http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2771573
Knight: Rule affects 'integrity of college sports'
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The new rule that says players must be at least one year removed from high school before entering the NBA is "the worst thing that's happened to college basketball since I've been coaching," says Texas Tech coach Bob Knight.
In the Big 12, it might be called the Kevin Durant Rule after the Longhorn freshman who has electrified the entire country and leads the conference in both scoring and rebounding. Ins uted last year by the NBA, it means that super-talented players must wait at least a year rather than jumping into the pros right out of high school.
"Now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn't even have to go to class. He certainly doesn't have to go to class the second semester... That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports."
-- Bob Knight
Many coaches have hailed this new approach as a blessing for the college game, because it lets NCAA schools showcase their abilities at least for one season. But Knight, the winningest college coach of all time, said he deplores it.
"Because now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn't even have to go to class," Knight said Monday during the Big 12 coaches call. "He certainly doesn't have to go to class the second semester. I'm not exactly positive about the first semester. But he would not have to attend a single class the second semester to play through the whole second semester of basketball.
"That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports."
No player better exemplifies the new rule than Durant. Amazingly quick, agile and athletic for an 18-year-old, the 6-foot-9 Durant would have been a surefire NBA lottery pick any other year. But he had to find a college to play for. He chose Texas and perhaps will be remembered as the greatest to ever wear a Longhorns uniform, even though he seems likely to vault into the NBA after a sensational freshman season.
He has been named Big 12 player of the week three times and conference rookie of the week five times. He leads the league with 24.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game and has a good chance at being national player of the year.
Knight said he would never have recruited Durant, although he doesn't blame Texas coach Rick Barnes for doing so. "I don't fault those that have, because it's within the rules," Knight said. "But the rules are just ridiculous, the way the thing is set up."
"It's just a tremendous disservice, the way that it's structured, to the integrity of college sports."
Barnes, who did not hear what Knight said earlier on the Big 12 coaches call, said he did not recruit Durant as a one-semester student.
"All we've ever said is if we recruit a player and that player said to us, 'I'm coming to school for one year and as soon as basketball season is over with I'm dropping out of school,' we would not recruit that player," he said.
"We cannot afford to jeopardize our program in that way. We want players that if they're going to come, we want them committed to a whole year academically. We tell them that's what's expected coming in."
On the subject of officiating, Knight did not let a public reprimand by Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg stop him from blasting game officials who work five or six games a week.
"To have some guy 54 or 55 years old referee six times a week is a real disservice to the kids who are playing," said Knight, who was reprimanded last week for criticizing officiating in one of his games.
"They have plenty of other places they can go. They can go to the NBA, they can go to the NAIA, they can go to junior college, they can go to high school. For years, the NCAA has hidden behind individual employment contractors. I think that's all [baloney].
"You say, 'All right, if you're going to work in this league, this is how you're going to work. And if you don't want to work in this league, fine, you've got other leagues to work in.'"
Knight said he would support an effort to have the Big 12 hire its own officials who do not travel the country working different games in different leagues several nights a week.
"But these guys are so greedy, they end up trying to work these six games a week. And they're not capable of doing that," he said. "Check schedules and you'll rarely see where kids play three games a week. These kids are 19, 20 and 21 years old."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
....i like a lot of what knight has to say here.
It's debateable, I'm undecided, almost indifferent.
It is like fools gold, but a freshman can lead a team to a national le, so its still cool to force kids to go to school. I don't think its cool to call the rule the "Durant Rule" in an article where Knight es about academics, cuz Durant's got a 3.0 for his first semester. He is actually outspoken about being pissed off at his 3.0 and wanted to do better.
SHRUG
"To have some guy 54 or 55 years old referee six times a week is a real disservice to the kids who are playing," said Knight, who was reprimanded last week for criticizing officiating in one of his games.
"They have plenty of other places they can go. They can go to the NBA, they can go to the NAIA, they can go to junior college, they can go to high school. For years, the NCAA has hidden behind individual employment contractors. I think that's all [baloney].
"You say, 'All right, if you're going to work in this league, this is how you're going to work. And if you don't want to work in this league, fine, you've got other leagues to work in.'"
Knight said he would support an effort to have the Big 12 hire its own officials who do not travel the country working different games in different leagues several nights a week.
"But these guys are so greedy, they end up trying to work these six games a week. And they're not capable of doing that," he said. "Check schedules and you'll rarely see where kids play three games a week. These kids are 19, 20 and 21 years old."
Those are some bold comments to make. And I agree with every one of them
UT fans are such Durant apologists - I'd like to see how many Syracuse fans were convinced Melo was a student athlete and coming back after his freshman year. Accept the inevitable and don't try to make it into what it is. Yeah, remember when Vince Young was "definitely" coming back for his senior year?
I'm not saying Durant isn't a great player or a really good kid - in fact, most of what I like about him is that he's the anti-OJ Mayo. But don't try to display this superiority complex about your "student-athletes." Everyone knows Durant's parents will change their tune when they see those $$$$$. Maybe he can pull a Vince Carter later and graduate before a playoff game.
there isn't a single person on UT campus wh o seriously thoguht VY was staying for his senior year, keep hating, it must be hard seeing UT win so often
i think durant is as good as gone, so do many UT posters here
so i guess bottom li ne is you're just a bag?
actually, there were a lot of people that thought vyoung was coming back. i know this b/c half of my friends went to t.u and time spent down there.
i never said there werent a load of idiots at ut, and yes the idiots thought that, but anyone who follows college sports to the average degree of any real fan knew he was gone
there was no chance the guy was going to stay unless he had a horrible rose bowl
and that simply was not possible
also there is a difference between hoping he would stay and thinking he would stay
Wow...I didn't know I was an apologist....I had posted awhile back that I was pretty sure he was gone after this year. Maybe that wasn't me who typed that...I mean...I am a UT fan...and Ron Mexico says we are all apologists. Hmm....maybe I didn't really mean that....no wait....someone hijacked my account for the sole purpose of pimping Kevin Durant.UT fans are such Durant apologists - I'd like to see how many Syracuse fans were convinced Melo was a student athlete and coming back after his freshman year. Accept the inevitable and don't try to make it into what it is. Yeah, remember when Vince Young was "definitely" coming back for his senior year?
all my friends (that went to t.u.) are really smart and about half thought he was coming back even after the rose bowl. and a majority of austinites i ran into thought he was coming back to lead them to another le game....i tried to tell them otherwise. moral of the story?....
that your friends may seem smart but really are average austin marriotts?
i can understand some people hoping so strongly that their senses became distorted, and damn i sure did hope, but i knew he was gone
there was no incentive
Roy Williams made that decision and looked like a huge ing fool...that was a large part why i knew it would not happen...had roy williams not set the precedent, i may have thought different
whats a marriott?
a marriott is like a normal person who makes 10,000 dollars a year doing construction work, you know, salt of the earth kinda guy, like an average joe, so to speak
without knowing these guys you are saying they (might) be average austin marriotts? explain?
dude its just a joke but also an expression
like when i say agg im being a faux marriott, and when you say t.u. you're being a faux marriott
but neither you nor i thought vy was reallly coming back
and neither did anyone else
save the marriotts
i didn't think it was or wasn't a joke, i just have no idea what you are talking about. although, its obvious to me since i have been here, we share different terms and vocabularies.
Last edited by johngateswhiteley; 02-20-2007 at 10:08 PM.
Both Can't be Faded and y McRogers tried to act as if Durant was coming back because he was so concerned about academics. I was merely pointing out that over half the people I talked to were convinced VY was coming back and we all know what he thought about academics... aka Wonderlic.
durant and vince suck anyway
what did roy williams do?
Durant's a student about as much as Tpark is a player.
and i was merely mentioning what i had read in the very same article that contained this bobby knight , meanwhile if you had read my posts in this very forum you'd realize i have no doubt durant is as good as gone
Ther's some bull speculation and suggestions that he'll be back but there's no stopping the bum rush. Durant's 35 will be retired by season's end, and you'll be seeing him in Celtic Green or Memphis-soon-to-be-Las-Vegas-in-about -three-years- blue.
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