Rip Van Winkle Playing March Madness?

March Madness is getting old. Literally. As Kentucky’s Coach Calipari said after again being ousted early in the NCAA Tourney, “We’re playing teams whose average age is 24 & 25” while "our average age is 19.” Thank NIL, which is making college B-ball more like NBA?

Not that anyone should weep for Calipari who, as the WSJ notes, “made a name for himself by making deep March runs with freshman-filled starting fives,” all of whom he knew had dreams if not every intention of leaving Kentucky the following year & turning pro. From 2011 to 2015, the Wildcats made 4 Final Fours & won a championship but have won only one lousy tourney game in last 4 seasons. This year, they got whipped in the 1st round by No. 14 seed Oakland.

So much for the NCAA’s much-ballyhooed “student athlete” mantra, who’s propaganda has been exposed by the new rules allowing players to get paid, sometimes with big bucks. As a result, more teams have more older players who repeatedly sell their talent to the highest bidder. The money is apparently so good, in fact, that a growing number of ADULT (21 years old +) players now have 2 or more colleges on their resume. Thanks again to the new NIL rules that give them a measure of “free agency” by virtue of immediate eligibility if they change schools. Don’t ask how many teams in the tourney have at least one pro, er, transfer athlete in the starting lineup. Just look for the bags under their eyes.  According to the WSJ, “a whopping 296 players in their fourth, fifth or sixth seasons have logged March Madness minutes this year.” Has anyone ever heard of a CONTRACT between players & colleges, i.e., one that facilitates fair NIL pay as well as a free ride scholarship, but in return for a binding 4-year commitment to stay in the original school?

Davd Soul