Why are we treating obvious athletes as "students"?

[NJRedman]

This should be in textbooks regarding the nature of reactionary behaviors/statements. Well done hooper

Ugh, do you guys want him? I'm done with this kid.

[SJHooper]

Astronauts? Really? How many D1 major conference football/basketball players went on to become astronauts? I'd bet that a higher percentage could not SPELL "astronaut" vs. becoming astronauts. I'm obviously frustrated due to Thomas but there are so many kids who can't even speak properly. Once you get to DII and DIII then you can start to see the real idea of the student athlete about equal in athletic ability and academic ability. Just sick and tired of these ineligibilities from kids who fake transcripts to kids who can't even maintain a 2.0 GPA. I'm no genius and I breezed through school right through grad school with a 3.7. It's just so frustrating that these cases are so common. Jordan was benched for academic issues last season too. Someone I know who went to PC has an actual copy of Marshon Brooks' essay from a class and he had it written for him. Is it really so much to ask to have a pulse mentally and also be an athlete?

[FlyJays]

Keep it going, Hooper. You're giving this board a lot of material to work with.

[NJRedman]

Keep it going, Hooper. You're giving this board a lot of material to work with.

I love how he says he got his graduate degree yet is insanely ignorant.

[Xudash]

After all these ineligible cases (the most recent being Thomas who won't play) it really begs the question: WHY are people pretending these kids are here for academics? They simply are not. Most of these athletes at major schools in major sports i.e. basketball/football are dumb as a doorknob. As we saw with UNC, some can barely read at a 3rd grade level. And that's UNC one of the hardest schools to get into nationally. We would be totally freed of all this BS ineligible crap. Fake transcripts, fake grades, cheating probes, fake classes, no attendance, etc. ENOUGH! Just admit these are athletes who play sports and that's it. Time to separate sports from academics. It causes such a headache pretending they are real college students when all they know how to do is play hoops.

You can't be serious.

[FriarsForever]

Basically, everything I would have answered with has already been said. Your program runs into trouble all the time because your coach is a sleazeball. Obviously these athletes are on a different level than your average students, but it's a moot point because they will always be viewed as students, and it would not be positive in any aspect if they were viewed as anything else.

[Amase2]

Basically, everything I would have answered with has already been said. Your program runs into trouble all the time because your coach is a sleazeball. Obviously these athletes are on a different level than your average students, but it's a moot point because they will always be viewed as students, and it would not be positive in any aspect if they were viewed as anything else.

You can go at lavin all you want about questionable recruiting of student athletes, but please, before you pick up that next rock remember what your house is made of.

[HoosierPal]

There are certain posters on this forum that are.....

dumb as a doorknob.

[FriarsForever]

What my house is made of? Providence did exactly what St. John's won't. Trash all the nonsense and start fresh. If you can talk to me about Cooley and dirty recruiting, then, please, inform us all. I hate Keno, the program was a mess, but we figured it out. Your turn.

[muskienick]

This should be in textbooks regarding the nature of reactionary behaviors/statements. Well done hooper

I do not totally disagree with Hooper's post to start this thread. However, the fact that some programs have been adversely affected by having various players declared ineligible does not mean that the entirety of D-1 Basketball is so affected. In many cases, D-1 programs take great pride in graduating their players as a result of their success in their own school's classrooms. Some schools actually supply their athletes with programs requiring them to attend monitored study periods, have caring personnel who check in with professors to make sure athletes are doing their assigned work in an acceptable fashion and on time, and refuse to fall into the Western Oklahoma University's easy "mail order classes" routine or to encourage providing such classes on their own campuses.

Somehow and sometime, all colleges should rise to that level of pride in, and respect for, excellence. But to think that the NCAA will be the source of that reform is something in which I have no faith.