Shocking Revelation- Kentucky players get record low GPA

[tornado]

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/02/1248238/uk-basketball-low-on-the-gpa-scale.html

Calipari's squad posts worst grades of UK teams
GPA for men's basketball drops to 7 1/2-year low

"John Calipari's first University of Kentucky team performed much better on
the court than in the classroom. Its fall semester grades were the worst of
all 20 UK athletic teams and the worst of any UK men's basketball team since
spring 2002."

read on in this article and it's hard to even see how they were all allowed to be eligible and play....something fishy going on......

two of their basketball players had
"1.667 and 1.765 (GPA) averages apparently belonged to players in their first years"
but that would mean they're not going to be eligible starting next semester - but it's likely those players will be in the nBA - so who cares!!

[VeveJones007]

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/02/1...gpa-scale.html


Calipari's squad posts worst grades of UK teams
GPA for men's basketball drops to 7 1/2-year low

"John Calipari's first University of Kentucky team performed much better on
the court than in the classroom. Its fall semester grades were the worst of
all 20 UK athletic teams and the worst of any UK men's basketball team since
spring 2002."

read on in this article and it's hard to even see how they were all allowed to be eligible and play....something fishy going on......

two of their basketball players had
"1.667 and 1.765 (GPA) averages apparently belonged to players in their first years"
but that would mean they're not going to be eligible starting next semester - but it's likely those players will be in the nBA - so who cares!!

Your sarcasm is actually the point. Those guys aren't going to school to get an education to further their careers. They're going to school to play basketball to further their careers.

I could really care less about their GPAs. There's a major difference between people going to school to prepare them for life as an engineer and people going to school to play college basketball to prepare them for professional basketball. The NCAA just puts the whole "college-athlete" oxymoron out there for PR.

[Future Walk-On]

Your sarcasm is actually the point. Those guys aren't going to school to get an education to further their careers. They're going to school to play basketball to further their careers.

I could really care less about their GPAs. There's a major difference between people going to school to prepare them for life as an engineer and people going to school to play college basketball to prepare them for professional basketball. The NCAA just puts the whole "college-athlete" oxymoron out there for PR.

WOW. Someone who actually agrees with me.

The kids that are good or the the kids that think they are good enough aren't going to care at all. You can't make them care or change the mind of an 18 year old. I hope the kids that aren't good enough have a back up plan though! Plenty will be able to go overseas though.

You have to accept that they are there so you can watch college basketball. How much weight does a 3.0 GPA carry in a "Art History" degree anyways....

[amckillip]

You have to accept that they are there so you can watch college basketball. How much weight does a 3.0 GPA carry in a "Art History" degree anyways....

A lot more than a 1.7! And why do we have to accept them there? This is NOT a pro-league, the NCAA could easily remove these type of players from there ranks. That the NBA and NFL force the college ranks into being their minor league system is incredibly frustrating to me, and if the NCAA had any integrity at all they'd fight back (they could easily make a rule that severely penalized schools who didn't graduate players or penalized those schools whose students weren't on track to graduate at least, like the APR is supposed to do). Unfortunately I think it's been made clear that NCAA doesn't really care about much besides revenue and doesn't want to alienate the BCS type schools who get these players.

[Bravesfan]

A lot more than a 1.7, and why do we have to accept them there? This is NOT a pro-league, the NCAA could easily remove these type of players from there ranks. That the NBA and NFL force the college ranks into being their minor league system is incredibly frustrating to me, and if the NCAA had any integrity at all they'd fight back (they could easily make a rule that severely penalized schools who didn't graduate players or penalized who's students weren't on track to graduate at least, like the APR is supposed to do). Unfortunately I think it's been made clear that NCAA doesn't really care about much besides revenue and doesn't want to alienate the BCS type schools who get these players.

I seriously wonder what people from outside the U.S. are saying when they see the American educational system used as a minor league training ground for pro players. No wonder we have become the laughing stock when it comes to education here. I know this only affects a very select group of students....uh, I mean athletes, but it still doesn't look good.

I guess the NCAA powers-that-be conclude that this current system is the only one where people would be even remotely interested in watching.

[SFP]

I seriously wonder what people from outside the U.S. are saying when they see the American educational system used as a minor league training ground for pro players. No wonder we have become the laughing stock when it comes to education here. I know this only affects a very select group of students....uh, I mean athletes, but it still doesn't look good.

I guess the NCAA powers-that-be conclude that this current system is the only one where people would be even remotely interested in watching.

I doubt if the rest of the world looks at the GPA of these students. We still have the best and best funded higher education in the world by far. I just saw a report of how much money is dumped into higher education for R&D. The majority of the most talented students in the world want a USA University level education. What is disturbing is that sport programs are creating the brands positively for universities instead of Nobel Laureates. As I have said plenty of times I would rather have one of our alumnus pick up a Nobel prize then win a national championship. That is why Harvard and the rest of the Ivy League alumnus are doing well out of school. JMHO.

[ChewaBrave]

I would agree that I don't imagine the world would care, nor could they look on with disgust. The largest internationally played sport is soccer, and well there is a MASSIVE youth farming system involved. The only difference between that and our NCAA system is that their system puts even less emphasis on education. Futbol youths are essentially raised in specific club youth academies till they are old enough depending on league rules to be signed on to top level teams. For the best players, a lot of this contractual stuff is in full swing by the age of 17. So really, our NCAA system kinda looks sterling by comparison.

[Da Coach]

The difference with that comparison is that the soccer system in Europe is separate from the higher education system. But NCAA sports involves college students who play sports while pursuing education. The schools don't ask that the athletes be A students, but that they go to class and achieve relatively low-level passing grades.
These one-and-done kids know that they are going to play only 1 year, and often blow off the second semester, since they'll be gone by the time grades come out. I am happy that the NCAA is looking at this and penalizing the schools who don't keep their athgletes in school and graduating. NCAA athletics was never meant to be a one-year minor league practice experience for these future pros.

[VeveJones007]

The difference with that comparison is that the soccer system in Europe is separate from the higher education system. But NCAA sports involves college students who play sports while pursuing education. The schools don't ask that the athletes be A students, but that they go to class and achieve relatively low-level passing grades.
These one-and-done kids know that they are going to play only 1 year, and often blow off the second semester, since they'll be gone by the time grades come out. I am happy that the NCAA is looking at this and penalizing the schools who don't keep their athgletes in school and graduating. NCAA athletics was never meant to be a one-year minor league practice experience for these future pros.

Why does it matter to you, though? These kids are being discriminated against by the collective bargaining agreement of the NBA. They shouldn't have to make it a one-and-done in college in the first place.

Frankly, the NCAA should be (and I think they really are) thankful that these kids are coming in and generating revenue for the school when they would otherwise be in the League already.

[BradleyFan07]

I heard on ESPN radio 1000 in chicago this morning that nba league insiders have said Calapari could be a dark horse for the bulls job. Sources said that Calapari had a few problems with multiple players last year and may want to get out before Kentucky gets ugly...he has made a lot of enemies in his college days. They said it makes a lot of sense since he's coached in the NBA before and also was Derrick Rose coach at Memphis. He also has a good relationship with bulls owner jerry reinsdorph according to them. Just something to keep your eye on

[amckillip]

Why does it matter to you, though? These kids are being discriminated against by the collective bargaining agreement of the NBA. They shouldn't have to make it a one-and-done in college in the first place.

Frankly, the NCAA should be (and I think they really are) thankful that these kids are coming in and generating revenue for the school when they would otherwise be in the League already.

Why does it matter to us? It should matter because this is amateur competition.

The NCAA should just sit by and let the NFL and NBA dictate how it should operate? The extra revenue is probably pretty minimal because if it's not John Wall, it's guys like Evan Turner and Jon Scheyer bringing in viewers. If you think people tune into the NCAA's to watch star players you sadly mistaken, they tune into watch team.

Back to my original point, the NCAA is a collection of schools who encourage amateur competition. If these kids don't at least make some semblance of attempt to be on pace to graduate how are they at all amateurs? What does it do the integrity of the sport?

Finally, I care because IMO it reduces the integrity of the sport and how I perceive college athletics. And at the end of the day every single NCAA institution is a non-for-profit organization whose directive is to best serve the community, it's sole purpose shouldn't be to maximize revenue at the cost of integrity.

[Future Walk-On]

I say if they want to go to the League go. Then we wouldn't have to worry about most of this. Forcing them to attend a university when they failed High School is asking for crap grades.

You can't force these kids to want to learn in the classroom.

I wish we could keep them out or keep them for all 4 years!

[tornado]

But NCAA sports involves college students who play sports while pursuing education. ... ...

and MANY if not MOST at state and taxpayer expense!!!!!!!

[ChewaBrave]

The difference with that comparison is that the soccer system in Europe is separate from the higher education system. But NCAA sports involves college students who play sports while pursuing education. The schools don't ask that the athletes be A students, but that they go to class and achieve relatively low-level passing grades.
These one-and-done kids know that they are going to play only 1 year, and often blow off the second semester, since they'll be gone by the time grades come out. I am happy that the NCAA is looking at this and penalizing the schools who don't keep their athgletes in school and graduating. NCAA athletics was never meant to be a one-year minor league practice experience for these future pros.

You are correct that the soccer system is different than our NCAA basketball season. But the point is not about which system is better for developing student athletes. The question is whether the world would find distaste in the academic standing of our student athletes. If the world is seemingly fine with the idea that at an incredible young age, kids should be placed into training clubs, east/sleep/breathe soccer until they are ready for prime time, with little to zero regard for their academic upbringing, why would we think they would suddenly become zealous about the benefits of education for athletes in America. I don't know why that would be the case.

On a separate point, do I think one and dones are good for college basketball? no. And i'd be happy to see academics be held to a decent standard in NCAA bball, but on those same grounds I think we would officially have to stop making it news worthy if high school kids want to for-go college to spend a year in Europe playing bball before the NBA.

**edit for Typo

[AZ BU Fan]

Overseas folks probably don't care about this issue as more and more non US folks are playing basketball for US Colleges!

I am not sure of this, but do US Public Universities give scholarships to non athlete Foreigh Students to attend their schools (at US taxpayer expense)?

JC and UK apparently met the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules.

At the end of the day, it makes no sense to get worked up over this, unless the NCAA is overhauled...

Got to be careful though that the NCAA doesn't "fix" the problem by splitting off BCS Football and Basketball schools and eliminate all rules regarding recruiting/eligibility for them...

The good news is that schools like Butler apparently can still compete vs the UK's of the world...