The SportsProf wrote a post today about the proposed NCAA changes. He doesn’t like the five year rule, as he thinks it would set a bad academic example; it would lower the bar.

The five years of eligibility sends a bad message if it gives kids five years on the floor. That shouldn’t happen. Given them five years to get their degrees, so that if they exhaust their eligibility in four they can get the fifth year to finish up their school work. That is a great solution and sends the right message. But that extra year of eligibility doesn’t necessarily help anyone and suggests that a school’s primary mission is not education, it’s keeping a full arena. SportsProf laughs at the suggestion that all of these reforms are designed to improve the coach/player mentoring relationship. Given all the resources that DI schools throw at their hoops programs, how can this rule, absent putting a man of character in the head coaching position, improve this relationship? Either the head coaches take the time to get to know their kids and to teach them, or they don’t. The graduation numbers, while slightly flawed, don’t lie. Many schools today do a terrible job of graduating their players. They shouldn’t be rewarded with any incentive to keep them their for a fifth year of eligibility.

I see his point, and I think it’s a good one, but I think he’s wrong. Yes, it does lower the bar a bit, in that it asks players to graduate in five years and not four. That kind of lowering of standards is fine with me though. The length of your education doesn’t matter so much, as long as you actually do it. If players have to earn their degrees, I don’t think it matters much if they do it in four years or five (or more). Considering how far behind academically so many players are and also the time constraints on a D1 athlete, five years is more than reasonable.
The other issue is that of the relationship between college and professional basketball:

the creation of a meaningful minor league system in professional hoops is a must

Here, the Prof is dead on. College basketball has long served as a minor league for the NBA, but that relationship is clearly strained now. It’s time is over. There is too much money now in the NBA, too much temptation. The truly talented don’t want to grow in college earning nothing when they can get drafted based on their potential and earn millions. On the flip side, the NBA product is suffering as teams are drafting players who aren’t yet able to contribute at a high level. Eventually, a real minor league has to be created.
When that does happen, college basketball will have a real problem. Will anyone watch it anymore? A minor league would suck even more of the top talent out of colleges. I think a great way to offset that is to allow college players five years of eligibility. Trade raw talent for polished experience. In many cases, a fifth-year player would be a better player now than a freshman prodigy.
So, a fifth year not only gives more players a chance at a full education, it gives college basketball a fighting chance in the future.