I suggested this the other day. Most who responded did not agree.
Please read this linked story and comment on your thoughts.
Plus there's many more entertaining opinions in this article.
Dan Dakich, ESPN
The 30-second shot clock is coming, probably next year, and I don't like it -- I love it. As someone who worked broadcasts of NIT games using the new clock, I went in feeling like it would speed up college hoops. However, I found it had no real effect on the games I did ... none, zero, zip. I've just gotten the feeling, the more I've studied, that it would help the game in the long term -- it's a start, anyway. Now let's cut timeouts to three per team, extend the 3-point line to the FIBA length and get rid of replay -- all replay.
And while we're at it, let's get rid of the graduate transfer rule.
To recap, this is a rule by which a player who graduates college with a year of eligibility remaining can transfer anywhere in the country, using the loophole that the new school has a graduate program not available at his initial school. The rule may be well-intentioned, but it's flawed.
I've heard members of the hoops media ask why a kid who graduates in four years should be "punished" by not being allowed to move on. Punished? What exactly is punishment about staying at a school that has allowed you to succeed academically and succeed at hoops, all for free? If that's "punished," sign up the other 99.9 percent of the student population for that kind of abuse.
Going hand in hand with this, an interesting dynamic has developed within major college athletic departments, where coaches in all sports are being warned that players can't be let go for "performance reasons." But it's not really just about performance. Late for practice? Gotta keep 'em. Don't do your morning rehab in the training room? Can't get the boot. Academic deficiencies? Nope, work with the poor child. It's gotten to the point where coaches have asked, and rightly so, why non-athletes who are on academic full rides are held to a certain standard to remain on scholarship, but there's no such standard for athletic scholarship kids. The answer from the schools has essentially been the same: "Yep, the climate has changed and will continue to change over the next six months. If you need to dismiss a kid, do it now."
In a world that calls for almost zero accountability, it would be nice if our institutions of higher learning -- the places where leaders are supposedly developed -- took the lead and demanded student-athlete accountability. The last thing needed among college basketball players is more entitlement and less accountability. Why can't college sports be an environment where the powers that be don't bend to the whims and demands of those who have never worked inside an athletic department, much less been asked to run a team? A fella can dream, can't he?
Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images
So long, Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan's move to the Oklahoma City Thunder is a huge loss for college basketball. I believe Donovan was the most normal of all super-successful college basketball coaches. Ever hear some of these coaches talk? You would swear college basketball couldn't exist without them. Not Billy, who always remained humble and helpful. Like Brad Stevens, who made a similar move two summers ago, Donovan has a servant's heart. He mentors not only players, but also young coaches. He's incredibly loyal, as evidenced by him bringing both John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant back to his staff, after they were let go at their previous jobs.
Watching a Florida practice was like watching a great teacher who also had the personality of a drill sergeant. You had the feeling that players were both being taught how to play and learning that failure wasn't an option. I don't know exactly why he left, but I've assumed Donovan left Florida for a variety of reasons, and I promise you the changing landscape and nonsense involved in modern recruiting played a part -- along with the opportunity to coach a really good NBA team with young stars. Add it up, and you have one of the best in the history of college basketball moving on. And not a coach in the country blames him.
The talented Big Ten
As a guy who is lucky enough to broadcast Big Ten games I was really happy to see Michigan's Caris LeVert, Indiana's Yogi Ferrell and Purdue's A.J. Hammons each return to school. I will have IU and Michigan in my preseason top 10, with Purdue just a notch below.
LeVert had a real choice. He was projected as a first-round lock, and depending on his recovery from a knee injury, a possible lottery selection. Ferrell really had no choice but to return. To his credit, he did his due diligence, looked at all angles and made the smart choice. Whether Ferrell can move up in the draft for next year depends on IU's success. With the addition of five-star post recruit Thomas Bryant, the Hoosiers will be the Big Ten's preseason favorite. Hammons just loves Purdue, and the environment Matt Painter has established is the main reason he chose to stay. But Purdue needs a point guard. The Boilermakers are searching the "free-agent market," trying for a repeat of getting a Jon Octeus, as they did last year.
It should be a great season in the league I love. And oh yeah, it doesn't matter who they have or who they lost, the Wisconsin Badgers will challenge and end up top three in the Big Ten.
Other thoughts
• My advice for young players is to study the NBA playoffs, and watch how players get into a defensive stance. Watch the communication on both ends of the floor. Guess what else I've seen? Blockouts. That's right, defensive players getting their rear ends into the thighs of offensive rebounders, and physically keeping them off the boards. I always thought if something was important enough for the pros, it's important enough for all hoopers. DVR the games, study the players and you might be surprised how often they do what your coach tells you to do.
• My first pick in the NBA draft? Duke's Jahlil Okafor. Karl-Anthony Towns is fantastic, but not quite at the overall level of Okafor. Both are great kids, play with poise and heart and have amazing futures. If I had to pick one right now it's Okafor, who has a more versatile game. He's more comfortable on the perimeter, and far superior to Towns at making others better. Both will take a while to handle NBA ball-screen defense, but as smart as they play that will come sooner than later. What will ultimately determine each player's success is the ability to add to their games as they progress in their careers. All the greats do it -- all the guys a notch below don't.
• As I'm writing this the Cavs are crushing Chicago in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference series. I'm gonna go with the Cavs in the East (over the Wizards in the next round) and Golden State over the Rockets in the West. When it's all said and done Golden State will reign supreme, proving once again that broadcasters make the best coaches.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...uate-transfer-rule-changed-college-basketball
Please read this linked story and comment on your thoughts.
Plus there's many more entertaining opinions in this article.
Dan Dakich, ESPN
The 30-second shot clock is coming, probably next year, and I don't like it -- I love it. As someone who worked broadcasts of NIT games using the new clock, I went in feeling like it would speed up college hoops. However, I found it had no real effect on the games I did ... none, zero, zip. I've just gotten the feeling, the more I've studied, that it would help the game in the long term -- it's a start, anyway. Now let's cut timeouts to three per team, extend the 3-point line to the FIBA length and get rid of replay -- all replay.
And while we're at it, let's get rid of the graduate transfer rule.
To recap, this is a rule by which a player who graduates college with a year of eligibility remaining can transfer anywhere in the country, using the loophole that the new school has a graduate program not available at his initial school. The rule may be well-intentioned, but it's flawed.
I've heard members of the hoops media ask why a kid who graduates in four years should be "punished" by not being allowed to move on. Punished? What exactly is punishment about staying at a school that has allowed you to succeed academically and succeed at hoops, all for free? If that's "punished," sign up the other 99.9 percent of the student population for that kind of abuse.
Going hand in hand with this, an interesting dynamic has developed within major college athletic departments, where coaches in all sports are being warned that players can't be let go for "performance reasons." But it's not really just about performance. Late for practice? Gotta keep 'em. Don't do your morning rehab in the training room? Can't get the boot. Academic deficiencies? Nope, work with the poor child. It's gotten to the point where coaches have asked, and rightly so, why non-athletes who are on academic full rides are held to a certain standard to remain on scholarship, but there's no such standard for athletic scholarship kids. The answer from the schools has essentially been the same: "Yep, the climate has changed and will continue to change over the next six months. If you need to dismiss a kid, do it now."
In a world that calls for almost zero accountability, it would be nice if our institutions of higher learning -- the places where leaders are supposedly developed -- took the lead and demanded student-athlete accountability. The last thing needed among college basketball players is more entitlement and less accountability. Why can't college sports be an environment where the powers that be don't bend to the whims and demands of those who have never worked inside an athletic department, much less been asked to run a team? A fella can dream, can't he?
Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images
So long, Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan's move to the Oklahoma City Thunder is a huge loss for college basketball. I believe Donovan was the most normal of all super-successful college basketball coaches. Ever hear some of these coaches talk? You would swear college basketball couldn't exist without them. Not Billy, who always remained humble and helpful. Like Brad Stevens, who made a similar move two summers ago, Donovan has a servant's heart. He mentors not only players, but also young coaches. He's incredibly loyal, as evidenced by him bringing both John Pelphrey and Anthony Grant back to his staff, after they were let go at their previous jobs.
Watching a Florida practice was like watching a great teacher who also had the personality of a drill sergeant. You had the feeling that players were both being taught how to play and learning that failure wasn't an option. I don't know exactly why he left, but I've assumed Donovan left Florida for a variety of reasons, and I promise you the changing landscape and nonsense involved in modern recruiting played a part -- along with the opportunity to coach a really good NBA team with young stars. Add it up, and you have one of the best in the history of college basketball moving on. And not a coach in the country blames him.
The talented Big Ten
As a guy who is lucky enough to broadcast Big Ten games I was really happy to see Michigan's Caris LeVert, Indiana's Yogi Ferrell and Purdue's A.J. Hammons each return to school. I will have IU and Michigan in my preseason top 10, with Purdue just a notch below.
LeVert had a real choice. He was projected as a first-round lock, and depending on his recovery from a knee injury, a possible lottery selection. Ferrell really had no choice but to return. To his credit, he did his due diligence, looked at all angles and made the smart choice. Whether Ferrell can move up in the draft for next year depends on IU's success. With the addition of five-star post recruit Thomas Bryant, the Hoosiers will be the Big Ten's preseason favorite. Hammons just loves Purdue, and the environment Matt Painter has established is the main reason he chose to stay. But Purdue needs a point guard. The Boilermakers are searching the "free-agent market," trying for a repeat of getting a Jon Octeus, as they did last year.
It should be a great season in the league I love. And oh yeah, it doesn't matter who they have or who they lost, the Wisconsin Badgers will challenge and end up top three in the Big Ten.
Other thoughts
• My advice for young players is to study the NBA playoffs, and watch how players get into a defensive stance. Watch the communication on both ends of the floor. Guess what else I've seen? Blockouts. That's right, defensive players getting their rear ends into the thighs of offensive rebounders, and physically keeping them off the boards. I always thought if something was important enough for the pros, it's important enough for all hoopers. DVR the games, study the players and you might be surprised how often they do what your coach tells you to do.
• My first pick in the NBA draft? Duke's Jahlil Okafor. Karl-Anthony Towns is fantastic, but not quite at the overall level of Okafor. Both are great kids, play with poise and heart and have amazing futures. If I had to pick one right now it's Okafor, who has a more versatile game. He's more comfortable on the perimeter, and far superior to Towns at making others better. Both will take a while to handle NBA ball-screen defense, but as smart as they play that will come sooner than later. What will ultimately determine each player's success is the ability to add to their games as they progress in their careers. All the greats do it -- all the guys a notch below don't.
• As I'm writing this the Cavs are crushing Chicago in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference series. I'm gonna go with the Cavs in the East (over the Wizards in the next round) and Golden State over the Rockets in the West. When it's all said and done Golden State will reign supreme, proving once again that broadcasters make the best coaches.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...uate-transfer-rule-changed-college-basketball
