While making a speech Thursday at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, Kentucky coach John Calipari slipped in a shot at NCAA president Mark Emmert, who recently said that he would like to see players allowed to head straight from high school to the NBA.
“The NCAA president said let them go right out of high school? What?” Calipari said, according to The Birmingham News. “How many ninth graders will think, ‘I’m going right to the NBA?’ Five hundred? One thousand?
“Now those kids will be really focused on academics. How could you make that statement?”
Emmert had said that the one-and-done rule makes a stop in college just a formality for some star players, instead of a destination at which they truly desire. According to the newspaper, Calipari said players should have a reason to stay in school – instead of a push for them to skip it all together – and even suggested ways to provide incentive for that like NCAA-paid injury insurance.
“How about we encourage them to stay longer because it’s the right thing and it’s the smart thing?” Calipari said. “There’s things we have to do to make it better for those young people.”
Click for more about the comments from Calipari, whose programs have become wildly successful by capitalizing on the one-and-done rule so yeah, obviously he’s a little biased.
