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High turnover rate
May 2, 2008I was looking at the list of NBA early entries this week and noticed that four players from Memphis and three from Kansas were on the list.
That means that of the 10 starters in last month's national championship game, eight (including Memphis senior Joey Dorsey) made themselves available for the draft.
If you throw in North Carolina (3) and UCLA (3) as the other two Final Four participants, the total goes up to 14 players.
There must have been more NBA scouts than college basketball fans and beat writers combined in San Antonio.
Despite the distinct possibility of losing his entire starting five to the NBA, Memphis coach John Calipari signed a contract extension following the Tigers' loss in the championship game. He easily could have taken Boone Pickens' money and relocated to Oklahoma State -- which means he must have one heck of a new class of recruits coming in on Beale St.
Bill Self, Roy Williams and Ben Howland will all be back next season too -- they're contractually obligated to be. Williams will have Tyler Hansborough back for sure, while the other three coaches may be heading for a rebuilding year and a test of their coaching skills.
This is the new reality of college basketball -- the bigger the stage, the more people will look to move off to an even bigger one.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
