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It has become more evident as time has gone on that college basketball is becoming alot like college football, in that athletes that really have little to no business taking roster spots on BCS type schools. It seems to me that coaches (and their staffs) add players to their rosters to just 'fill them out'. I'm not naive to think that it's just the BCS schools, but it makes a difference. The turnover at BCS schools are becoming greater and greater. The situations at both Iowa and Iowa State magnify it currently. I think there was doubt that some of the 4 individuals that transferred from Iowa/ISU this week were really going to be good enough at those respective schools. These student-athletes are given the star treatment, only to realize a year or two later that things are not as they appear as their roles will probably not expand.
There are exceptions, and I don't believe that anyone should prevent anyone else to make a decision for or tell someone they aren't good enough, just b/c it's their opinion, even though an opportunity arises.
In the 1980's the NCAA capped the number of mens basketball scholarships at 13 per team. It prevented big schools from loading up on talent that sat at the end of the bench rather than get opportunities to play...in addition to making more parity in the game, and limiting scholarship opportunities to help with Title IX concerns.
So, what if the number of scholarships was pared again, down to 12. You would still probably see great competition in games, and depth wouldn't really be that big of a factor, as teams usually only have 7-10 man rotations (minus Creighton!). It would still allow for player development through redshirting, and in all honesty, you would probably see one more walk-on added, as most teams would still carry about 15 (in order to have scout and scrimmage teams). It may improve development too, as individual student-athletes may get more playing time in games and practice as compared to there being more bodies currently.
This could affect schools like UNI in a major way, while probably not doing much to the overall depth at BCS schools. With 6 BCS conferences and an average of 12 teams per conference, you are looking at about 72 players spread out over 4 years that wouldn't be at BCS schools and instead at schools like MVC/A-10/MWC/etc... It would improve the quality at the mid-major level, and prevent BCS schools from hording talent, only for those individuals to not play alot of minutes over their four years, or transfer out.
On a side note, it could also be basketball's part for helping with the Title IX solution.
Thoughts?
There are exceptions, and I don't believe that anyone should prevent anyone else to make a decision for or tell someone they aren't good enough, just b/c it's their opinion, even though an opportunity arises.
In the 1980's the NCAA capped the number of mens basketball scholarships at 13 per team. It prevented big schools from loading up on talent that sat at the end of the bench rather than get opportunities to play...in addition to making more parity in the game, and limiting scholarship opportunities to help with Title IX concerns.
So, what if the number of scholarships was pared again, down to 12. You would still probably see great competition in games, and depth wouldn't really be that big of a factor, as teams usually only have 7-10 man rotations (minus Creighton!). It would still allow for player development through redshirting, and in all honesty, you would probably see one more walk-on added, as most teams would still carry about 15 (in order to have scout and scrimmage teams). It may improve development too, as individual student-athletes may get more playing time in games and practice as compared to there being more bodies currently.
This could affect schools like UNI in a major way, while probably not doing much to the overall depth at BCS schools. With 6 BCS conferences and an average of 12 teams per conference, you are looking at about 72 players spread out over 4 years that wouldn't be at BCS schools and instead at schools like MVC/A-10/MWC/etc... It would improve the quality at the mid-major level, and prevent BCS schools from hording talent, only for those individuals to not play alot of minutes over their four years, or transfer out.
On a side note, it could also be basketball's part for helping with the Title IX solution.
Thoughts?
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