COLUMN: NBA says kids are alright

If there was one over-riding theme in last week's NBA draft, it had to be youth. For so many years, the draft had been a way of assigning the nation's best seniors to pro teams. But several years ago, underclassmen began leaving college early on a regular basis, not just in special cases like Isiah Thomas. In 1996 the first seven players selected were underclassmen and overall, just three lottery picks had used all of their college eligibility. Naturally, the powers that be in college basketball find this trend troubling. Those in the press who aren't making jokes about the situation are echoing those sentiments. But if the defenders of status quo are asked to point out the specific problems with underclassmen entering the NBA, they usually come up short. Let's take the people who think that college basketball will suffer. In the 1970s, the Supreme Court shot down the NBA's rule that entering players had to have exhausted their college eligibility. At the time, Walter Kennedy, then commissioner of the NBA, stated, "This could kill college athletics and seriously injure professional athletics." Why would Kennedy think that college sports were threatened by this decision? Obviously, if the best college players are leaving early, or not attending at all, the quality of play in college basketball will suffer. If the play is of lower quality, they reason, the fans will not be as interested in attending games or watching the NCAA tournament. This thinking represents a massive misunderstanding of what makes college sports in this country special. Quality of play has nothing to do with college hoops' popularity. People watch college basketball for a number of reasons, whether it be loyalty of students and alumni to a university, filling a regional sports vacuum like the massive popularity of St. Louis Billikens in NBA-less Missouri, or simply love of the game. Which of these groups' support is dependent on the gap between NBA and NCAA being smaller? Consider the CBA, the minor basketball league that operates in places like Grand Rapids, Mich., and Sioux Falls, S.D. Around six years ago, the Albany Patroons were the top team in that league. Coached by present Seattle Supersonics head man George Karl, the Patroons boasted a line-up that included Vincent Askew and Mario Elie, both of whom have gone on to fine careers in the NBA. (Interestingly, the Bulls' Phil Jackson is also an ex-Albany coach.) Their home was Knickerbocker Arena, a gorgeous state-of-the-art 17,000 seat facility that has since played host to the NCAA basketball tournament and hockey Final Four. A few miles outside the city is Siena College, a small Catholic school with a decent basketball program. With their best team ever, the Saints failed to win the little-known MAAC conference, but earned an NIT bid and a home game against UMass. Siena sold out that game, and consistently brought in five-figure crowds for league games. The Patroons have since left the area. The other side of the coin is the, supposedly, inadequate preparation these younger players have for the rigors of the NBA. It seems hard to believe that NBA teams would really risk so much money on players who are long-term projects. If the pro teams did not think it in their best interests to take these young players, they could simply pass on them. No one held a gun to any general manger's head and said, "You must draft a 20-year old." The fact is that these players are ready to contribute. No. 1 draft pick Allen Iverson, who left after two years at Georgetown, will be the Sixers' point guard this fall and many other college-age players will see plenty of action. When a player is not ready, like when Arkansas' Scotty Thurman and UNLV's Anderson Hunt left early, the pros ignore him. It's that simple. The shame is not that today's players are entering the game too young, but that great players of the past were stuck living a pseudo-student life when they could have been playing professionally, often pulling themselves out of poverty. The last argument against youngsters in the draft makes the least sense of all. "This is not sitting well with the American public, with high school kids leaving," Spencer Haywood, the very first player to leave college early some 27 years ago, said in reference to high school phenoms Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. Basketball's popularity is sky-rocketing and no one cares how well educated the players are. Despite a total lack of suspense, the NBA Finals got terrific ratings, the NCAA tournament is a big money-maker for CBS, and basketball merchandise sells as fast as they can make it. Haywood has confused the jealousy of a few talk-radio callers for real discontent. So next time you here someone declaring the death of basketball at the hands of greedy teenagers, take it for what it's worth -- nothing.