Why Big Time College Basketball Players Don’t Graduate

Despite all of the attention given to graduation rates among Division I college athletes when former Senator Bill Bradley discussed this issue several years ago, the graduation rate of men’s basketball players continues to lag. A recent report indicates that 44 percent of Division I basketball players who entered college in 1989 had graduated within six years, a figure eleven percentage points below the male average.

The graduation rate for male basketball players has not exceeded 46 percent in the past six years, despite minimal academic requirements. With the NCAA basketball tournament now in full swing, it is a tragedy that black male basketball players had the lowest graduation rate in the survey. This is hardly surprising news since a disproportionate share of the top 15 players selected since the 1997 NBA draft are underclassmen.

Administrators questioned about the relatively low graduation rate of basketball players attribute the seemingly lackluster academic performance to the rigors of a season that spans two semesters, the poor educational background of many athletes and the belief that college is a farm system for the National Basketball Association. While these conditions certainly militate against graduation, they are only a partial explanation of what ails big time college basketball players.

The college basketball season starts December 1, practice begins November 1, and ends in the beginning of March, unless the team is invited to a post season tournament. Therefore the claim a basketball season spans two semesters is true for one month of the Spring semester, in most instances.

Second, many athletes do have a poor educational background, but this is due in no small part to the fact that their athletic ability is a passport to promotion. Coaches invariably avert their gaze to the academic deficiencies of their best athletes.

Third, Division I college basketball is indeed a farm system for the NBA, despite all the claims to the contrary. This doesn’t mean every Division I player aspires to a pro-career, but with a handful of exceptions, NBA players get their start, reputation and grooming in the college ranks.

Hence the handwringing about ill-prepared, college basketball players is the height of hypocrisy. Even with minimal Proposition 48 requirements, most college level study is ignored and most players care about what happens in the gym, not in the classroom. In the absence of genuine academic requirements imposed by the NCAA, the lagging graduation rate of college basketball players is likely to continue, even if an occasional exclamation of concern is heard in the halls of Congress.

Today, big time college basketball translates into big time revenue and recognition. The bitch goddess mammon has converted student-athletes into a laughing stock. It is astonishing how many college basketball players major in “communications.” It is also interesting to note that college coaches refer to educational opportunity when recruiting athletes, but conveniently forget this matter when the basketball players are in their programs.

From the time a six foot seven inch high school player with a size 18 sneaker is discovered by scouts, academic demands are relaxed. Special provisions are accorded this star in the making. Teachers understand the “rules” of the game and principals like the reflected glory. Friends tell the prospective star that he’s bound to make it to the pros. And newly discovered friends invite this player to college parties where morals are sometimes loose and adulation is easily granted. Most fifteen-year-olds in this basketball cycle have their maturity arrested. They are seduced by claims that are rarely realized.

Is it any surprise graduation rates are declining for college basketball players? What would be surprising is if coaches cared about graduation rates, if highly recruited players cared about something other than basketball and if colleges imposed the same requirements on athletes that the do on other students. This is March madness in more ways than one.

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