Renowned NCAA coach John Calipari has shared his two cents worth on the whole debate pertaining to the proposed abolishing of the NBA's one-and-done rule.
According to the long-time Kentucy head coach, he strongly believes that any new encompassing policy must take into consideration a student-athlete's performance in the academic sphere. This is via Jerry Tipton of Kentucky Sports.
Calipari said he had a solution that is linked to the proposal that USA Basketball decide which high school players are eligible to jump to the NBA. So, Calipari said, let USA Basketball include an academic component in the formula for determining eligibility for being part of future USA Basketball events.
Calipari is one of the biggest names in college basketball, having had a decorated career in Kentucky ever since he joined the Wildcats in 2009. The 60-year-old went on to say that his opinion is by no means motivated by his own personal desire to maintain the high level of play in college basketball, but instead, it is primarily driven by how much he truly cares about these kids' futures.
“That’s me sitting on my soapbox giving you what I believe,” he said. “And I want to be the one that they look back and say, he said this 10 years ago. And no one listened to him. And said he’s only doing this because he wants kids in college. He’s only doing it for himself. He doesn’t care about the kids either.
“Uh, jeez, maybe he did (care). It was about that.”
This debate remains to be one of the most polarizing topics in basketball today, and despite Calipari's valid argument here, it does not look like this is one issue that will be completely resolved anytime soon.
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