 |  |  |
People always ask, about March every year, what I'm going to do once basketball season is over, and every time I tell them the plan is to write about basketball. They laugh and say, "No, really?" Then I laugh and say, "Yes, really!" And the conversation usually ends with me trying to explain that writing about college hoops is a 12-month-a-year job, that it's actually more difficult than some might think to pull away and completely detach.
|
|
| There's no offseason for Tom Crean, who continues his housecleaning in Bloomington. (US Presswire) |
Like last week, for instance.
And it seemed like a decent time to vacation ... up until Tom Crean had to release a statement about Eli Holman.
"His behavior took me, along with the other people in the office, by surprise," Crean said. "We saw him as a danger to himself and wanted to take precautionary measures to help him."
Just my luck, isn't it?
On the week I decide to relax and not write, the new Indiana basketball coach has to call campus police because one of his players lost his mind and threw a potted plant in the office. True story. It's crazy. But I suppose that's better than getting busted smoking an un-potted plant, which brings me to Ramar Smith and Duke Crews, the two Tennessee players who were dismissed last week for reportedly failing drug tests.
Look, I know lots of college basketball players smoke weed.
As do lots of college soccer players.
And lots of college volleyball players.
And lots of college golfers and college tennis players and all kinds of so-called student-athletes with a capable set of lungs. Personally, I don't care one way or another as long as they don't get in a car and kill me and my family.
But it seems incredible that two guys from a potential Final Four team would put their careers at risk in such a way when they know a drug test is coming. I mean, it's not like college athletes aren't aware there's always the chance that a urine test is about to be performed. So why can't these guys just chill until the offseason (did you learn nothing from Josh Howard?) or do a Google search and order some of that Never Fail stuff to keep in their travel bag right beside their i-pods, ankle braces and rolling papers?
(Never Fail apparently costs $99.95 plus shipping. I'm not a financial wizard, but it seems worth the money if the alternative is losing a full-paid scholarship including room and board and books. But I digress ...)
Anyway, some other stories worth nothing from last week were:
Bob Huggins signs an 11-year contract with West Virginia
(Good for Huggs. And West Virginia.)
Kelvin Sampson joins the Milwaukee Bucks staff
(Insert your own cell phone joke here.)
Sixty-nine underclassmen declare for NBA Draft
(Insert your own sex joke here)
Seriously, 69?
When the official list was released I knew it'd be a high number. But 69 is silly, and I'm ready to alter my stance that there's no harm in declaring early because you can always go back to school as long as you don't jeopardize your amateur status (or, more accurately, don't get caught jeopardizing your amateur status). Truth is, there is a harm, and the harm is that formally declaring for the draft when you're not capable can turn you into a punch line, and I'm talking about you, Derek Bailey.
In fairness, I don't know a thing about Derek Bailey.
But that's kind of the point, isn't it?
I'm familiar with most all of the early entrants -- from Michael Beasley to Kiwan Smith -- because it's my job to be familiar with relevant basketball players big and small. But this Derek Bailey character is a mystery, and I can't imagine a mystery will be invited to any workouts, which is why the NBA should do something and prevent the act of declaring for the NBA Draft from further becoming akin to jumping from the stands and running around a baseball field during a telecast. You know those guys, right? The ones who run around waving and smiling in search of the attention that comes from acting stupid? They started surfacing with such regularity in recent seasons that producers decided they would no longer play along, which is why streakers rarely make it onto TV screens these days.
Streakers are instead ignored, and the NBA should take a similar approach because it seems there are guys turning pro just to get their name on a list next to the names of Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose even though their name doesn't belong on that list any more than your name belongs that list. It's bizarre, and yet if I were a college student I'd almost certainly file the proper paperwork and declare for the NBA Draft because, honestly, what would be funnier than sitting around a frat house party with a keg and 15 buddies while watching CBSSports.com as your name appears on the list next to legitimate names like Brook Lopez and D.J. Augustin?
Declaring for the draft could become some sort of frat initiation.
Because if Derek Bailey can declare for the draft why can't everybody declare?
And if everybody declares how will I ever find the time to vacation again?