I know college basketball would eventually get to this point. I just didn’t think it would be this dramatic. College basketball as we know it is changing and COVID-19 has accelerated it in the past year. Because of the pandemic, the NCAA has granted players an extra year of eligibility and are allowing players to transfer one time without any penalty; they would be eligible to play immediately. This isn’t going to just be a one year rule though. Yes, the NCAA has made an exemption for this year but they are working on long term legislation in regards to the rule. I would imagine it is here to stay. This has resulted in over 1200 players entering the transfer portal as of April 5th. Check out the portal if you haven’t. If we only lose one good player to the portal then we are doing better than a lot of teams. Multiple teams have 4 or 5 players in the portal. It is something that every team is having to deal with.
This means that if a player is unhappy with their minutes or how they are being used then they can just go somewhere else. It essentially means college basketball has a free agency market. Now you have to recruit players to stay, players in the portal, and high school recruits. What makes college basketball great is slowly disappearing between the paying recruits scandals and the one and dones. Top recruits only see college basketball as a one year stop on their way to the league. They go to college for a year because they have to. They put up good numbers and showcase their skills and then they can leave. The G League hasn’t really taken off yet as a viable option as opposed to college even though several top recruits choose that route last year. College basketball still remains the farm system for the NBA essentially.
It is an amateur stop between the AAU circuit and the NBA. And let’s face it these guys haven’t been amateurs for 4-5 years when they step on campus. They play on teams sponsored by pro players or athletic brands such as Nike, Under Armor, or Adidas. They are then expected to act like amateurs in college. No wonder the system is failing. There is an argument that these guys need to be paid. They make the schools they play for lots of money. I don’t know how you would be able to figure out a correct amount to play each player. Obviously someone like Armando Bacot makes the school more money than Creighton Lebo or someone that sits on the bench or sees very few minutes. I don’t know if you could make that work. But these guys can’t even make any money off of who they are. They can’t hold autograph sessions or skills camps and make money. They can’t even make money off their social media accounts. These guys are their own brands when they enter college. The top recruits have enough followers to qualify to make money off of Instagram. I honestly wouldn’t have a problem if they made money off their “name, image, and likeness.” If the NCAA wants to claim that they are students first then let them be like other students. Again I don’t know if that solves anything. But you wouldn’t have these problems without the rise of social media.
I think the best solution is for the NBA to get rid of the “one and done rule.” Just let kids go to the NBA right out of high school. Other kids can get a job right out of high school so let these guys go to work. Some of them will end up being duds and won’t make it, but you can’t save everyone from themselves. Lebron went straight out of high school and so did Kobe. Both guys rank as some of the best players to play in the league. And let’s be real, Zion didn’t need to go to college. Neither did Cade Cunningham for that matter. Let these guys go get paid. Now one and dones will still happen (ex. Coby White), but i believe there would be a lot less of them. The nba seems to draft based on potential and high school/aau production then they do the one year of forced college.
Another problem seems to be the attitude of the current players. And I’m not saying it is all of them but it is definitely a factor in the decline of college basketball. Again these guys are their own brand and have the attitude that college is a one year stop on their journey to the NBA. It is a “me before team” attitude. When these guys don’t get the minutes they feel they need to showcase their skills or feel like the coach isn’t using them correctly then they stick their head in the ground. Kessler entered the portal because he claims he wasn’t being used in the way he wanted to. It was well documented that his dad and Roy had a slightly heated discussion. It was a big factor in Kessler transferring. Kessler’s daddy trusted Roy when Kessler committed and now you don’t trust him after one year where Kessler was behind the rest of the team due to 2 covid pauses? Get your head out of your ass papa Kessler. I know he was a standout at Georgia but I had to look him up. He was the 93rd pick in the 1986 draft and didn’t even make the Clippers roster. So calm down bud. Let your kid make decisions for himself. Put your ego aside and tell him to work harder and keep at it. Don’t tell him to transfer. If you go anywhere else that is worth a damn then you are going to have to complete with other great players for playing time. That is how big time programs work.
Now I know Love and Bacot decided to come back even though Bacot is testing the NBA waters. He made it pretty clear he is doing so to get feedback on what he needs to work on, so I am pretty confident that he will be back. But their dads’ ambiguous tweets were ridiculous. Seriously guys grow up. These are grown ass men running their mouths on social media. Your sons take after you by the way. My ultimate point is that parents are too involved. This isn’t an AAU team where your best friend is your son’s coach, this is D1 college basketball. Let the coach do his job.
The style of college basketball is evolving and Hubert has said that he will evolve the Carolina system to fit the modern style of college basketball. The game is getting away from having 2 bigs in the post. In the NBA you have to be able to handle the ball, drive, and shoot a jumper to be successful even if you are a forward. There are very few forwards that just bang in the post these days. This is trickling down to the AAU level as more forwards are focusing on being able to stretch the floor. There are less and less true post bruisers in the game. The way the NBA drafts is also changing. Before, if you were on a championship team it was almost a lock that you would be a lottery pick. Now they are drafting on potential more than skill which is why Sharpe is listed in the late 1st to 2nd round. Joel Berry was the Final Four MVP in 2017 and he went undrafted. Times have changed.
Hubert is evolving his system because players wouldn’t buy into Roy’s any longer. A hall of famer got run out of the game because his players would no longer listen. The current landscape of college basketball pushed him out. Roy loves coaching, building relationships, developing players, loyalty (the man loves unc). College basketball is no longer about any of those things. Roy isn’t going to be the last coaching domino to fall. I would imagine Coach K, Leonard Hamilton, Jim Boeheim, Jim Larranga, Tom Izzo and other older coaches retiring within the next 5 years. Carolina isn’t the only school that will lose its veteran head coach. We just got a head start of other teams. Maybe we will have it figured out by the time those other guys retire.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that experience wins championships. The players’ focus isn’t necessarily on that anymore, but Carolina is about winning nattys. Baylor started 3 juniors and 2 seniors. Scott Drew has also done a great job of recruiting and landing transfer players. There have been very few teams that have won a championship with one and done players. Experience will continue to win championships. Being Carolina, we can’t stop recruiting the top guys, but finding recruits like Kerwin Walton become even more important. Finding the lesser ranked guys that will build your program is key to championships. Walton was the lowest ranked player from the past year’s recruiting class, but he was arguably the most valuable player. Hubert Davis’ ability to find those Kerwin Waltons will be essential to his sustained success. He has reached out to Walker Kessler and from what I understand those discussions are on-going. It would be huge to get him back. Hubert has also reached out to Transfer Noah Locke and Justin McKoy. The conversation between him and McKoy was apparently a really positive one. Hubert has officially offered McKoy. He has also reached out to Jonas Aidoo. Aidoo would be an addition to this year’s recruiting class if we could land him. He decommitted from Marquette after Wojo was fired. He is from North Carolina and I feel as though we would be the clear frontrunner if we offer him.
The college basketball landscape is changing. Hopefully we can keep up. Link to the transfer portal is below.
calm down. we will be fine. our lineage speaks for itself especially the one that is a heritage of coaches that look after the player's best interest knowing that is also unc's best interest. class of 72. i have watched them all.