This post might be the smartest thing you have written in a couple of years. I agree with your NBA thought about the age restriction. They need to do strait to high school or adopt a similar process to the NFL. The latter would at least require the so called student athlete to pretend to go to class and equal out the recruiting scene.

Caveman Lawyer

PS- Utopic Wanking is my new default band name. “Now opening for Crucial Taunt, it’s Utopic Wanking!”

My sense, though, is that the AAU-pipeline problem is a more significant one than the mercenary goon squad. Looking back at super-recruits since 2006, the track record of NCAA tournament performance is pretty spotty. Greg Oden’s OSU and Derrick Rose’s Memphis got to title games, yes. And Kevin Love’s UCLA (unclear whether he’d be a straight-to-pros guy, ditto Russell Westbrook) made the final four. That said, Durant, Beasley, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Favors, OJ Mayo — all fizzled by the second round (Mayo’s USC didn’t even go). Harrison Barnes surely isn’t taking the Tar Heels back to glory this year. Now, arguably last year’s Kentucky were the first true M.G.S., and I think a very major concern is that Calipari will turn the school into the NBA minor leagues (also, them swooping in on Kyle Wiltjer perfectly exemplifies the ways in which the Zags are frustratingly screwed). But I think the general point here is that there are so few players who would go straight to the NBA, and wooing them is no recipe for guaranteed success.

An interesting wild-card in this respect, that could help Gonzaga’s chances in the long run, is the possibly growing tendency of players to look at doing Euro ball for a year (a la Brandon Jennings) rather than deal with being amateur and going to class occasionally.

The AAU thing is a major problem. It’s awfully discouraging to look at the disparity in the rankings of players, etc, between the top 15 or so programs in the country and Gonzaga. Wasn’t there rumblings that Donny Daniels was supposed to have a bunch of California AAU hook-ups, or was that just utopic wanking on guboards? I think this imbalance might be one of the things that feeds into the mindset criticized in your last post– the idea that we compete by finding guys who are underrated who then blow up gets fans thinking that surely all our guys are going to blow up sooner or later, tap into their hidden resources of Zag Material, and take us to glory. “Man judges by outward appearance, but [CF and Staff] looks at the heart.” ELIAS HARRIS WHY AREN’T YOU A SUPERSTAR YET.

I was going to quibble about where are the limits of where one-and-done becomes John Wall, but I think this is enough meandering for one comment. But, lastly — I miss the old game-day posts. Wu-Tang Clan’s not walking through that door…