NCAA is experiencing a closing gap in talent. The blue bloods still have an advantage and first pick of the generational talents, but those are just the obvious talents. The rest of the hoopers spread themselves across the country, finding homes in comfortable settings based on what they like in the program.
College basketball is in a time of change and this season has made that point clear.
