ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 9, 1996 TAG: 9607090039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JERRY TIPTON KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
COLLEGE BASKETBALL tries to cope with losing its present and future stars to the NBA.
College basketball has survived point-shaving, blatant racism, academic scandal and Dick Vitale's mouth. But the growing number of underclassmen and high school seniors like Kevin Garnett opting for the NBA leaves doubt about the future of the game.
``If most of the guys have the success of Kevin Garnett, you can kiss college basketball as we know it goodbye,'' said player agent Len Elmore, the former University of Maryland star. ``The cynic in me could see college basketball like it was in the '50s. More a parochial diversion.''
A few weeks before he left the University of Massachusetts for the New Jersey Nets, John Calipari worried about the effect the increasing early exodus already has on college basketball.
``Our game does not have the electricity it's had,'' he said. ``You have to recruit for a two-year program rather than four. It's ridiculous. It's like recruiting for a junior college program.''
However, more than a few of the game's leaders shrug when asked to what extent stars leaving for the NBA could hurt the college game. Among this group is University of Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton.
``I'm not sure it's a problem,'' Newton said. ``College basketball is college basketball, as I see it. It's bigger than eight or 10 or 12 players that leave early. It's bigger than any coach. I don't subscribe to the doomsday talk that TV dollars are going away.''
Ah, television. Cynics think the fear of losing television revenue fuels the concern about college basketball's future. The college game loses star quality - i.e. name recognition that draws viewers - as elite players exit early for the NBA.
Coincidentally or not, the viewer rating of 18.3 for the Kentucky-Syracuse game this year was the lowest for an NCAA Tournament championship game since the event was moved to prime time in 1973.
College hoops
at a crossroads
Len DeLuca, vice president of programming for CBS Sports, sounded a positive note by pointing out that the UK-Syracuse game still ranked as the highest-rated program on CBS this year. But DeLuca acknowledged a growing network concern about selling regular-season telecasts to viewers and advertisers.
If ratings continue to fall, inevitably so will the rights fees that help finance non-revenue sports. The NCAA Tournament generated more than 80 percent of the NCAA's revenue in 1995-96. CBS paid $178.3 million for television rights, while ticket sales generated an additional $11.7 million.
The relationship between revenue generated by TV and ticket sales undercuts those who use the Atlantic Coast Conference to pooh-pooh the doomsayers. The ACC set an average attendance record of 11,460 last season despite the departure of three star underclassmen to the NBA: Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace of North Carolina; and Joe Smith of Maryland.
However, ACC television ratings dropped 25 percent during a season when the league failed to have a team in the Final Four for the first time since 1987. ``It does concern us,'' assistant commissioner Tom Mickel said.
``When people worry about college basketball, they're really worrying about network interest,'' Elmore said. ``No stars and the interest dies.''
Jim Haney, president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, uses the 1984 Final Four as a reference point. Players in Seattle that year included Kentucky fifth-year senior Sam Bowie, Houston junior Hakeem Olajuwon and Georgetown junior Patrick Ewing, who stayed with the Hoyas for his senior season.
``Obviously, things have changed since then,'' Haney said.
Obviously. No senior has been the first selection in the NBA draft since Larry Johnson of UNLV in 1991. Of the 15 players selected 1-5 during the last three drafts, two were college seniors.
And the early entries are getting younger. Last year's top five draft picks were four college sophomores and a high school senior, Garnett.
This year's draft included a record number of 42 non-seniors, including three high school players.
Amateurism an
archaic notion?
The NCAA is treating the exodus of players as a serious problem. Not one but two committees are exploring ways to keep star players in college. Sweeping proposals that question whether student-athletes should even be amateurs reflect how seriously the threat to TV dollars is perceived.
``Maybe the NCAA is trying to live by rules and regulations that are really out of touch with the times,'' said University of Maryland president William E. Kirwan, chairman of the NCAA Special Committee on Agents and Amateurism. ``After all, the Olympics don't require athletes to be amateurs anymore. Maybe we have a concept of amateurism that just is no longer relevant.''
Recently, NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey floated the idea of paying elite athletes as a means of reducing the number of players leaving for the NBA and limiting the influence of agents.
``I'd much rather have the NCAA reject serious proposals and say, `Maybe that's going too far or in the wrong direction,' than just sort of put a Band-Aid on it,'' Kirwan said.
The time may be right to abolish the two-year-old rule that allows college athletes to test their worth in the NBA and then return to college. The rule was intended to help athletes decide to stay in school, but it is now seen as an enticement to go pro. ``We'll look at it,'' said University of New Orleans athletic director Ron Maestri, chairman of the NCAA Pro Sports Liaison Committee.
Making freshmen ineligible - long opposed by the powerful Presidents' Commission because it necessitates an increase in scholarships - may get a hearing.
``Recent developments could get that issue back on the table,'' Maestri said. ``This is a time of - if `crisis' is too strong - a very serious problem for the NCAA that will force people to revisit old positions.''
A few positions will not be revisited.
Pay all players a stipend? ``There's certainly not going to be a stipend,'' Maestri said. ``The money's just not there. That's not even a reality from a cost factor.''
It's impossible to control agents, so should players be allowed to sign with and receive gifts from agents? ``I don't know if the NCAA is ready to go that far,'' said Kirwan, who said conference commissioners and athletic directors lobby for such action.
Reforms likely, but
exodus should continue
The NCAA committees view street agents as the prime villains. The committees say top players will - perhaps should - turn pro as underclassmen. But Kirwan and Maestri voiced concern about agents who convince marginal prospects to go pro.
``With the money being thrown around today, when these guys get into these guys' heads, what kid doesn't think he's an All-American?'' Maestri said. ``I've yet to see a kid who didn't think he was a great player.''
The college committees also called for greater cooperation between the NCAA and the NBA. For example, the NBA likes Kentucky coach Rick Pitino's idea of having basketball adopt a minor league system like baseball's. But that seems unlikely.
``The Players' Association is opposed,'' said Rod Thorn, the NBA Senior Vice President for Basketball Operations. ``They don't want extra players controlled by the [NBA] teams. They think it's in their best interest if the players are free agents. A lot of NBA teams would like to do it. But that's a collective bargaining issue.''
Legal questions seem to thwart such ideas as putting a limit on the age when players can enter the NBA or linking a player's entry salary to his education level.
Despite the likelihood of meaningful reforms, athletic leaders sound pessimistic about being able to prevent underclassmen from leaving college.
``In most instances, if you wait till they're college freshmen, that's too late,'' Newton said. ``Street agents are dealing with them at a much younger age. That's the scary part. We need to address it at that level, and I don't know how to do it.''
``It's a monumental task,'' said Maestri, who finishes his three-year term as chairman of the NCAA Pro Sports Liaison Committee this summer. ``We've hashed this the six years I've been on the committee.''
Asked whether he saw light at the end of the tunnel, he paused and said, ``I don't really. Not now.''
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Point guard Allen Iverson, who left Georgetownby CNBafter his sophomore year, is typical of the recent wave of
underclassmen entering the NBA.|