10 comments A Look Back at LeBron James in High School

This isn't bad journalism really, but I thought it was a pretty fun read and a great example of how much the NBA can change in 10 years. This article is also a good example of those who leech themselves to young high school stars in the hopes for a payday down the line. Somehow I stumbled upon an ESPN the Magazine "Next" issue with a column about then high school junior LeBron James. It was written by Tom Friend and it partially shows the dark side of high school celebrity and has a few Antoine Walker mentions, which is just fantastic. Friend spends some time with LeBron and I get the feeling pretty much everyone was using "Bron Bron" back in the day for their own purposes.

There's this boy/man/narcissist out there, impersonating an NBA player, except he's 17 and still subject to a Catholic high school dress code. He lives in a two-bedroom Akron apartment, with an Ann Iverson clone

At the time "Ann Iverson clone" was code for "over-exuberant parent who the television cameras constantly show as she cheers for her golden ticket to keep performing well on the court."

Got like 50 pictures of MJ on my wall -- that's all you need to know about me," the phenom says. "Got Iverson, McGrady, Magic and Kobe on there, too. And myself. I'm on my wall

Clearly LeBron's ego was in full force at a very young age.

He goes out in public reluctantly, with a Celtics cap tugged low over his eyes

So LeBron is a big fan of Michael Jordan who plays for the Bulls, Allen Iverson who played for the 76ers, Tracy McGrady who played for the Magic and Magic/Kobe who played for the Lakers. Yet, he goes out in public wearing a Celtics cap? I don't think I'll ever understand this.

He's got a two-way pager on one hip and two cell phones on the other -

A pager! Welcome to 2002, everyone!

because he never knows when Antoine Walker might call

What's funny about this is now NBA players don't keep a cell phone on their hip because they are AFRAID Antoine Walker might call.

"Yo Bron, can I get some money? I'll hit you right back as soon as I get paid. Just a few bucks for the next week."

"Shoot, we were at Applebee's one day

And Antoine Walker was your server? He gave you your food (half-eaten by Antoine of course) and then did a shimmy back to the kitchen?

and Antoine Walker did call," says a buddy named Frankie Jr. "And he put him on hold. How can you put Antoine Walker on hold?"

In 2014, it's quite easy and probably preferable to put Antoine Walker on hold.

His home games are on pay-per-view for $7.95 a pop in 14 Ohio counties, and a Dec. 12 matchup with national power Oak Hill was scooped up by ESPN2. "I hope Kobe watches," the kid says. He wanted Dickie V to do the broadcast -- because it's not like he'll be playing on Big Monday next season -- but there are more important things to worry about.

I vividly remember this game and I also vividly remember watching this game on mute because Dick Vitale was calling the game.

He needs to pick a sneaker company, insure his body for at least 5 mil and cross his fingers that the judge goes easy on his surrogate father. 

I know how it can be to have to pick a sneaker company while hoping the judge goes easy on my surrogate father. It's like, "Should I do sneaker research in the court room or would that hurt my body I just insured for $5 million?"

Not since Lew Alcindor has a high school senior been hoisted this high over the bean stalk, and there's an entire basketball public tripping all over itself in anticipation. Michael calls him "Young Buck." Shaq is proud to say, "I'm in his Rolodex."

Years later when the Cavs are desperately attempting to appease LeBron and keep him in Cleveland they gave him a late-career, typically overweight Shaq as a present. Even then, Shaq was probably glad to be in LeBron's Rolodex...since I'm sure LeBron has a Rolodex. LeBron probably thinks a Rolodex is a knock-off of a Rolex.

"I mean, it took Kobe three years," says Dru Joyce II, the God-fearing St. Vincent-St. Mary's mentor who makes James do 10 push-ups every time he curses. "But everyone expects Bron to go right into the NBA and dominate. And I'm concerned about the kid."

Yeah, nobody makes LeBron do push-ups these days. He hires people to do push-ups for him.

Not so concerned that he objects to moving most of LeBron's home games to a college fieldhouse. Not so concerned that he won't accept the free adidas shoes and uniforms that Sonny Vaccaro sends in bulk. Not so concerned that he won't let LeBron James wear monogrammed "LJ 23" adidas tees, sweats and sneakers.

Ah yes, the dark side of these helpful high school coaches. They are helpful and want to make sure a star high athlete stays grounded but only when it doesn't benefit them. Joyce just wants LeBron to be a good person and be surrounded by as little hyp---wait, are those the free sneakers from Adidas? Joyce ordered the whites ones with the blue stripes and these are blue with white stripes. Send that shit back!

(Joyce does 10 push-ups on LeBron's orders)

The kid has charisma -- "Charisma? He's a damn fool," says his mother, laughing -- but he's also oblivious to the flaws of his inner circle. An ex-con is handling his business affairs. Another ex-con wants to tell him he's his biological father. Even his own mother, Gloria, has been seen trading adidas gear to gain entry to local bingo games

And I wondered why "The Decision" seemed to be handled so poorly. It's hard to remember now, but man, LeBron's mom seemed to really bask in the celebrity of her son didn't she? I mean, giving up free Adidas gear to gain entry to bingo games?

It is no surprise that he already refers to himself in the third person -- "LeBron stays humble by just being LeBron," he says -- or that he shouts "King James!" or "You sorry!" after he's dunked on you

Don't dunk on LeBron though, Nike will straight take that tape away so it can't be shown.

It is no surprise that his surrogate dad wants him to play for the Knicks -- "Mecca, Mecca," the man says; or that the NBA is already thinking about putting him on the 2004 Olympic team

The same team that became such an embarrassment it changed how USA Basketball went about choosing the players on each team and forced them to call in Coach K to win a gold for them in the next two Olympics. I have no doubt USA Basketball reminded him that he could subtlety use these Olympic basketball players to recruit players to Duke.

"Hey look, it's a picture of Coach K celebrating a gold medal with 12 really good NBA players that I look up to. I can't believe that just happened to be on the wall during my recruiting visit beside the picture of Coach K with Jay-Z and his two gold medals. What a coincidence!"

He doesn't post up yet

This didn't really change until LeBron joined the Heat and realized, "Oh shit, I am stronger and more powerful than the guy guarding me. Perhaps I should get closer to the basket?"

Scouts like that he's a people person, and predict he'll make a better teammate than Kobe

That's like being a faster sprinter than Rebel Wilson.

They say he'll be a distributor as a rookie, a go-to guy by Year 2 and on a Wheaties box by Year 3.

Move all of those projections up one year and that's about right.

He shops at the NBA Store, just gave up soda for spring water,

You mean Vitaminwater? Because according to that article, LeBron had been drinking that stuff since high school.

The real LeBron James gets inundated with free sneakers, so he gives them away for nothing in the school cafeteria, shouting out trivia questions like, "Who did we beat in the state playoffs last year?" 

Or, "How many bingo cards will this pair of shoes get my mom at this week's big bingo tournament?"

The real LeBron James once got reprimanded by his coach for wearing his shorts too low, so he pulled them up like Urkel for a week.

This was adorable when LeBron was in high school, but antics like this in the NBA gave morons like Skip Bayless a chance to knock LeBron for all of his perceived shortcomings.

The real LeBron James tells his posse they can live with him for his entire NBA career -- or at least until he gets married

LeBron didn't get married until this past Fall, so I'm sure his posse got a good decade of free rent in before LeBron didn't kick them out of the house.

"Yep, he gets called Dumbo, Airplane, anything you can come up with," says friend and teammate Sian Cotton. "We treat him like anyone else. Of course, he says he's gonna get all of us cars after the NBA draft. Tells us whatever kind of truck we want we can get."

Yeah, these teammates who want to live off LeBron found out they may get a truck from LeBron, but he can't live their lives for them otherwise.

The best estimate -- or at least what the St. V's program says -- is that he's 6'8", 240. But like most everything else with LeBron James, it's an absolute guess. The general public has been hearing about him for 2 years, ever since he was the nation's No. 1 prep as a sophomore, but his evolution can be broken down into two stages: pre-6'6" and post-6'6".\

LeBron's "evolution" can be better defined as "When LeBron's family and friends realized they can make money off James because he's so tall and good at basketball." Bottom feeders unite!

He had little stability in his early years, because of a father who never checked in and a mother who scoured the want ads. "When I was 5, some financial things happened, and I moved seven times in a year," LeBron says. "We moved from apartment to apartment, sometimes living with friends

I'm guessing "financial things happened" means LeBron and his mom were poor. But don't worry, we will learn about Gloria James' work ethic in a minute. She was up to do any job, just as long as she didn't have to wake up early in the morning. Not that LeBron was her meal ticket or anything. Not at all.

Her name is Gloria Marie James, and she's a testy, diminutive woman with a serious set of lungs: "I'm loud, can't help it." She got pregnant at 16, and it's been just her and her "Bron Bron" ever since. She says the father was a casual sex partner named Anthony McClelland, who by now is well-known within the state and county penal systems. He's been convicted of arson and theft, to name just two of his many transgressions, and he certainly wasn't the one to help Glo out of her monetary hardships.

It's almost like she should have chosen a better casual sex partner. I'm going to tell my kids that all the time. When choosing a casual sex partner, make sure this person won't be in jail and has money so he/she can help you out financially. It's the smart thing to do. Just don't go choosing a casual sex partner lightly, always ask for criminal records and the latest bank statements before agreeing to any casual sex contract.

Glo's always been late to bed, late to rise -- "I ain't into mornings"

Now I can see where LeBron got his work ethic from. I can't help but wonder if the "financial things" were in any way related to Glo's late to bed and late to rise lifestyle she kept?

According to Akron court records, she's been cited over the years for playing music too loudly, criminal trespassing, contempt of court and disorderly conduct. It's something she plays down -- "There wasn't any drugs involved" -- 

Oh, well then carry on. Nothing to see here.

I'm going to use this reasoning from now on when I didn't do something I was supposed to do to see how far it takes me.

(My boss) "Why did you not show up for work during the month of September?"

(Me) "Well, first off, I don't do mornings anymore. It's just a personal decision I've made."

(My boss) "You didn't show up during the afternoons either. Explain that to me."

(Me) "There wasn't any drugs involved."

(My boss) "That's good to hear. Speaking of hearing good things, do you want a raise?"

but it was never trivial to her son. Out of shame, he stopped going to elementary school, instead spending his days walking back and forth between his apartment and the corner store. "In fourth grade, I missed 82 days of school," LeBron says. "Out of 160."

For fear of judging another person's parenting style, I'll just say I bet Gloria doesn't want LeBron to remember this as he hands out nice shit to her now. LeBron doesn't have a very good relationship with his father and his mother should feel lucky that LeBron likes her. I mean, she didn't exactly give him such a stable environment. This article is almost reading like a cautionary tale more than it reads like the introduction from ESPN to the LeBron James success story.

When his coach, Frankie Walker, noticed LeBron didn't return to school after fourth-grade Christmas break, he quizzed some of the other parents and learned that Glo was looking to find LeBron a more stable home. After consulting with his family -- wife Pam and kids Chanelle, Frankie Jr. and Tanesha -- Walker volunteered to take the boy in.

It takes a village, right? I think this phrase is most commonly used by people who want others to take care of their child for them.

"I don't want to give the impression that Glo just dropped LeBron off on our doorstep," Pam says. "It was important to him and to her that they maintain their relationship. So, wherever she was staying, he went with her on the weekend."

Oh, well I don't feel like Gloria just dropped LeBron off at all. When she wasn't busy not taking drugs, sleeping in a little bit and being unable to hold down a steady job she took care of her child. It's a good thing LeBron could play basketball, that's what I think.

From reading this article, I wouldn't think this letter would get written twelve years later.

With Glo, LeBron would go to bed after Jay Leno; with the Walkers, he had bathrooms to clean and couldn't talk back. He didn't miss one day of school in fifth grade, and at the end of the year he took home the school's attendance award. "Best award ever," he says.

Doesn't this read like the cautionary tale of a successful high school athlete who had a shaky upbringing and then wasn't able to make it in the NBA due to having the wrong support system around him? LeBron had all the traditional red flags.

No father in his life (check)

Mother is shaky presence in his life. (check)

A ton of hype around his high school exploits. (check)

"Friends" who surround him and could very well only be looking to ride his fame. (check)

Coaches who care about him, but get their part too. (check)

Yet, 12 years later LeBron wasn't a cautionary tale about what happens when a high school athlete is hyped too much and the bottom feeders close in...not at all.

the Walkers wouldn't hear of it. They had this ritual of baking LeBron a German chocolate cake on his birthday, and hosting him every Christmas Eve. And rather than lose him, Pam and one of her friends found Gloria a permanent apartment.

And after dominating a series of tournaments, he found himself rated a top-five national prospect.

He also had a certain gleam now, because he and Glo had their own place. Pam Walker still drove him to school every morning, but after practice he wanted the gang over to his house now.

Because I'm jaded, I even think the Walkers may have wanted to hitch their wagon to a star...at least just a little bit.

Then, the summer before 10th grade, lightning struck. "I remember sleeping over at his place," Sian says. "We woke up, got some cereal, and I'm like, 'You grew two inches last night!' I swear, he grew two inches overnight! By the end of the summer, the dude was six-six something."
Six-six three-quarters inches. Exactly.

Glo was in the money now! Her Bron Bron done become a commodity!

The first sign of chaos was when he showed up at St. V's driving a Navigator. Those weren't his wheels -- they belonged to an ex-con -- and that's when the negativity kicked in

I mean, now LeBron is driving a car given to him by an ex-con. Again, doesn't this scream "cautionary tale" to you? These hangers-on and people who do favors for LeBron before he was huge (on the premise he would get huge) could easily have dragged him down. It's also disturbing how grown adults attach themselves to these young kids in an effort to make some money or get a favor done (okay, to get money) down the road. 

It was hyperbole, of course, but the talk had enough merit that shoe companies, investment firms and even Shaq needed someone to call as a go-between.

The ex-con, he was that guy. His name is Eddie Jackson, and he'd been one of Glo's boyfriends from the formative years. When he actually resurfaced is up for debate, but the LeBron regulars don't recall seeing him at any AAU games before the eighth grade

I'm going to need flow chart at some point. So Eddie Jackson was one of Glo's boyfriends, while LeBron's dad was a casual sex partner. Now using a Venn diagram did they ever overlap at any point to where Glo outsourced her sexual needs to LeBron's dad while dating Eddie Jackson for her emotional needs (i.e. cash money)?

Oh, and it doesn't take long for the hangers-on to show up, does it?

They never saw Glo, either -- "LeBron would look up in the crowd for her," Frankie Sr. says -- but from eighth grade on, Eddie and Glo never missed a free throw.

"What, I knew he was gonna be an NBA prospect in the eighth grade?" Eddie says. "Come on. That's hideous."

Exactly. Why show interest in LeBron if you don't know he will be an NBA prospect? It's hideous to know LeBron is an NBA prospect in the 8th grade and attend his games to support him. What's the point of being at the game if there isn't anything in it for you?

And if Eddie hadn't already done 27 months for drug trafficking in the early '90s, his presence might have been more palatable.

So Eddie would have been there earlier to bottom-feed and take advantage of LeBron, but he was just in jail? There was drugs involved too, so I'm sure Gloria did the best she could to keep Eddie away from LeBron. 

But he showed up at the Walkers' one Christmas Eve to give LeBron a PlayStation 2, and as the teen grew past 6'6", the gifts grew too. Last year's whopper was a '95 Ford Explorer.

Or not.

"Absolutely, I gave him the car," says Eddie, now a concert promoter and a drug-and-alcohol prevention counselor. "When you got a kid that's a 3.0 student and dominating the country in basketball, you get him whatever the hell he wants."

It seems Eddie stayed away from drugs and alcohol, at least until February 2014, but made up for his lack of being arrested by getting involved with a mortgage scam. But there wasn't no drugs involved, so I'm sure Gloria had no issue with Eddie showering LeBron with gifts.

This was the world LeBron had to somehow make sense of, and he began to confide more in Eddie than in folks like the Walkers. He asked Eddie to join Gloria as his financial adviser, and began calling Eddie Dad

LeBron turned out to be a success, but this still has all the makings of a disaster doesn't it?

But the battle for custody of LeBron's size-15 feet was only just beginning. Nike's George Raveling will be glad to know that James wears Air Force Ones in practice and once switched from adidas to Nike at halftime of a bad shooting night

Hey, Air Force Ones. Remember Nelly?

When a reporter asked Glo if LeBron would consider skipping his senior year, she chirped, "Who wouldn't?" By now she had become the town's unofficial loose cannon. She'd attend games in a "LeBron's Mom" jersey, shouting, "Yeah, baby, we going to the bank,"

This is LeBron's mom. How in the hell he turned out to be the kind of person he is I won't understand. It's always inspiring to hear about a parent using their child as a future personal ATM and attempting to bask in the spotlight of that child's talent.

and rushing the court whenever an opponent low-bridged her son. 

Gotta protect that investment. All that nice shit Glo wants isn't going to pay for itself and getting a job that involves waking up early if LeBron don't make the NBA isn't an option either.

With the fire marshal worrying about SRO crowds, most of LeBron's games were moved to the U. of Akron's 6,000-seat JAR Arena last season. The town just couldn't get enough of his 37-inch vertical and his topspin passes, and the kid was turned into a cash cow. The school has reportedly earned $200,000 to $300,000 by playing the larger venue, more than enough to buy a new sound system for its matchbox gym. "Who paid for that sound system?" Glo growls. "Bron did. And do you know they want him to pay almost $40 a year to park at school? Let me get out of this school before I get nasty."

$40 a year to park at the school? Some things just aren't fair at all. If high school athletes can't preferential treatment while getting placed in the spotlight to where that athlete will eventually make millions then that's not a world I care to be a part of.

It was inevitable, but Glo says LeBron's biological dad wants back in. Problem is, McClelland has been found guilty of theft five times and just got arrested for theft again on Nov. 12. LeBron is vetoing any meetings. "I keep that somewhere far, far away," he says.

Shit, he can't get back in now. Glo has spent a lot of time protecting her investment and then LeBron's dad wants to come back in and exercise his parental rights? No way. If you can't take the time to use Le---to raise LeBro---to hand LeBron off to another family then you don't deserve to be a part of his life.

LeBron's dad still isn't in his life by the way. 

Though the Big Fella gave him a thumbs up, he was nowhere near as intrigued as the Cavs' Lucas, who had worked out Kobe in high school and had long itched to see LeBron. "I kept hearing he was better than Kobe," Lucas says. "So I went to see him play at an AAU tournament and stayed 11 hours. Stayed 11 hours looking for a weakness

Then the Cavs fired John Lucas as the head coach before he could ever coach LeBron.

Last spring, Lucas invited James to an informal Cavs workout, then watched him dunk on Jumaine Jones and jam backward over Chris Mihm

Dunking on Jumaine Jones and Chris Mihm. Welcome to the club on that one.

But it was the kid's point guard skills that floored the coach, so much so that Lucas has no regrets about the two-game suspension and the $150,000 fine he received for bringing LeBron in

Guy pays $150,000 fine for bringing James in to practice with his team, then the Cavs fire him before he can actually coach LeBron. Also, it isn't hard to see why the Cavaliers fans were so pissed that LeBron took his talents to South Beach once he became a free agent. He was a homegrown star and the Cavs had invested in him pretty early in his high school career.

And then, thankfully, came a dose of reality. At a summer AAU game in Chicago, LeBron was undercut on a dunk and broke his left wrist. Pros like Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson were in the stands, but left as soon as they saw the kid weeping in Glo's arms. "I was like, 'Why me?' " James says. "I hear 'broken,' and I'm thinking I'm out a year, two years."

Clearly, that 3.2 GPA LeBron was sporting in high school didn't include a class on anatomy or any basic medical education. Such as, it doesn't take two years to recover from a broken bone.

At the time, Eddie was facing prison again (his sentencing for mortgage fraud was scheduled for Dec.11), and LeBron started re-evaluating. It wasn't his fault everybody around him had their calculators out. He nearly broke his neck when he tore down a rickety rim in Stow, Ohio, a month ago, but when the Stow athletic director wouldn't let Eddie have the rim as a momento, Jackson yelped, "We'll sue you then!"

That's just Dad, always looking out for his Bron Bron.

Glo chimed, "Sue, baby, sue! It'll be a sweeeeet Christmas." 

This is a very heartwarming story to hear.

So the AD said, "I'll give it to you for six autographed basketballs," at which point Glo told him, "You probably want six [favors] instead."

And quite frankly, the only one who gets favors is Glo and Eddie. How is Glo going to get into those bingo games if Bron Bron spends all his time autographing shit for other people?

"People ask me if it's a hard decision going to the NBA, but I've made harder decisions," he says. "Decisions about smoking or going to school, or stealing from a store or not stealing. Those are harder decisions. Yeah, I smoked weed. When it's around family, around friends, of course you want to try it. I tried it a couple of times. But when you get on the court and your wind ain't there, that's when you've got to just stop doing it.

Again, very heartwarming to hear it's around family. Let me think about which family member was using these drugs.

(Puts on sarcasm hat) It couldn't be Eddie because he's a drug and alcohol counselor now and would never use drugs. It couldn't be the Walkers because they were kind enough to take him in. It couldn't be LeBron's dad because he has no relationship with his dad. And we all know from the "Mommie Dearest" stories and the fact Glo ain't been arrested on no drug thing that she would NEVER use drugs. Besides, she's so level-headed any drug use on her part seems impossible.

It's a side of Bron Bron nobody has really seen since … before he was 6'6". Maybe he's finally growing up, maybe not. But when asked by friends what he wants for his 18th birthday later this month, LeBron James doesn't flinch.

He wants German chocolate cake. At the Walkers'.

But he better not think about signing anything. The only ones who can use LeBron are close family. Close real family.

This article appears in the Dec. 23 issue of ESPN The Magazine. You can watch LeBron in action Thursday Dec. 12 on ESPN2 -- followed by NEXT -- at 9 p.m. ET.

After publishing a column that partially shows how people around him are taking advantage of LeBron and exploiting him for their own financial gain, ESPN decides they wanted in on the action and will exploit LeBron for their own financial gain. You have to love ESPN that way. 

0 comments Let's Pretend to Hold a Chat with Dick Vitale

I've fallen a little behind my Dick Vitale chats. For that I apologize. So I am coming back today with a greatest hits from three of Vitale's latest chats. We all know Vitale is more focused on talking about anything except college basketball if given the opportunity and this is especially true during games Vitale is actually broadcasting. Vitale is like some other ESPN analysts in that he doesn't always enjoy answering direct questions and instead prefers to talk in cliches, or give vague answers. Vitale's chats are what happens where Dan Shulman isn't there to interrupt him and get him back on track...pure madness ensues.

In the comments of the last Vitale chat I covered it was speculated that Vitale isn't really answering these questions because many of the answers resemble answers from Joe Morgan's chats with the misspellings and some of the phrasing. I like to think Vitale is by himself in an incredibly bright room answering these questions in a loud, obnoxious voice and reading the answers aloud while making furious hand motions as he is typing. That's how I like to think about it. It would hurt me to believe Vitale is dictating the answers by phone to a Chatmaster who is actually doing the typing. I also like to think ESPN tells their analysts the fastest way to get the chats over quickly is to not give direct answers and frustrate those following along in the chat. That would explain a lot. Let's get to the first chat for today.

Grant Kruszewski (Erie)

Do you think that Ohio State can win the Final Four?

(Dick Vitale reads from a piece of paper without ever looking up in a monotone voice as if it were a statement written by a PR firm so as not to offend anyone...)

DV: Ohio State is one of the leading contenders and thy have an outstanding team. They cover all three areas of the court -- the post with Sullinger, the point with Craft and the wing with Buford. When you cover those three areas you have a chance.

Thanks Dick! So if you "cover" (what the hell does that even mean?) all three areas of the court you have a chance to win the Final Four.

Congratulations College of Charleston! You have the second leading scorer in the Southern Conference, the second leading rebounder, the leader in steals (who is also second in assist-turnover ratio) in the Southern Conference. You have all three areas covered. You have a chance to win the Final Four!

I get what Vitale is saying as a generality, but in his vague answer to the question he doesn't realize covering three areas can go for quite a few teams. Not to mention, there are various other reasons Ohio State could win the Final Four that are more relevant.

Now in response to a question about NC State, Vitale responds:

I am impressed with the spirit, enthusiasm and energy Mark Gottfried has bought to the program. I tweeted about that yesterday at twitter.com/dickie v.

WHY MUST YOU INSIST ON ASKING DICK VITALE QUESTIONS DURING HIS CHAT HE HAS PREVIOUSLY ANSWERED? Before asking any questions, search through every medium of communication Vitale has, which includes his web site, every game broadcast, his Twitter, his Facebook page and every previous chat. Don't waste his precious time asking him to repreat himself when that time could be better used talking about a non-basketball related topic or could used to discuss which honor Vitale has recently received for being so damn awesome.

Lucas (Quincy, IL)

Dick, who do you think is the key to Kentucky's season? Also, UK was 10-6 in the SEC last season. Do you think they will improve on that record this year? Will you be in Rupp tonight?

Three questions? Good luck with that.

DV: Very simple, the key is Marquie Teague.

This must be Jeff and Marquis Teague's less "street" and less talented brother, Marquie, that is the key to Kentucky's season. I'm guessing he is a walk-on.

It is one of my favorite places to go to, you feel college basketball when you walk into the arena.

Don't fall for that "feeling college basketball" thing. I went to basketball game in junior high and an older, trustworthy-looking gentleman invited into a dark, private room to feel college basketball. I never felt college basketball, but he did get arrested.

I think Kentucky could improve on last year's SEC record though the league is very good.

"I think Kentucky will do better than 10-6 in the SEC, but of course they also may not do as well as last year, but aren't you glad you asked me since I am supposed to be an expert? Want to hear a lengthy monologue on a topic that has nothing to do with your question? You don't? Here goes anyway."

JESalukillini (Decatur, IL)

So does the Illini looking like that they maybe a suprise this year? Is Sam the Man at point?

Oh sweet Jesus, this question just made every English teacher in America and the world cry tears of sadness.

DV: This is an important season for Bruce Weber and the Illini has been playing pretty well. That was a good win on the road against Maryland.

Great answer if the question were, "Is this an important season for Bruce Weber and how well have the Illini been playing this year?" Otherwise, I am booing right now. I wish I could answer these questions for Dick Vitale. I would answer that Illinois could surprise this year, but they have to rebound and shoot the ball better. Brandon Paul needs to cut down on his turnovers and shoot the ball better, but once he starts doing this Illinois could win a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. Not shooting the ball well and not rebounding well isn't a good combination though.

The middle of the Big Ten is going to be very tight. Ohio State is still the team to beat clearly.

Mostly because they have all three areas covered. It doesn't really matter if Ohio State is the team to beat, this person was asking how Illinois will do this year.

BoB (Neverland)

Better freshman at the moment: Bradley Beal or Austin Rivers?

DV: Wow, that's a tough one. I like both of them a lot.

BUT YOU ONLY CAN CHOOSE ONE! Rivers or Beal? It's an opinion-based question. Choose one. Go!

Florida has such athletic guards.

Irrelevant. Rivers or Beal.

Rivers has to cut down on turnovers a bit but he is so special as well.

You didn't say the Florida guards were special, you said they were athletic. There's a difference and not need to include "as well" at the end of this sentence.

Spoiler alert: That's it. That's our answer. Dick moves on to the next question. Glad he's here to chat and not answer questions. (Bengoodfella looks down at index card in his hand like he is a game show host) The correct answer was Bradley Beal. Bradley Beal is what we were looking for as the better freshman at the moment.

I am excited to see the battle of Goliaths between North Carolina and Kentucky on Saturday. Until someone wins at Rupp, I give the slightest of edges to the Cats.

I like Vitale phrased this sentence. So until someone wins the game, Vitale gives the slightest of edges to Kentucky. After someone wins the game, who knows which team Vitale will believe has the edge? Maybe Kentucky, maybe UNC. It's too soon to tell.

On to the next chat.

I am excited to work with Mike Patrick as we are re-united for the first time in three years, it should be a lot of fun.

It should be a lot of fun as long as you aren't watching or listening to these two broadcast a Duke game on ESPN. Let's just say both broadcasters sort of like Coach K and are overly complimentary of Duke. To the point I am making, I tend to spend most of a broadcast mocking Mike Patrick's constant praise of Duke by using sexual inthewindows (No lie. I edited a third year education major's paper in college and it had that phrase spelled exactly that way in the paper, just with spaces between words. The person who wrote that phrase is now a principal. Public schools everyone!) about what Patrick may or may not be doing with any free hand he may have in the broadcast booth during the game. I believe Mike Patrick gets very excited while watching Duke.

I would guess Mike Patrick's children are named Trajan Taymon Patrick, Battier Wojciechowski Patrick and J.J. Laettner Patrick. The newest edition to the family is Nolan Singler Patrick. Patrick done loves himself some Duke. So the long form answer is I am usually not excited to see Vitale and Patrick together. One of them I could handle, both of them I struggling dealing with.

Paul (Orlando)

Dick what is your scoop and opinion on the talent of Dion Waiters?

DV: Waiters, I just put up a tweet.

Interesting response and I have three ways I think this bizarre response could have occurred:

1. Vitale thinks this is Dion Waiters asking the question. No Dick, this isn't Dion Waiters asking the question. The question is being asked about Dion Waters.

2. Vitale is ordering food at a restaurant while doing the chat and wanted to tell the waiter he just put up a Tweet, but accidentally wrote this in a response to a chat question about Dion Waiters.

3. Vitale would prefer Paul from Orlando wait for his question about Dion Waiters to be answered while Vitale finishes a Tweet.

Ray Stinger Jr (Pittsburgh)

Dickie V!!!!! What in the name of Paul Evans is going on with Pitt?

DV: Obviously the transfer of Birch did not help. They have not gotten the same execution on offense that they have in the past. It is a mystery to many involved.

I'm certainly glad there isn't anyone who gets paid to analyze and explain these types of mysteries. Why doesn't ESPN hire someone full time to do this? This person could also analyze college basketball games on television and do weekly chats.

Dusty (St. Louis)

Thomas Robinson played 19 min last night and had 19 pts and 12 reb. He has to be the leader for POY right?

DV: If you go to my website he was my choice of Midseason POY.

Why the hell are you asking Dick Vitale a question he has answered on his website? He isn't chatting with you to answer your questions, but to explain to you how excited he is to be chatting with you, broadcasting games and publicizing his Twitter, Facebook, or website. Damn you Dusty from St. Louis and your insistence on asking questions about college basketball!

Ben (Chicago)

Should Illinois be more excited about Paul's performance against OSU or Leonard's play vs. Sullinger? What effect do you think this game has on the rest of both teams' seasons?

DV: Excited about both. Paul was brilliant, off the charts, shooting 28 percent from 3 before the game.

Yes, Illini fans should be excited their guard with questionable shot selection, who can also be offensively inefficient, is getting positive reinforcement from a great performance in one game. Paul has played well since this game, so Vitale is actually correct about this part of the answer. I simply feel like Vitale should point about Paul's brilliance in one game needs to result in better shot selection, which it sort of has I think.

Leonard's development has been exciting too. He may get himself into the lottery.

There's nothing wrong with getting into the lottery in case playing in the NBA doesn't work out.

Mitch (Georgia)

Know it's still early, but what do you think of Bama's chances this year for the tournament? If they can get a bit more consistent from beyond the arc, do you think they can make a deep run come March?

DV: The Tide has been a little up and down

Ba-da-boom! Dick Vitale, inadvertent comedian.

Mike (Tampa)

Dick, I like what I am seeing from the UNC lately, they seem to have stepped up their defensive intensity, particularly on the perimeter. However, I am concerned that the 'down' ACC will not provide enough of a battle test for the 'big dance', your thoughts?

This was written on Thursday and on Saturday UNC lost by 33 to Florida State. I'm not saying I enjoyed this, but merely pointing out how this (presumed) UNC fan was worried the ACC wouldn't provide enough of a test and then UNC got their ass kicked on the road.

I also want to thank all of my fans who helped me get over a quarter-million followers on Twitter. As I promised, I will be giving special prizes to my twitter fans.

You will do the rest of your broadcasts with the microphone turned off?

And now for the last chat.

I am looking forward to calling the NC State-North Carolina game tonight...I am also excited because there is a camera crew with me doing a reality show.

"I'm excited to do my job, but I'm also excited because I have found a way to put more of the focus on me. It's all about me, baby!"

That is exciting, baby! Let's get to your questions.

Once that's done, let's get back to the more important issue...which is the camera crew following Vitale around doing a reality show. I'm guessing this reality show would feature Dick Vitale screaming at different people or inanimate objects during the day and would be marketed towards those people who had lost most or all of their hearing.

Greg (Syracuse)

Games seem to be getting longer and longer and I believe the NCAA needs to make some rule adjustments. Several I can think of that would be easy. 1) Team that calls TO before getting the ball across mid court does not get another 10secs.

The NCAA may not make these changes but they should offer free English lessons to anyone in the Syracuse area who may need them.

2) Teams ahead by 15 points with less than two minutes get the option of taking ball out of bounce instead of shooting.

So they have the option of deflating the ball and taking the bounce out of the ball? I'm not sure this seems very fair.

DV: I would like to see them widen the lane and get big guys away from the basket. Adopt the NBA rule with a minutes left, I think those would be positives.

It seems Greg from Syracuse got Vitale to answer his question. Perhaps the key is to write in semi-mangled English and then Vitale can understand exactly what you are asking.

JW (Knoxville)

Do you think the Pack is finally back notwithstanding tonight's game in Chapel Hill (probably a loss)?

DV: You cannot assumer that is a loss tonight, you cannot tell that to the kids.

You can't assumer that JW from Knoxville. So don't go in the Pack locker room and tell them they are going to lose. I know you were going to do that, JW. Don't tell that to the kids! Those Pack kids have a chance to beat UNC at home, dammit!

(They didn't have a chance. NC State got their ass kicked)

He learned a lot on the UCLA staff with Jim Harrick

Gottfried learned how to file false expense reports, have a relative give athletes a grade for a class they never attended, commit academic fraud and then tell his players to lie to the NCAA?

Rob (Chicago)

Marquette is currently tied for 2nd in the BE with Gtown. Their two losses in conference were on the road to Gtown and Cuse, but have won 5 in a row since. Do you think they have what it takes to hang onto a second place finish and maybe challenge for regular season BEast title?

DV: Marquette is a dangerous basketball team, very tough mentally with some experienced players like Johnson-Odom and Crowder.

Why does Dick Vitale answer these questions like he's reading from a script? Does he want to avoid saying Marquette can't get a second place finish and challenge for the regular season Big East title? He is being asked a question. Answer it. Yet, he doesn't. Any further thoughts, Dickie V?

I like the job Buzz Williams has done.

But he doesn't like the job Buzz Williams has done enough to give an opinion on how well Marquette will do in the Big East.

Jimmy (Winston-Salem, NC)

The ACC is known for its basketball. The Big four (Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, and NC State) were once automatic contenders every year.

How sweet. Jimmy from Winston Salem thinks Wake Forest is part of "The Big Four." This is a pet peeve of mine. Let me be a snob for a minute. Maybe for a brief period in the 90's there was a "Big Four" which included Wake Forest, but overall I'm not sure I throw Wake Forest in that discussion. "Big Four" indicates these are four powerful teams who are actual national contenders and Wake Forest has really only been that when Tim Duncan played there. I'm not sure any national observer would consider Wake Forest to a part of a "Big Four" in the ACC. If anything, I think Maryland would be a part of any "Big Four" in the ACC. Seeing as they have continued excellence in the 80's, 90's and 2000's.

So Wake Forest isn't an automatic contender every year, nor were they ever except for two years in the 1990's. They have five Sweet Sixteen appearances since 1984, two Elite Eight apperances and won the conference tournament twice since 1962, and were regular season champion twice since 1995. That's just not the sign of a team that is an automatic contender every year, at least on a national level. It would help Wake Forest turn it around if they quit firing their successful coaches and hiring friends of the Athletic Director to coach the program.

Will we see this kind of dominance in the ACC again? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ACC DICK!?

We will never see the imaginary dominance NC State and Wake Forest have had in the ACC over the last 20 years (mostly for Wake Forest). Probably because it never happened. I'm not trying to be mean, but while NC State is the college with a huge inferiority complex, Wake Forest is the school that seems to believe it belongs with the big boys of the ACC and I just don't know if it is true as they seem to think it is. They are a good program, but not in the upper echelon, at least in my mind. Maybe I know too many UNC fans who are snobbish like me and just happen to agree with me on this.

DV: Talent level is not what it has been in the past but they have teams to think about up top with Carolina and Duke.

The ACC has one quality national contender in the conference. UNC. Whoop-de-doo. Let's not put Duke or any other team in the ACC up there as a national contender, Dick.

Virgnia and Fliorida State are very good, recruiting is going to go up and the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh will help. It often goes in cycles.

The correct answer is the last sentence. The ACC had some average coaches recently and it hurt the conference. The ACC has many, many new coaches so hopefully these coaches will start to build up their respective programs and the conference will be strong again. If not, who cares? There are a lot of good conferences and college basketball is still fun to watch.

Nils (Frankfurt, Germany)

Hi Dicky V! Please answer! I have never gotten to ask you a question before... What are the chances that my Gophers will make the NCAA tournament? Also what are the chances Mbakwe comes back next year? Thank you!

DV: Minnesota is a potential bubble team. Right now they are close but they need to win some more games

Wait, so Minnesota has to win more games to make the NCAA Tournament?

Connor (Connecticut)

How do UConn's chances look? They cant seem to get over the loss of Kemba

DV: Kemba Walker was a rare and special player, he carried them to a national title.

Yes, he did Mr. Robot Dick Vitale.

The absence of Boatwright is a major blow for them and the team really misses him. I think Jim Calhoun has been disappointed with the team's lack of chemistry.

So...UConn...How do their chances look again? Any answer for that? Nothing? Great. I'm just glad you don't get paid to give answers to questions about college basketball.

Ian (Indiana )

What happened to Kansas?

Is that you, Dorothy?

DV: Tyshawn Taylor has been playing well as I have said, the Big 12 goes through Lawrence...go ask Baylor about that.

(Bengoodfella goes to ask Baylor about this. Scott Drew hands me a suitcase full of cash as I leave and offers to hire my AAU coach if I play basketball for them. I explain I'm not a recruit and then he takes away the suitcase and an Escalade parked out front with a bow on it pulls away.)

I'm just kidding. Scott Drew doesn't pay his players or give them illegal benefits. He is just a reall, really good recruiter.

Scott (Georgia)

Which mid major do you think has a better chance of making it to the Elite Eight or even Final Four, Murray State or Creighton?

DV: After seeing what Butler did the past two years, I think there will be a lot of attention paid to the likes of Creighton, Wichita State and murray State.

Doug McDermott is one of the best players in America and Creighton can be heard from. If you consider San Diego State and UNLV as mid-majors, they will be up there too.

So.........................................Murray State or Creighton. Which of those two teams, not the three other teams you mentioned, have a chance to make it to the Elite Eight or even Final Four? Nothing? No answer? Great.

Samuel Ginaven (Iowa)

Who is the better player? Royce White from Iowa State or Draymond Green from Michigan State?

DV: Both players are contenders for All-Big 10. Both are very important to their teams. Hard to say. Green is so versatile.

We never get an answer, naturally. Though someone writes in to Vitale during the chat and corrects him about the conference Royce White plays in and Vitale then manages to spew more non-sensical crap that doesn't really count as in any form of an answer because it is clear Vitale may not have heard of Royce White.

I meant to say both are valuable in their respective leagues and should be on their all-conference teams. Both are vital to their squads.

Yeah, we get it. Both players are valuable to their league, their squad, their church and humanity in general. Which is the better player? We will never know. But we do know both players are important to their team. I feel educated.

I am excited about the ACC showdown tonight in Chapel Hill.

Just don't tell the NC State kids they don't have a chance at winning!

(Turns out NC State didn't have a chance at winning)

I have also had a lot of fun with a group given full access the last few days and following me around for this reality show.

"Everyone remember I have a reality show following me around. Me, me, me, me, it's all about me baby!"

We walked on the bach this morning,

Later you ran through a field of Mozarts?

It is a lot of fun for me.

Clearly more fun than answering questions in a straightforward manner about college basketball.

11 comments UConn's Women's Basketball Team Could Not Beat a Division-I Basketball Team

This may be the post where I offend a ton of women, if any women read this blog, or they may completely agree with me...I don't really know. We may have talked about a subject like this before, but I don't recall it. I think UConn's women's basketball team would lose a game to any Division-I basketball program that has enough scholarship players (five) to field a starting lineup. The source of my thought concerning this is Gene Wojciechowski's column on this issue. I respect women's sports, but the answer to this question isn't even in doubt in my mind.

But he can't have it both ways. He can't break UCLA's historic 88-game win streak, say basketball is basketball, but then become a miserable bastard when I ask one simple question:

Could Auriemma's No. 1-ranked UConn women's team, winners of 90 (and counting) in a row, beat the 345th-ranked -- last in Jeff Sagarin's Division I computer ratings -- Centenary men's team, losers of 14 (and counting) in a row?

My answer is a simple no. Centenary only has four scholarship players so they could possibly be beat depending on how good the non-scholarship players are, but I think any Division-I team that has enough scholarship players to field a starting lineup could beat the UConn women's team. I don't say this out of sexism, but out of the acknowledgment there are physical differences the women's team could not overcome. Basketball is basketball, but basketball is also a sport where the physical differences in talented players shows up the most. A team that is physically more talented than another team (all things being equal) have a built-in advantage. That is what I think the case would be here. This isn't even including the discussion on the Centenary men's basketball team is athletic or more athletic than the UConn women's team.

"If I had 13 scholarship guys, I would say we would absolutely win," said first-year Centenary coach Adam Walsh. "Seeing that we're competing with four scholarship players, I don't know."

Walsh laughed when he said it, which is better than I expected. I expected him to slam down the phone or ask Tucker Carlson to demand I be executed.

Topical reference! References like this are what makes Gene such a great (bad) sportswriter.

Instead, it's about trying to quantify just how amazing the UConn women are -- and doing so in terms guys can understand.

Really, I don't know if it is that complicated. Can a men's Division-I college basketball team beat the very best women's basketball team? That's the question and I don't think it involves a difficult answer. What the UConn women have done is amazing in the context of women's college basketball, just like what high school football teams that go undefeated is admirable in the context of high school football. Outside of the context of high school football, say that team was to go against a Division-I program,. then the high school team would likely be out of its realm and lose.

Walsh has watched Auriemma's Huskies.

"They're pretty good," he said. "I don't think a men's scholarship program loses to them. But I've had that debate myself. I think most coaches have had that debate."

I feel bad for however many Division-I college basketball coaches are asking themselves if their team can beat the UConn Huskies women's basketball team. I know some nights it may feel like a real question to these coaches, but it doesn't even seem like a real question to me. There is more that goes into a successful team than height and athleticism, but I simply think in a 40 minute game the Centenary men's basketball team would wear down the UConn women's basketball team...as long as there wasn't a different set of rules when it comes to fouls and the physical play for the women.

"It'd be tough for us," said Walsh of a UConn-Centenary matchup. "I'm sure it'd be tough. I'm not dealing with scholarship guys. And that's no disrespect to the guys I have."

No, that is partial disrespect for the guys you have and mostly respect for the UConn women's team. It is partial disrespect for the guys on the team because athletically they should be able to beat a team of women (that isn't an All-Star team) and it is respect for the UConn's women's team because that team is really good and has been for a while.

Memphis beat the Gents by 64. Tulane beat them by 41 and LSU by 42. Marquette won by 29. Summit League opponent Oakland recently won by 27. Centenary plays hard, but it has only one player averaging double-figure points (Maxx Nakwaasah's 10.8). Its two tallest players (both 6-foot-8) average 1.5 and 1.4 points, respectively.

All of these teams are comprised of basketball players that are men. The Gents have two players that are 6'8" and though height isn't the end-all-be-all, these players each have a 3 inch height advantage over the tallest player on the UConn women's roster. So the Gents would have a clear rebounding advantage when those players are in the game. UConn has five players that are over six feet tall and Centenary has two players that are shorter than six feet tall and their weight ranges from 160 pounds to 245 pounds. I couldn't find the weights of the UConn women's basketball players, but I am assuming there isn't any player on the roster coming close to 245 pounds.

And Walsh's five leading scorers are 6-3, 6-6, 6-5, 6-0 and 6-1.

The entire starting lineup is not only comprised of men, who are probably stronger and more athletic than the UConn women's roster, but they are also all over six feet tall. This is an advantage when it comes to the UConn players getting a shot off on offense and rebounding. It is also an advantage when it comes time to substitute players into the game. Naturally, it will be more physically demanding for a women's team to play a men's team as compared to them playing a women's team, so I would assume the bench would be used more. The players coming off the UConn bench, like Samarie Walker, who plays the 5th most minutes on the team are going to have to also play at a high level to beat the men. It's not just about talent on each team, but the talent of the depth.

UConn's starting five goes 6-5 (Stefanie Dolson), 6-0 (Moore), 5-11 (Kelly Faris), 5-10 (Tiffany Hayes) and 5-7 (Bria Hartley).

I respect the hell out of Maya Moore but I question whether she can play power forward against a men's basketball team. That's the position she would have to guard and even against the smaller (for a power forward) presumed power forward for Centenary she would be giving up 5 inches. Take the fact they are talented women out of the equation and just look at the heights of the players for UConn and a team that is taller at every position would have an immediate perceived advantage in rebounding.

Throw in the fact they are women, even if they are highly athletic women, and they are still going against highly athletic men. So just on paper, it seems the men's team would have several physical advantages before even taking the court. Would UConn possibly give the Centenary team a run for their money? Maybe, but I think Centenary would win.

Tennis had Billie Jean King versus Bobby Riggs. Softball had pitcher Jennie Finch against major league players (they came, they saw, they whiffed).

This is a terrible comparison to Billie Jean King versus Bobby Riggs. Jennie Finch did throw well against major league players, but these players did not play softball. It's a different sport from baseball. I can understand the comparison if the major league players had trained for a period of time and played softball competitively, but hitting a softball is different from hitting a baseball. So while what Jennie Finch did was impressive, I am imagining if the major league players had dedicated their lives to hitting a softball they would have been able to hit her fairly effectively.

So why not the UConn women against a Division I or II or III men's team one of these days? Make it a preseason exhibition game. Designate a percentage of the proceeds to a charity of each program's choice. The V Foundation. Breast cancer research. Whatever. There are hundreds of worthy causes.

Because there is absolutely no upside to doing this. A Division-I men's team has no incentive to prove they can beat a women's basketball team. If they win, it was expected of them and if they lose they could possibly never recruit another basketball player again. Even when Centenary goes Division-III (which they are planning on doing), they may have a tough time recruiting. Sad...but true. There's no incentive for a Division-I team to set up this matchup.

UConn's women's basketball team has more incentive to set up a matchup, but not as much incentive as Gene would think. If the UConn women's team happened to lose, everyone who says negative things about women's basketball and the streak of 90 straight games UConn won in a row would feel vindicated. If the UConn women's team happened to win, then it would have been worth it to them. If they lose that game, then it will be a step back for women's sports in some respects.

I guarantee you it would get boffo TV ratings. At the very least, it would get bigger numbers than what the Huskies got for grinding Florida State into pepper flakes when they broke UCLA's consecutive win streak.

I realize ratings are the food that keeps networks going, but simply because this game would get good ratings doesn't mean it would be good for men's or women's college basketball. Sure, I would probably watch, and I don't want to sound cocky, but I don't think this would be good women's basketball because I think UConn would lose. Is it too much to ask that the Huskies accomplishment stands on its own? Why do these women have to compete against men?

No one is petitioning to see if the San Francisco Giants could beat the champions of the Japan league (though this would be somewhat different since it doesn't cross genders) to see how good they are, nor is anyone asking for women and men to compete against each other in other sports. It is not that bad keeping men's and women's sports separately instead of having them face off as if this answers every gender-based sports question for the next year.

It wouldn't matter who won the game.

No, I really think it would matter. Gene is telling us it wouldn't matter if the women beat the men or if the men beat the women? No matter the outcome, it matters and conclusions will be drawn.

The game would be a gimmick, a chance to prove that women's basketball doesn't need to prove a thing

This is stupid. The game would be showing that women's basketball DOES have to prove a thing. They will have to prove they can beat the worst Division-I college basketball men's team. They will have to prove their sport isn't a sport of inferior athletes. Specifically in this case UConn would need to prove their run of 90 straight games is on par with the UCLA record during the John Wooden era. Having this game would be entirely about proving something.

Instead, you'd play the game for the right reason -- for the fun of it.

Aren't all athletic events designed to be played for the fun of it? Isn't that the point of sports?

I respect women's basketball, but the differences in the men's college basketball game and the women's college basketball game would be too much for them to overcome to beat a Division-I men's college basketball team. In a one game playoff, I think the men win.

Now an All-Star team of women's college basketball players versus the Centenary team may be a different story...maybe.

10 comments One-and-Done Will Never Be Done

This time of year many sportswriters and pundits start talking about the NBA's one-and-done rule. Many people hate it (mostly everybody), but other people don't hate it (either NBA fans or the NBA itself). Personally, I don't care for the rule, but I don't care if it gets changed or not. I know that may not make sense to anyone necessarily, so I will explain. I think a player should be able to go straight to the NBA after high school if he wants, but if he goes to college he should stay at least two years. What I like about the one-and-done rule is it allows me to see great high school players play basketball in college for at least one year, but what I hate about the one-and-done rule is it pretty much makes a mockery of the "student-athlete." So while I do enjoy seeing athletes who would normally go to the NBA after high school, the one-and-done rule doesn't seem fair to me.

There is a common misconception the article for today clears up. The one-and-done rule isn't for college basketball, it's for the NBA. It was the NBA specifically who wanted the rule so they could prevent high school kids who aren't ready to play in the NBA from coming straight to the league out of college. Apparently the NBA got tired of stories like Taj "Red" McDavid's gaining sympathy (and making the NBA look bad for "misleading" these type players) and thought this could be prevented by forcing athletes to stay in college for one year and let the NCAA handle the problems this causes. Thanks, NBA!

I have covered this topic somewhat before, but there was an article I wanted to cover on NBCSports.com that talked about it more in length. I, of course, had some comments on the article that I wanted to share.

With all due respect to the rest of the field, the odds are favorable that coach John Calipari and his talented flock of freshmen will be trimming the nets, hugging and dancing as the confetti falls April 5 in Indianapolis.

I think this possibility is very high. If this happens, the next day, 5 members of the team will probably declare for the NBA Draft and 3,561 sportswriters will write a column either about how good the team would be if all those players returned next year, how this could have been one of the best teams of all-time if the players stayed in school, and why the one-and-done rule sucks. David Stern will look forward to the fresh blood in the NBA and begin the process of fixing the draft so the team of his choosing gets John Wall.

But when the party is over, it’s also easy to imagine college basketball suffering through an unusually long hangover period — because the news that follows in the hours, days and weeks after the championship game figures to be unprecedented.

I don't know if "unprecedented" is the right way to state this. The NCAA has had many players go to the NBA in the past, and even many players from one team go to the NBA, before this year. I can think of a bunch of teams right now that lost most of the contributing members of their team after a college basketball season and that team survived. Now it does take a few years to recover from a player exodus like this, but a mass exodus doesn't always leave a program in shambles.

We’ve said quick goodbyes to stars we hardly knew, including Kevin Durant at Texas and Michael Beasley at Kansas State. But if John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe all leave Kentucky before their championship rings can be ordered, college basketball symbolically will feel the full impact of the so-called “one-and-done” era.

I couldn't agree less. Symbolic or not, I don't think this class of freshmen from Kentucky are going to be the breaking point of the one-and-done rule. I think the only symbolism this exodus from the University of Kentucky would tell us that 2-3 of these players would never have attended college if it weren't for the one-and-done rule. Besides, not all the players who would declare from Kentucky are freshmen. Patrick Patterson is a junior.

Here is a partial list of teams over the last decade or so that lost three or more good players to the NBA Draft and the world did not end, nor did college basketball feel the full impact of the one-and-done rule for an extended period of time. If I forget some players, please tell me, I didn't mean to make this list ACC-centric.

2008 (Kansas): Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush
2007 (Ohio State): Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Daequan Cook
2006 (Florida): Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, Al Horford
2005 (UNC-CH): Marvin Williams, Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants
2002 (Duke): Carlos Boozer, Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy
1999 (Duke): William Avery, Corey Maggette, Elton Brand

Those are the ones I could think of off the top of my head. My point is college basketball survived, even if those teams took a little bit of time to recover from the departures.

That isn’t the message college basketball wants to send.

Well of course not. The important thing that needs to be known is the one-and-done rule is an NBA rule, not a college basketball rule. College basketball has nothing to do with the one-and-done rule, other than the fact the student-athletes have to obey it and live with it. A player out of high school either has to go overseas to play or play one season of basketball on a college campus under the one-and-done rule set out by the NBA. College basketball has recovered before and will recover again from the effects of the one-and-done rule.

The Kentucky trio won’t be alone. Xavier Henry of Kansas, Derrick Favors of Georgia Tech and Avery Bradley of Texas are among other freshmen expected to leave school for the pros.

Kansas has the opportunity and ability to recover from losing Xavier Henry, Derrick Favors wasn't staying more than one year anyway, and Texas already has one big recruit that has signed and is looking at others, like Corey Joseph that will replace Avery Bradley. Basically, the Longhorns will survive as well. This happens every year and college basketball recovers. I am not a huge fan of the one-and-done rule, but this year isn't the point at which everything comes crashing down because of the rule.

College basketball, regardless of its new champion, is about to take a major hit.

A hit like college basketball takes nearly every other year. In 2007, two of the best college basketball players in the nation were both freshman. That was of course Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. College basketball took a big hit, but is as fine as it can be now.

The controversial change has worked to the advantage of the NBA, in terms of marketing players and scouting them.

Of course it has worked to the advantage of the NBA. It gives their future players exposure before they actually get drafted and make it to the NBA. College basketball is like a marketing tool for the NBA with the advent of the one-and-done rule. The NCAA puts guys like Kevin Durant on a big stage where they can be seen and then reaps the benefits of this exposure...um, never...and then the NBA comes in and has a ready-made superstar that can go to an NBA team. One-and-done is the NBA originated rule and the NBA really likes it. It's not going away.

It has become a source of great disdain for college coaches.

Well, of course. It affects graduation rates, it causes teams to lose scholarships if the players just quit going to class, makes it difficult to make a decision on whether to recruit a player or not for a coach, and most of all it forces a coach to put in the back of his mind whether he will give a player minutes or not. It sounds crazy but...

For example, if you are Roy Williams, are you giving 25 minutes to Ed Davis in his freshman year so he can progress and go to the NBA after one year if you also have a perfectly good player like Deon Thompson in front of Davis to where he only gets 15-20 minutes and stays out of the eye of NBA scouts? Of you are not giving Davis too many minutes if you think you can have a good team without him playing major minutes. In my mind, if Ed Davis had gotten more minutes than Deon Thompson last year would UNC-CH have been an even better team? Absolutely, he would have progressed to the point where he may have deserved to have major minutes, but why try to develop Ed Davis in his freshman year for the NBA to take him? Work with him in the summer and give yourself one more year with him on the roster. It makes more sense.

This may not be the best example, but I would bet thoughts like this are in the back of a college basketball coach's mind. If they can give another player major minutes ahead of a highly touted freshman without hurting the team, what's the harm?

The important thing is the NBA doesn't give a shit about how this falls on the NCAA. We'll learn more about that later. They get what they want. The players coming into their league get exposure and can adjust to life in the spotlight without having an NBA paycheck. The NBA isn't the bad guy anymore, they just want these players to grow up (for one year) before they play in the NBA.

The players don't want to go to class after their freshman year? That's the NCAA's fault. Players don't stick around for more than one year and it makes it more difficult to recruit not knowing if a freshman is staying or not? Learn to adapt. The NBA wants the NCAA to be responsible for nurturing the players who may get drafted, so these players can adjust to life in the NBA. The NBA doesn't want to be the ones who have the blame put on them of poor advice for a player coming to the NBA out of high school. Now it is the coach of the institution the player left who is responsible for making sure a player doesn't get bad advice and ensuring he stays in good academic standing.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has been a leader in opposition to the rule, saying any player who is good enough should be allowed to turn pro directly out of high school.

Baseball players can and hockey players can as well, why can't basketball players? If a player is ready to be in the NBA, then let him go.

But if a player comes to college, Krzyzewski says, he should stay long enough to take the core courses that lead to a degree.

I agree. I think a player should have to stay in school for three years if they are skipping the NBA, but this isn't realistic. I would settle for a player staying two years in college and then being able to go pro. Of course, I am a college basketball fan so I would naturally favor what helps college basketball over the NBA.

Though I don't think forcing players to choose between going straight to the NBA or staying in college for two years hurts the NBA either. It just puts the NBA in a position where they have the problem of policing agents and others who may give the athlete poor advice. The NBA doesn't want to do that. They want a ready-made NBA player and would prefer to leave the dirty world of agents contacting players before they are eligible for the NBA and the policing of this world to the NCAA.

The NBA looks terrible when Taj "Red" McDavid is told he will get drafted and then doesn't get drafted and has hired an agent. That makes them feel bad about themselves. It's much more preferable for the NBA to say a guy like Daequan Cook got bad advice from Thad Matta or ignored the advice of the draft advisory board, which they couldn't control of course because Cook was enrolled at Ohio State at the time he was making the decision to enter the draft or stay in college. It makes the NBA feel a whole lot less dirty.

“It’s a bad rule. I think it’s a really bad rule,” Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. “In my opinion, it makes a mockery of education in college and also I think it’s condescending on the NBA’s part. To be honest with you, I’m not sure how much the NBA cares about college basketball. They’re in the business of making the NBA the best product they can make it. I think the NBA is happy with the way their rule is. They get to market these kids for a year (before they turn pro).”

This is exactly right. I think this is the point that is missing in the traditional one-and-done debate. Can you blame the NBA though? If they can get away with it, why stop? It's not their problem a player leaves a program early or because a player has to go to college, a coach bends the rules a little to get him in. The NBA has the one-and-done rule and lets others sort out the problems with the rules and I don't blame them because they can do it.

Many coaches, including Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun and Kansas’ Bill Self, would like to see the NBA allow players to be drafted out of high school, then force those who go to college to stay three years. That model mirrors the entry rules for Major League Baseball’s amateur draft and has been endorsed by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

I love this rule. From a personal standpoint, I think three years is plenty of time in college. It is a joy to watch a player like Kyle Singler go from a lanky freshman who has to play center at times his freshman year to a small forward as a junior. There is a chance he would have gone to the NBA out of high school if given the chance. Instead of being another Shavlik Randolph who sits the bench because he hasn't developed skills in college, he has gone from a guy who was a little confused on how to play small forward (his natural position) in his team's offense to a difficult matchup for the other team at small forward. He did this since November by the way. He looked like he was bordering on a disaster in the beginning of the season even if the statistics don't show it. Of course he still may not be good enough to go to the NBA, but that is beside the point.

Also, guys like Patrick Patterson and Greg Monroe who very well could have gone to the NBA out of high school, regardless if they were ready or not. They are skilled big men and those guys aren't in high quantity in the NBA. I imagine if the one-and-done rule wasn't in place, one or both of these guys would have gone to the NBA. I have gotten the joy of seeing Patterson go from a inside-out forward who is the best/second best player on his team, to a talented scoring forward who has changed his game to fit the skills of his teammates. Greg Monroe has become the focal point of the Georgetown offense and is a guy who I am going to really love watching in the NBA. Maybe this would have happened after he left high school, but I can't help but imagine playing in the Princeton offense at Georgetown didn't help his skills transfer better to the NBA level, to where he could contribute immediately when he enters the league.

My point is I enjoy watching things like this. I enjoy seeing players progress through college until you actually see their NBA potential. What's frustrating is seeing a guy go-to the NBA because of "potential" that you never actually saw in the player while he was in college. I understand the one-and-done rule from an NBA perspective, but I think there are better options available for players who want to enter the NBA from high school.

For every player who is a success like Durant, the No. 2 overall pick, there’s Javaris Crittenton of Georgia Tech, who was picked No. 19 by the Lakers in 2007 and has bounced around to various teams.

Here's my question...wouldn't that have happened anyway? Granted, Crittenton was young when he came in the league, but some guys don't have the personality to be successful in the NBA and I always thought Crittenton was one of those guys.

Calipari, who recruited Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose at Memphis, has been labeled a renegade for his open pursuit of one-and-done players.

It's not being a renegade, if that is how you want to build your program then more power to you.

Not every team is able to reload, however. Georgia Tech had two star freshmen in Crittenton and Thaddeus Young in 2007, but they lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament and the Yellow Jackets did not return to the NCAA tourney until this season , losing in the second round to Ohio State.

That's not because of a lack of talent, but a lack of good coaching in my mind. Georgia Tech has always been one of the worst disciplined teams in the ACC since Paul Hewitt got there...at least in my mind. He's a great guy, but he can't control his players. They commit turnovers and sometimes don't look like they give a shit.

South Carolina coach Darrin Horn says if the players produce the way the Kentucky players have, “then absolutely you take those guys.” The negative, Horn says, is replacing them after they are gone.

You absolutely take those guys. I don't disagree. I just hate the way the debate has shifted. It has gone from, "Will the NBA give these players good enough advice about their future and make sure they make good decisions?" to "How do will college coaches adjust to having a player leave early and how do they make sure the player is making the right decision." Basically the NBA Draft decision has shifted away from the NBA itself giving the athlete advice and more on the college coach reaching out and trying to get a feel where that player will go.

What annoys me is the NCAA coaches wanted the commit deadline moved up so they could know who they are going to lose to the NBA Draft and recruit accordingly...and guess who is getting shit for this? NCAA coaches. That's not fair because the one-and-done rule isn't their rule, it is the NBA's rule. NCAA coaches have a job to do and need to know what personnel they will have to do their job effectively. Recruiting isn't just plopping up a player you think may be good, it is about helping a student-athlete choose a school that is right for him and making sure that person will be successful at the school. So Thad Matta just can't grab a small forward if he unexpectedly loses his starting small forward, he has to cultivate relationships with recruits, and needs to be able to tell that recruit what to expect if he chooses Ohio State.

There are hidden consequences. Oden, Conley and Daequan Cook were freshmen when they helped Ohio State reach the 2007 title game and then became first-round draft picks. All were in good academic standing, but Oden failed to complete the third-quarter term. Kosta Koufos did the same thing at Ohio State last year. As a result the Buckeyes saw the team’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) slip, and the NCAA took away two scholarships.

This is another thing that annoys me. This is not a "hidden" consequence. This is a consequence that affects the Ohio State basketball program. Two guys who never wanted to be in college anyway screwed over Ohio State by not staying in good academic standing. Sure, the answer could be, "don't recruit these guys," but that is much easier said than done. What do Oden and Koufos care, they are going to the NBA. What does the NBA care, it's Ohio State's problem.

Why should a college coach like Thad Matta have to make this decision? Why can't Greg Oden go to the NBA after high school? Why can't the NBA figure out a more effective way to integrate their Developmental League with their NBA teams? Use it less as a league where they put crappy players and more of a minor league system. You know why they don't do this? Because the NBA doesn't want to. They are fine with how things are right now. Colleges do a lot of the legwork in getting a player ready for the NBA and the NBA benefits. They don't need their D-league to be a minor league system because they have the NCAA to serve that purpose.

Kentucky could be facing monumental APR consequences if Daniel Orton joins his fellow freshmen in the NBA draft.

He's not ready for the NBA either. So what's the difference in him having gone to the NBA this past year and waiting one year?

and it’s a well-known fact that the majority of players turning pro early do not attend classes after the NCAA tournament.

Would you attend classes if you knew you were going to the NBA after the NCAA tournament? Hell no, I wouldn't. Why would anyone go to class? Remember how it felt as a senior in college or high school? You didn't want to go to class and wanted to party and drink?

(Maybe that is something we feel all 4 years of college, but it's effect is stronger in the senior year)

Imagine if you had that feeling but didn't even have to worry about going to class to impress future employers? I wouldn't have gone and I had fantastic attendance in college. I was a nerd student and only skipped class for intermural softball games or to play pick-up basketball.

See, the effect of the one-and-done rule is that it has taken an NBA issue regarding how young players are prepared for the big lights of the NBA and makes it an NCAA issue about going to class and puts the problems on the NCAA institutions. It's not a direct effect, I will admit, but it is an indirect effect that is not intended...but still exists.

This obviously wasn't the purpose of the rule, the NBA didn't have a master plan, but now they don't get blamed when a guy like Crittenton pulls a gun in a locker room. Rather than have, "Is this the effect of players going straight to the NBA out of college?" article written, the NBA is insulated from a lot of blame for his behavior because he did go to college for one year. I can't remember one article that talked about how Crittenton was a one-and-done player, because it doesn't matter, but I have a feeling it would have mattered just a little bit if Crittenton had skipped college altogether.

Capel thinks any revised rule should require players to stay in school a minimum of two years. NBA commissioner David Stern has indicated he wants to raise the minimum age to 20.

That would probably be fine in my book. I would rather there not be a minimum age and a requirement of two years of college, but I could handle an increase in the age limit.

But Stern became defensive in February during an appearance on the ESPN radio show hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. On that show, Dick Vitale called on Stern to sit down with the NCAA and find a logical solution to the rule, which Vitale called an “absolute joke and fraud to the term ‘student-athlete.’ ”

I like David Stern, but this is bullshit and Dick Vitale is right. You won't find me siding with Dick Vitale often, but here I will. He is right.

“First of all, the joke that exists is an NCAA joke,” Stern said.

I don't know how he can say this with a straight face. Probably the same way he can say there are no other NBA officials who gambled on NBA games with a straight face. The one-and-done rule is an NBA rule, it's not a NCAA rule, though they have to live with it. Possibly schools should do more to make sure student-athletes go to class, but if anyone knows of a way to get unmotivated college students to go to class then that person should immediately alert every educator and parent everywhere.

“The idea that the NBA gets blamed for a school and a coach having a player who doesn’t go to classes in the second semester, is not the NBA’s fault. Someone better step up and take responsibility for that.”

I don't want to come off as blaming the entire problem on the NBA, because it is not that way. It is not the direct fault of the NBA, but the one-and-done rule has caused this problem. Merely having the rule in place partially causes this problem.

Imagine you had a job offer coming out of college for sure, no matter how well you did in school. How motivated would you be to attend classes and be a good student? I would bet you wouldn't be incredibly motivated. That's how it is for student-athletes who know they will be drafted in the NBA Draft. It's fine for the school to take responsibility, but there is very few punishments or penalties they can put on a player who wants to stop going to class. What can Kentucky do to John Wall if he wants to stop attending class?

Stern said he knows plenty of coaches who enforce attendance rules and the players are better off for it.

Right, but what happens when that coach isn't the player's coach anymore? Again, I am not blaming the NBA for college attendance problems, that is clearly a school-related problem, I just would ask David Stern not to turn a blind eye to the fact the one-and-done rule exacerbates this problem of class attendance by student-athletes. He should at least acknowledge what part the one-and-done rule plays in this.

Asked about the criticism that the great college players stay only one year, Stern said, “Well, that’s OK with us. It’s better than coming right out (of high school) because we get a chance to see them either in the (developmental) league, in college, or in Europe playing against more elite competition.

Nowhere in that statement will you hear any part of David Stern give a shit about the player's well-being or how one year in college benefits the player from a personal standpoint. That's the entire point I am trying to make. The one-and-done rule is a business decision imposed on the NCAA by the NBA, and the NCAA imposes penalties on programs for educational issues related to this business decision. It's not completely unfair, but I wouldn't exactly call it fair. It is pretty obvious the NBA doesn't give a shit about any of the educational issues and wants the NCAA to learn to work around the one-and-done rule so they can continue to use the NCAA as a feeder system for the NBA.

David Stern doesn't give a shit about the college players coming into the NBA under the one-and-done rule, he only cares how this rule helps his business. That's fine, I just don't find it right that he wants to reap the benefits of the one-and-done rule and throw the consequences back on the NCAA school that has to live with both the benefits and consequences of the rule.

“It’s strictly a matter of collective bargaining with the players’ association. Our rule is about our business, and we can’t change it unless we negotiate with the players’ association.”

I sometimes wish the NCAA would make a rule that is about their business and educational interests and force the NBA's hand on the one-and-done rule. They can't do this. Believe it or not, I don't hate the one-and-done rule, because I like to see future NBA stars play in college, but I also am not blind to the problems it causes. Sometimes I wonder if the rule is worth it. I know the one-and-done rule doesn't affect 99.9% of college athletes, but the 0.01% it affects obviously have an impact on the program they leave.

I wish there would be a 2 year minimum in college or a student-athlete can go straight to the NBA after high school. Why can't an athlete choose that he wants to go to the NBA after high school? This doesn't seem fair to me. Why can't the NCAA decide how long student-athletes have to stay in NCAA basketball programs once they enroll?

Athletes like Brandon Jennings have found a way around the one-and-done rule with success, while others like Jeremy Tyler hasn't succeeded at all.

This is one rule that can’t be changed through NCAA legislation.

This is crazy because it can affect an NCAA basketball program so much.

“And if the NBA is not on board,” Self said, “nothing is going to happen.”

Why would the NBA get on board with another plan when this one is working so well? So while I would like to see the one-and-done rule get slightly changed to a 2 year limit or changed completely and allow players the freedom (they deserve) to go to the NBA after high school, this isn't happening.