What would college basketball be like if Blake Griffin, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins and many others stayed around?
I. Attention Getter: I want you to imagine that you have the opportunity to play one year of college basketball, and after that one year, be drafted into the NBA and to make millions of dollars, being a lottery pick. How many of you would pass up college for the multi millions of dollars offered to you and your family. I want you to put yourself in the place of the young men that I am about to show you. )My attention getter, will be a video of one and done athletes being selected into the NBA, specifically Greg Oden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7HA8LYa7m0). Not long after being the first lottery pick in the 2007 NBA draft, Greg Oden experienced something that will plague his career for the rest of his life. (I will then show a video of Greg Oden being hurt while playing in the NBA for the Portland Trailblazers.- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKO-nD3a45A).
II. Listener Relevance: This discussion of why one and done athletes are disadvantaged, focuses on why athletes should thus be required to stay in school longer than one year, as we do, to receive an education in a field other than sports. The student athlete is not different then an ordinary student. If they are allowed to turn professional, then why can’t average students just attend school for a year, and then go into their desired profession because we feel as if we are ready.
III. Speaker Credibility: I have been a college athlete for two and a half years, and will be playing golf here at Western Kentucky next year in my final year. I understand the position that an athlete can be in when given the opportunity to leave school, and purse a career in his/her respective sport without finishing college.
IV. Thesis: The rise in popularity of the “one and done athlete” has not only hurt college basketball as a whole, but has negative implications for the college athletes leaving their respective institutions for fame and money.
V. Preview: I will first begin, by focusing on the correlation between one and done athletes and their education that they have or won’t have received upon leaving their respective institution early. Second, I will look at how the one and done doesn’t always guarantee success collegially and professionally. Finally, I will shift our focus to the possible solutions to preserving the student athlete and college basketball in and of itself.
II. First Main Point (please include a transitional word): Education and the One and Done
Internal Transition (please type this out): In order to understand how the “One and Done Athlete” had ruined college basketball; we will first look at how these athletes are not fulfilling their educational requirements before leaving.
A. Supporting Point: A year of college experience and education will help the athlete grow and mature.
1. Data: Alex Berg suggests, “The NBA claimed that the rule change would help players “mature” and would give them insurance if their basketball career did not pan out. Does the NBA truly believe that 25-30 college credits will instantly make someone prepared and qualified for a professional career field?” (Berg, Alex College USA Today Web).
2. Data: Berg goes on to state that “Because of this rule, the NCAA has drifted away further than ever from the literal meaning of “student-athletes.” Now, high-profile basketball players are being treated as “guests” to the university, rather than students” (Berg, Alex Web).
B. Supporting Point: How does the NBA define a Student-Athlete, and how does this differ from the “One and Done”?
1. Data: The NCAA defines a student-athlete as, “The individual officially registers and enrolls in a minimum full-time program of studies and attends classes in any term of a four-year collegiate institution’s regular academic year (excluding summer); or the individual participates in a regular squad practice or competition at a four-year collegiate institution that occurs before the beginning of any term” (NCAA.org, Web).
2. Data: Nathan Hatch, President of Wake Forest University says, “Well, I do think athletes come in who intend to go to the NBA. They’re with us for one year and in some ways they only have to pass one semester of coursework because in the second semester the basketball season is done before a typical exam time. The problem is when college athletics becomes merely a minor league. That really damages our mission that we want real student-athletes. And we want people who can work towards a degree” Hatch, Nathan Web).
III. Second Main Point (please include a transitional word): The One and Done and Success
Internal Transition (please type this out): Now that we have looked at the discrepancy of the one and done athlete and the education that they are not receiving, we will shift our focus to discuss whether or not the one and done athlete means they will bring success to their University and if they will have individual success upon going to the NBA.
A. Supporting Point: The One and Done Athlete Coming into College Basketball is ruining the game.
1. Data: Dick Vitale, one of the most famous college basketball analysts and form college basketball coach states, “Think about the past few years as freshmen such as Wall, Rose, Durant, etc., have dominated. What would college basketball be like if Blake Griffin, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins and many others stayed around? Early entry has changed the game, and you can count the number of seniors going in Round 1 of the NBA draft on one hand” (Vitale, Dick Web).
2. Data: Bob Knight, one of the most decorated and historical college basketball coaches is quoted as saying, “I think it’s a disgrace,” Knight said of players who attend college for one year to fulfill the NBA’s requirement to be drafted. “If I was an NBA general manager, I would never want to take a kid 18, 19 years old, a year out of college. I’d wait until someone else worked two or three years with him to adjust him to the NBA and I’d trade a draft pick.”” (Knight, Bob Web).
