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[QUOTE="DoctorBombay, post: 1280095, member: 626"]
Agree that academics are an afterthought to "big-time professional athletes", but the hypocrisy of the system in place forces them to play the role of student, and therein lies the rub.
The institutions have their academic directives but when it comes to athletes, most everyone agrees that their role is little more than as a farm system for the professional leagues, especially bball and ftball. There are mutual benefits to both parties- exposure and recognition for players, financial considerations for the institutions. They all do this little dance and the idea is to act like that's NOT what's actually happening.

My position is that once a Jerami Grant or Tyler Ennis decides for himself that he has maxed out the "benefits" of this hypocritical system, ie; gotten ESPN and NBA exposure enough to warrant a good position in the draft, then they SHOULD make the leap, asap.
Each situation being different, they might decide to stay longer and keep playing along as "student-athlete", a role we all agree is bogus in most cases.  But that decision whether good or bad is theirs alone, and is contingent among many other accompanying factors.
The naysayers, critics,  or those who simply disagree with the chosen decision are sometimes proven right...but that doesn't preclude the individual's choice, nor does it confirm that there's a hard and fast rule on whether a kid should stay or go.
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