The New Year
has come and gone, the football bowls are over and it is
finally time for college basketball to begin… no really,
it’s time for the public to see some real college
basketball. What I have observed in following college
basketball for the past two months now has been more than
uninspiring. I’ll give you this much, as a former college
basketball coach recently forced in to semi-retirement I
watch basketball with a different eye than the average
fan, and what has become very apparent to this ole coach’s
eyes is that the college game is head down a difficult, if
not dangerous path.
The questions that I wanted answered as this season began
back in early November were like those asked by many of
the fans who follow the game as closely as a cop following
a pretty girl in a convertible speeding down the
interstate on a sunny day; who are the best players and
coaches in the game, which teams will be the “Cinderella”
stories of the season, and can this March be as exciting
as last year’s march to madness where Kansas upended
Memphis’ quest for a national title in one of the most
memorable finishes in years? But as this season has
unfolded most of what I’ve seen has reminded me of what
has unfairly become known as “AAU Basketball”. The thought
is simply scary, and for those of you who don’t know what
AAU basketball is, well, it’s like buying the off brand at
your local supermarket, only not nearly as good. It is a
cheap imitation of the real thing. Now don’t get me wrong,
there are several great coaches and teams in this season,
but the gap between the great ones (even the good ones)
and the rest is like the distance between the Sarah
Palin’s house and the White House… it’s just not the same,
and frankly there will never be any comparison between the
real thing and the off brand.
The problem is that college basketball has no soul.
I see way too many good teams blowing out other good
teams, I see way too many upsets, and I see way too many
coaches getting out coached by their peers. Where teams
were once built over time they are now pieced together by
the ace recruiters who make a name not for winning games,
but for assembling a recruiting class or two. The guys in
charge are no longer coaches, but people called coaches
who just manage players, the players that they spend 90
percent of their time recruiting and a mere 10 percent
coaching (well excuse me; managing). The best teams that I
have seen have been teams with good basketball players who
make good basketball decisions and understand ball
movement, team defense, timing, and shot selection, but
the number of these teams has been few and far between. As
I looked over the start of the season’s top 25 polls I saw
many big name basketball schools on that list, yet when I
saw several of those teams play I was disappointed to see
teams that were bigger, stronger and faster than many of
their opponents, but had the skill level of middle school
teams. I am fascinated when I see teams like Drake, Butler
and St. Mary’s of California slay the big boys, but I am
not amazed. These schools load up with basketball players,
hoopers, kids that can hit the open man just as well as
hitting an open jumper. These are also kids that don’t shy
away from coaching. They are willing to “go through
something” to get a chance to play college ball and they
play to win unlike their brethren at many of the other
programs around the nation who play for glory and praise.
Where the NBA teams have an 82 game regular season
schedule, plus opportunities to make trades and adjust
their personnel over the course of the season, college
programs are locked in for the long haul with the players
they recruit. Over a professional season, coaches and
general managers can create and build a great product on
the fly, because they have time to make adjustments.
Additionally, the NBA season is a marathon being played
from October to June, where the college basketball season
is a middle distance race, if not a sprint. The NBA is a
destination where the players are arguably the 330 best in
the world. College basketball is a stopover at best, a
grave yard for young men who are often 3-5 years away from
playing at their very best basketball. The point is that
college kids find themselves in a highly competitive
environment where more often than not they are
ill-prepared or just not the right fit. When all things
are equal who will win, what will be the difference
between two teams with the same ability and same talent
level? It will boil down to skills, coaching, and
preparation.
Without giving a boring history lesson, college coaches
were once teachers of the game. They were mentors who
understood things like strategy, physical and mental
conditioning, psychology, and most importantly understood
that there is a process to building a team, creating a
system for the players to work together in for the
greatest success that they can achieve together. And, they
know that it takes time. Time is something that most
coaches and players don’t have anymore because there has
become too much focus on the end result; the event, the
product, i.e. the games. Maybe colleges play too many
games and maybe not, but what is certain is that the
symptoms of this troubled game cannot be denied.
In an age where few athletics department administrators
understand and value preparation coaches are either
jumping jobs or being fired faster that McDonald’s can
serve hamburgers. Coaches suffer burnout, as well as
mental and emotional problems because of the pressure to
win. Players are changing schools faster and more often
than coaches in search of glory unearned.
And, athletic directors, who are no more than mid level
corporate managers are desperate to “make a splash” at
their next press conference when they announce the hiring
of their latest version of the next John Wooden (who by
the way didn’t win a national championship until his 12th
or 13th season at UCLA). Now all of this moaning and
groaning is well and good, but what are the solutions to
the issues? Many of these arguments rings a bell with what
we are seeing complains about with regard to AAU
Basketball? Kids changing teams because someone else will
fit their bill or they are not getting what was promised,
nobodies with any experience start their own teams because
there is no regulation and no guidelines to show how a
youth program is to be run. Kids are spending more time
playing games in the off season (often 3 or 4 in a day at
a tournament) and very little time working at their game
or playing pick games where many true lessons are learned.
Simply put, players are around the game more than players
of the past and play it less than anytime in the last 20
years. They are being coached less by worse coaches, and
they don’t know what they are missing out on because few
have ever played for a good one. The most often asked
question that I get from high school players and their
parents is: “How do I get exposure or how do I get
exposure for my son?” My answer is simple: be good! Good
players always find college scholarships, good players
will always find playing time. Good players win games. The
question that I would love to be asked by players and
parents is: What do I need to do to be a good player?
Being good is an act and an outcome that will meet the
needs of players. It’s time that results matter again, and
being good is nothing more than being accountable.
To fix the ills of college basketball and the game in
general a page out of the “ole skool” play book is all
that is required. Sports, basketball, any physical
endeavor is old fashioned, blue collar, hard work. You
can’t trick, con or buffalo your way to success in the
game, you have to do the time and earn it; studying,
working, honing ones skills is the solution, and this
applies to all participants of the game (players, coaches,
officials, administrators, and even college presidents).
Stop relying on scouting service gurus and street agent
who over hype players or peddle them to the highest
bidder. Stop relying on “head hunters” to find the next
shining star coach. Stop trying to make a splash at the
press conference and be prepared to build a foundation.
Stop looking for ways to get exposure and just be good!
It’s time to rebuild the future of the great game of
college basketball on principles of hard work,
competition, and fair play. Remember the values that made
America great, they will still work if we embrace them.
Play for the sake of competition… to be the best or at
least to be the best that you can be.
I don’t know if any of my issues with college basketball
will be fixed by season’s end, but I know that sooner or
later the game runs the risk that the fans will get bored
with watching because it has become a bad product. This
game is on its way to becoming a mere imitation of what it
once was and could be again. It has become a summer
tourney game with very little meaning and an outcome of
little consequence. I for one am ready for some big time
college basketball, but I just might have to wait a while,
at least until the tournament in March.
Willis Wilson was the head basketball coach at Rice
University for 16 years. He served on the board of
Directors of the National Association of Basketball
Coaches, the College Basketball Partnership, NABC
Committee on Recruiting and Access, and was the chairman
of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee as well as a
number of other boards and committees.
