Apologize up front for looking back in time. I’m old.
I remember when recruits wanted to come to a college/university just for a chance to play and earn a free college education by competing in a sport. The opportunity to play professional was there after college although limited. Smart players went to classes because they realized education was important for a future career outside of basketball. The games were more exciting, the college rivalries added to the excitement and it was enjoyable to watch.
At some point, money and greed changed the game. Players wanted to capitalize on their talent and early successes. Professional teams and even collegiate teams were willing to pay for their services even if the players‘ play had not fully matured. No one could fault the players for leaving early for pay because there was always the chance of incurring an injury in college that could be career threatening or career ending.
Now we have high school players looking on capitalizing on their possible value for playing at a college. In recent years I have questioned when a high school player like Dior Johnson, Chance Westry and even Kamari Lands have switched high schools on almost a yearly basis. Surely, it is for maximizing basketball potential but you have to wonder if it is more that they can’t cut it in high school. If so, how can they make it college to stay eligible?
I highlighted those three players but there are many more like them. Dior Johnson committed to Syracuse and then Syracuse stated that they were not committed to Dior. What brought that on? Heard stories where a 16 year recruit would call his college recruiters at 3AM to bs. Can you imagine coaching these kids at any level? By the time, they graduate (or leave) high school, they have had 3-4 high school coaches and they probably are uncoachable because they believe that they are the “talent”. Hey, i know that there were always headcases at Syracuse like Mike Jones, Mark Konecny and even Paul Harris. Some leave early and some stay until asked to leave.
Good luck to the colleges that eventually sign these traveling recruits and to the year maybe two that they play there.
I know that time changes and the game evolves (so do the players and coaches). I miss the sollege games of the 60s (when I first listened to them on a transistor radio), the 70s (when I was in college and first in the workplace) and 80s the 90s where the Big East rivalries were so prominent (Pearl, Shem, DC, Rony, Stevie, and so on and so forth).
