By Anthony Giachin ’17, Sports Editor

College basketball used to be a beacon for all college sports – a place where die-hard fans could watch student-athletes grow and mature for four years until their time came to graduate and move on to bigger and better things. However, the game has morphed into a series of one-and-done athletes swapping in and out of universities, doing anything they can to sneak their way onto a professional team. College basketball is no longer a location for students to compete; it has become the minor league for the NBA. With the spike in one-and-done players, institutions are not only allowing this process to occur but also sometimes even encouraging it, as academically prestigious schools are finding loopholes to accept academically weak athletes into their universities. These schools undermine their academic integrity by allowing athletes to slip through the cracks in the education system because of what they bring to the basketball program. This heavy focus on athletics has obliterated the idea of a student-athlete in many colleges.

Ben Simmons, freshman superstar at LSU and forecasted first overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, is the epitome of a one-and-done college athlete. After a phenomenal freshman season at Louisiana State University and after solidifying himself as a top prospect to compete at the professional level, Ben Simmons decided that college had served its purpose for him. He officially dropped out of school in anticipation of the upcoming NBA draft, clearly showing he had no intention of utilizing the academic aspect of his college experience. Moreover, he came under fire this season, like many “student-athletes” have, for alleged academic sanctions and his failure to attend classes. The only reason Ben Simmons even attended a university was to wait the mandatory year before fulfilling the NBA draft age requirement of 19 years old. For big time athletes like Simmons, college is not a place to acquire academic skills, a concept foreign to many of us at Newark Academy, including for our own student-athletes. For Ben Simmons, college is simply a stepping-stone on the path to fame, an opportunity for players to get noticed by professional teams. Simmons is not the only athlete abusing a university like this; there are countless other occurrences where students only stay in college for one year before leaving for the NBA. The University of Kentucky is a prime example of a one-and-done program. The University of Kentucky is a breeding ground for professional basketball players, almost all of whom enter the draft after their freshmen seasons. The Kentucky basketball team won the national championship in 2012 with a starting lineup consisting of three freshmen and two sophomores, all of whom entered the draft following the season. Rather than deciding to represent their school and attempting to win more NCAA championships or to receive an education, the players chose to call it quits after one or two years at the school and pursue their dreams of becoming professional athletes instead.

As easy as it is to blame the athletes themselves for the destruction of the student-athlete image, is it truly their faults? Be honest: if you had the opportunity to enter a professional draft with the chance to make millions of dollars, wouldn’t you take it? For these young hopeful athletes, basketball may be their only escape. Many of these players come from poor upbringings, with athletics as their only chance of escaping poverty. For them, college is nothing more than an opportunity to achieve wealth and fame, and it is the fault of the universities for this trend of one-and-done athletes. Universities have allowed academics to take a backseat to athletics, rather than attempting to link the two harmoniously and create true student-athletes. They have created a different set of rules for those gifted athletically and thus undermined the prestige of their respective institutions. They appear to turn a blind eye to the many claims of other students doing athletes’ work for them and athletes not attending class. It seems as though as long as the athletes are bringing in money for the university with their athletic skills, they don’t have to adhere to the same regulations as all other students. Although athletics are an important aspect of the personality of the school, there are better ways to improve athletic programs without compromising academics.

However, some schools are doing a good job of making sure their athletes are also students. Recently, there were many requests for Davidson College to retire Stephen Curry’s number. Curry is arguably the best player in the NBA right now as the back-to-back league MVP and NBA Finals champion. However, Davidson refused to retire Curry’s number because he only attended the school for three years before entering the draft and Davidson has a policy of only retiring the numbers of players who have graduated. Although many people are outraged by Davidson’s refusal because Curry has had such unbelievable success in the professional league, some believe this act is a step in the right direction to reinstall the image of a student-athlete. Davidson is a prestigious academic school and by refusing to retire a non-graduating player’s number, they are essentially saying they value their academics just as much, if not more, than their athletics.

Zach Keller ’17, an avid college basketball fan and two-sport athlete, shared his opinion on one-and-done college athletes and what it reflects on the school: “It is disappointing to see highly prestigious academic schools lower their standards in order to allow athletes into their school, most of whom leave after only a year. It lowers the graduation rate and also gives schools a bad reputation, as the University of North Carolina now has the reputation of their athletes not going to class and having others do the work for the athletes. It completely destroys the idea of the student-athlete that schools have tried so hard to create and maintain. Newark Academy has successfully molded student-athletes by allotting specific time periods for sports and constantly encouraging the priority of academics.” It is clear that the prestige of universities is being diminished because of this one-and-done phenomenon. This philosophy has taken over the sport and has completely changed the way college basketball is played and viewed, and not for the better.

As Zach touches on, the idea of a one-and-done student-athlete is almost a foreign idea to students at Newark Academy, as NA has done such an exceptional job of making academics the focal point for all students. Although we have many talented athletes at our school, each and every one of them is a student first and this mantra has stayed with Newark Academy athletes who have gone on to play in college. All of our students understand the value of education and realize that a sports career can be ended in a single play due to injury, whereas an education lasts forever. Many of our athletes attend schools that carry the same values as Newark Academy in order to ensure they are still receiving a top education. The destruction of the image of a student-athlete is one thing Newark Academy students have not struggled with.