First off, if you don’t know what the COIA acronym means, is stands for the Coalition of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Secondly, these people think John Calipari is basically ruining college basketball by trying to turn the game into a professional sport.
In other words, these people are upset because Cal won’t play Indiana and North Carolina on campus.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.com thinks this is totally ridiculous:
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[COLOR=#333333][FONT=arial]Thing is, college sports scheduling is pretty much a free market. Nobody’s forced to play against Kentucky, unless they’re in the SEC or latched to them in the NCAA tournament bracket. Playing Kentucky means exposure — and money. If schools agree to play UK in a more-docile environment, well, that’s their choice. (I hate the choice, as I want almost all regular-season hoops games at school venues, but they’re free to make it.)[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=arial]The COIA continues:[/FONT][/COLOR][INDENT]According to coach Calipari, UK is no longer a “traditional program” because it is designed to lose most of its “one-and-done” players to the NBA each year. Kentucky will therefore only sign short term contracts with non-conference rivals, and will require that both games in ” home-home” series be played off campus. … Kentucky has built its current basketball program entirely on the basis of professional prospects playing their required one-and-done year in college before entering the NBA. [B]The program is no longer designed to provide students pursuing a college education the opportunity to compete, it is designed to train professional basketball players[/B].
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[COLOR=#333333][FONT=arial]The COIA made sure put that last part in bold. And, boy, the gusto of hyperbole is at full blast, isn’t it? This knock against Kentucky is nearly as stale and short-sighted as the bloggers-in-the-basement crack that molded on the rind back in 2008. I’m not even a Kentucky apologist, but seriously, [I]what is this[/I]?[/FONT][/COLOR]
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Does the COIA think any school is going to take this plea with a modicum of legitimacy? It sounds like a rant, not a measured dish of advice, and it’s completely void of perspective to how college basketball actually works. If programs aren’t going to schedule Kentucky it’s because they’re either A) too afraid to play the big boy [URL=”http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/teams/page/WBRST/weber-state-wildcats”]Wildcats[/URL] or B) their head coach won’t arrange the game because he hates Calipari.[/FONT][/COLOR]
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The COIA also says neutral sites “emulate professional conditions,” which can only mean one thing: The COIA also refutes the existence of the NCAA tournament. Because there’s nothing more professional about college basketball than the multi-billion-dollar bracket that’s meticulously managed and presented every March and April. Do you hate the NCAA tournament, COIA?[/FONT][/COLOR]
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[URL=”http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19134531/coalition-openly-lobbies-against-kentuckys-scheduling-tactics”]Read Entire Article[/URL]
The COIA is way off base thinking that Cal is trying to do anything more than get his team ready for the NCAA Tournament by playing neutral site games.
Cal did not create the one and done rule, he just plays by the rule.
If you don’t want teams to recruit one and done players than you should do away with one and done players.
Am I crazy to think it is that simple?
