Ben Simmons rips NCAA in new doc

[HooperScooper]

Interesting read about the one and done culture that is college basketball these days. Sounds like he shouldn't have gone to college.

Ben Simmons rips NCAA in new doc, was reportedly 'offered a Bentley' at LSU

 

[connectikev]

So he is upset that he had to attend classes and would not have been able to gather much education in one year?
Allowing for a bit of extrapolation, why doesn't he rip High School and Elementary schools for holding the same charade?
He knew the deal when he signed up for College ball - Play for no $$, attend classes, get national exposure, get drafted.
Perhaps he didn't think that he would have had the same opportunities if he left high school (during or before graduating) to play overseas........
As for the amount of "swag" or "benefits" offered to him - I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, to think that this goes on all across the nation.......

 

[BUConn10]

Ben Simmons just comes off as such a doosh. LSU and the NCAA put you on the spot, put your name out there, coached you, housed you, fed you, and made sure you felt closer to King that most modern people will during his one year on campus. Simmons then proceeds to blast "the system". No one forced you to go to school, no one is forcing any of these guys to go to school. Athletes in this country are held to such high regard that some of them really think they are performing miracles every time they step on the court. /rant

 

[Bboy Lace]

So he is upset that he had to attend classes and would not have been able to gather much education in one year?
Allowing for a bit of extrapolation, why doesn't he rip High School and Elementary schools for holding the same charade?
He knew the deal when he signed up for College ball - Play for no $$, attend classes, get national exposure, get drafted.
Perhaps he didn't think that he would have had the same opportunities if he left high school (during or before graduating) to play overseas...
As for the amount of "swag" or "benefits" offered to him - I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, to think that this goes on all across the nation..

I dont think he's just upset with having to go to class. I think you're missing the underlying message. The takeaway from that is the system with which an amateur college athlete goes through without compensation while in college is broken, "and here's how it looks from our perspective".

Frankly, they just need to change it to 2 years. If you're ready after high school, cool. If you're not, you gotta wait 2 years (thats at least an Associate's degree).

I would like to get back to having the days where phenoms came right out of high school. It'll make for better basketball and a richer talent pool coming out of college

 

[James]

simmons could have entered the 2015 draft if he stayed in australia , going to college helped his brand. Wonder what the angle of the doc would have been if his team won a lot of games?

 

[UConnStats]

I'm not sure he realizes it's the NBA enforcing the one year in college.

He may not have liked being in school, but as James said, the hype he got in his one college year definitely helped him.

It would be one thing if he was speaking out in hope of change/benefit of other student athletes, but this is just complaining about something he knew he was getting himself into. Also, he seems to show little to no appreciation for LSU, and while they were bad, that is also a shame. Have some pride in your university.

 

[80shusky]

Tool.

 

[prankster]

I dont think he's just upset with having to go to class. I think you're missing the underlying message. The takeaway from that is the system with which an amateur college athlete goes through without compensation while in college is broken, "and here's how it looks from our perspective".

Frankly, they just need to change it to 2 years. If you're ready after high school, cool. If you're not, you gotta wait 2 years (thats at least an Associate's degree).

I would like to get back to having the days where phenoms came right out of high school. It'll make for better basketball and a richer talent pool coming out of college

I think the NBA needs to work more on the Development League as a pathway for young kids who have basketball talent and poor academic prospects.

Baseball has little problem bringing some high school grad straight into A or AA.....

 

[mauconnfan]

This begs the question as to what Ben did for their APR? LOL

 

[Penfield]

I don't think I will ever be able to root for this kid since he comes off as such a primadonna.

I am not opposed to players getting more compensation for their play and for the most part I am sympathetic to their situations, but these one-and-dones are the least of my worries. They are really just biding their time waiting for the big pay day that will occur in about 9 months. There are way more kids that put in 4 years of hard work, will never make the NBA, and who have families back home that are struggling to make it. Simmons came from a well off family, and most likely had every opportunity growing up. Even if LSU had been allowed to pay Simmons, I highly doubt he would been interested in the education or team building aspects, and those will always be components of the college game. You will never see a situation where NCAA athletes are not required to go to class. He seems to only be worried about himself.

If Simmons has any gripe it should be with the NBA. They are the ones that created the age limit, and have failed to provide a decent alternative to college for these players. At the same time no one made him attend college (besides his family maybe). He is the rare player that could have skipped college completely, and still have a huge buzz heading into his NBA career.

Simmons can speak for the one-and-dones if he wants, but he has very little in common w/ the typical college basketball player. I think most of them would be better off finding a more respectable person to promote their agenda.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

He may not have liked being in school, but as James said, the hype he got in his one college year definitely helped him.

How? He would have gone first overall if he had taken the year off and surfed or smoked meth or whatever they do for fun in Australia. He played on a bad team and confirmed that he can't shoot. This idea that people whose livelihood depends on identifying and either drafting or, in the case of marketers, etc., exploiting talented people for monetary gain is dependent on learning about these kids when they show up in college is silly.

 

[jibsey]

The funny part is that he seems to want a Nobel Prize for not taking the swag.

 

[James]

How? He would have gone first overall if he had taken the year off and surfed or smoked meth or whatever they do for fun in Australia. He played on a bad team and confirmed that he can't shoot. This idea that people whose livelihood depends on identifying and either drafting or, in the case of marketers, etc., exploiting talented people for monetary gain is dependent on learning about these kids when they show up in college is silly.

but i mean, having goodman pump out articles and follow him everyone did help his brand. i do agree that he could have just not gone to college and gone pro anyway, but to say that he would be a lock as a number 1 pick without going to lsu isn't completely true either. mudiay dropped in the draft because he didn't go to school, expect terrance fergurson to drop too.

 

[UConnStats]

How? He would have gone first overall if he had taken the year off and surfed or smoked meth or whatever they do for fun in Australia. He played on a bad team and confirmed that he can't shoot. This idea that people whose livelihood depends on identifying and either drafting or, in the case of marketers, etc., exploiting talented people for monetary gain is dependent on learning about these kids when they show up in college is silly.

There's no guarantee that he would have gone #1, but the media attention pretty much wrote it in stone in my opinion.

Definitely fair to have the opinion that college ball didn't matter for him, but I don't think him bashing the NCAA was the right move because it's not even the NCAA's rule, and they don't owe him anything more than he got.

As for the whole "brand" thing, I don't really care much about that and no matter how big of a deal he was last year, he's going to have to be a legitimate star in the NBA to be branded as such. Nobody's "brand" made in college is permanent. Look at Shabazz, or how people are jumping off the Hield bandwagon after his first week in the NBA. So I'm with you on that. It's been talked about way too much on here lately, especially with Diallo.

 

[jibsey]

This begs the question as to what Ben did for their APR? LOL

Imagine how easy the courses he was enrolled in were at LSU. I'm not bashing them but LSU is not UCONN academically, and knowing he was one and done he would have been in the easiest of the easy. And he's still crying about this terrible inconvenience.

 

[upstater]

Interesting read about the one and done culture that is college basketball these days. Sounds like he shouldn't have gone to college.

Ben Simmons rips NCAA in new doc, was reportedly 'offered a Bentley' at LSU

He didn't have to go. I mean, did he realize that the U. in LSU stands for University?

 

[superjohn]

Simmons was going to be the #1 pick without a year of college but this won't endear him to fans.

 

[Husky68]

Can you not go to other countries (not sure about Australia) and play professional basketball for a year and then be eligible for the draft? If wasn't interested in year of college education/life why not skip it?

 

[James]

Can you not go to other countries (not sure about Australia) and play professional basketball for a year and then be eligible for the draft? If wasn't interested in year of college education/life why not skip it?

not only is it possible, it was done by his fellow country man dante exum a year before. if he never transferred to montverde he could have followed a similar path to completely bypass the ncaa and enter the 2015 draft. would he have developed the same in australia? who knows but he had options.

 

[Burnsbros23]

Of all the people who have a gripe with the NCAA Simmons isn't one. Could of his home country and gone pro right away. He knew what he was getting into when he came to America.

The for sure one and done kids act like they have it so bad. One year at a university where ur a huge star... I'm sorry it can't be that.

I think the system is more broken for the kid who's a star for 3-4 years but doesn't make the NBA.

 

[champs99and04]

I mean...he's right. All of the rationalization ("he's getting a free education," "he didn't have to go to college," "he was treated like a king") is just noise.

The fact that he attended LSU and not Kentucky or Kansas should drive the point home. Their fan base, and the fan bases of SEC schools in general, could be described gently as apathetic. He singlehandedly put people in the seats, generated a buzz within the program and conference, and drove TV ratings way up. If there were ever a guy with a legitimate gripe, it's him. He made people a lot of money last season and didn't see a dime in return.

 

[KeepWinning]

But he also chose to go to LSU and do those things. He could have gone to Kentucky or Kansas and just been along for the ride.

I agree in whole that the athletes do a ton to benefit others. But there are options, and he chose the one that he felt would benefit himself the most. He knew what he was getting into.

 

[upstater]

I mean...he's right. All of the rationalization ("he's getting a free education," "he didn't have to go to college," "he was treated like a king") is just noise.

The fact that he attended LSU and not Kentucky or Kansas should drive the point home. Their fan base, and the fan bases of SEC schools in general, could be described gently as apathetic. He singlehandedly put people in the seats, generated a buzz within the program and conference, and drove TV ratings way up. If there were ever a guy with a legitimate gripe, it's him. He made people a lot of money last season and didn't see a dime in return.

I made a lot of money for my non-profit last year too. They didn't pay me a dime.

 

[BUConn10]

Here's the thing that people always ignore when blindly saying "pay the players".

The money LSU made from Simmons pays for the other student athletes, it's not going into the president and chairman's personal bank account like lots of ESPN commentators act like. Also when did we start acting like a free education in a country where people are voluntarily putting themselves in debt for the size of a mortgage just to have a competitive chance at a career, is "robbery". Hell, brilliant kids who will go on to create the next miracle drug or technology are currently slaving away in major university labs as TAs for literally nothing to pennies depending on the program. Anyone whose worked in the research fields at uni knows the lab TAs and student assistants are essentially high skilled, unpaid labor with promises of nothing more than a letter of recommendation and a kind word. Why aren't these guys protesting the NCAA for pay?

Maybe athletes in this country have been drinking our own kool aid for too long and simply think their physical skills are worth far more than they really are.

Also, if you decide paying players is the right move, you will have to pay ALL the players. You cannot have a guy sit in the AD and decide Simmons gets 10k per semester and Jenny on the girls volleyball team gets zero. Title IX essentially makes any scenario except every single student athletes getting the same stipend almost impossible. And no school wants to pay the non-revenue sports, like the reallllllly non-revenue sports like Golf or field hockey.

Finally, a strong majority of D1 athletic programs already run at an overall loss, that's including the big bucks from football and bball. Adding a huge expense like athlete salaries just blows the whole thing up and makes it essentially un-maintainable for all but the top 20 programs nationally.

UConn is already getting pushed out of big time athletics by conference realignment. The day athletes get to be paid will push UConn even further down the food chain.

 

[champs99and04]

Here's the thing that people always ignore when blindly saying "pay the players".

The money LSU made from Simmons pays for the other student athletes, it's not going into the president and chairman's personal bank account like lots of ESPN commentators act like. Also when did we start acting like a free education in a country where people are voluntarily putting themselves in debt for the size of a mortgage just to have a competitive chance at a career, is "robbery". Hell, brilliant kids who will go on to create the next miracle drug or technology are currently slaving away in major university labs as TAs for literally nothing to pennies depending on the program. Anyone whose worked in the research fields at uni knows the lab TAs and student assistants are essentially high skilled, unpaid labor with promises of nothing more than a letter of recommendation and a kind word. Why aren't these guys protesting the NCAA for pay?

Maybe athletes in this country have been drinking our own kool aid for too long and simply think their physical skills are worth far more than they really are.

Also, if you decide paying players is the right move, you will have to pay ALL the players. You cannot have a guy sit in the AD and decide Simmons gets 10k per semester and Jenny on the girls volleyball team gets zero. Title IX essentially makes any scenario except every single student athletes getting the same stipend almost impossible. And no school wants to pay the non-revenue sports, like the reallllllly non-revenue sports like Golf or field hockey.

Finally, a strong majority of D1 athletic programs already run at an overall loss, that's including the big bucks from football and bball. Adding a huge expense like athlete salaries just blows the whole thing up and makes it essentially un-maintainable for all but the top 20 programs nationally.

UConn is already getting pushed out of big time athletics by conference realignment. The day athletes get to be paid will push UConn even further down the food chain.

Well, do you think professional athletes should be paid less, too? That's not rhetorical. I'm curious.

This is a conversation that, admittedly, is more comprehensive in scope than my personal opinion can pay justice to, but it doesn't seem at all inconsistent to sympathize with the players who are clearly getting screwed while also acknowledging the structural barriers that prohibit such a thing. Perhaps Simmons does help pay for the women's lacrosse team, but it isn't his job to worry about the women's lacrosse team.