Pac-12 Conference commissioner Larry Scott has an idea how to prevent college players from playing a single season of college basketball before leaving for the NBA -- if a youngster has no plans of going to college, then should not be forced to do so.
As he told USA Today: "This high visibility trend of one-and-done threatens to undermine a lot of these efforts and the twin goals of academic as well as athletic excellence at our colleges. Now what I've said, and I firmly believe in, is that if a 17 or 18-year-old has no interest in going to college, shouldn't be forced to go to college."
He continued: "I'd like to see, like in baseball, if a person of that age decides that they want to be a professional basketball player, love to see them be able to go have that opportunity in the NBA or internationally. I hope those leagues will provide those opportunities for those students."
He added that if young basketball prospects decide to enroll in college, then they should be committed to a full college education.
The Pac-12 commissioner said he is happy that new NBA commissioner Adam Silver has focused on raising the league's age limit that would discourage college players from playing just a single season of college ball before making the jump to the NBA.
"Obviously, this is not something within our control as a conference or the NCAA," he said, "but something that has to be worked out between the NBA and the NBA Players Association as part of their collective bargaining agreement. So we'll continue to engage, help where we can, and we're hopeful that the NBA and the NBAPA are going to be able to work it out."
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