Effect of the NBA age rule, Cardinal rise and more

Don't worry, 'Bag readers: I'll get to plenty of your questions below. But the topic of this week's 'Bag-Bilastrator Challenge was compelling enough that we're leading off with it.

	The NBA age-minimum rule has produced an influx of freshman stars, including the Texas' Kevin Durant who may be the player of the year. Greg Nelson/SI
	MAILBAG Grant Wahl will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

This week's question: What is your opinion of the NBA age-minimum rule's effect so far on college basketball -- both on and off the court? If you could make revisions to the rule, what would you change?

The 'Bag responds:

There's no question the NBA age-minimum rule has been beneficial on the court for college basketball. The arrival of Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Brandan Wright and a host of other remarkable freshmen has increased the game's talent level while bringing a welcome buzz to the regular season. What's more, it's fascinating to see the contrast in maturity levels when freshman-laden teams (such as Ohio State) take on more experienced outfits (like Florida).

Off the court the results are a bit more mixed. The good: It's great that the rule prevents high-school stars from making bad decisions that could kill their careers. Quite a few freshmen who were supposed to be studs now realize that they'll be better off spending two or more years in college. The bad: The rare high-school players who had NBA-ready bodies and mentalities (LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Amaré Stoudemire) are now prevented from making the jump for a year.

Additionally, Bob Knight has gone on a one-man jihad against the rule, saying it compromises what remains of the college game's academic integrity. Yet I wonder if Knight is directing his wrath just as much toward old nemesis Myles Brand (the NCAA president who fired him at Indiana) as he is toward the rule itself. Knight has a point when he says that a one-and-done player can still compete despite doing little or no schoolwork in the second semester and withdrawing from classes at the end of the season (before the school year ends). But the fact is that the schools have an incentive to keep early-departure players eligible for the entire school year, since they'll lose an APR point if an athlete leaves for the pros without his eligibility intact. (Low APR scores can lead to reduced scholarships.) Durant, for one, vowed to me that he'd go to classes for the entire second semester and leave Texas with his eligibility intact even if he decides to go pro after his freshman season.

Another little-known fact, even among some coaches I spoke to, is this: Players who leave early for the pros will not cause their schools to be penalized in the APR as long as they're still eligible when they leave.

If I could change the rule, I'd go with Mike Krzyzewski's proposal: to allow players to jump directly from high school to the pros, but if they decide to attend college they should sign an agreement saying they'd stay for at least two years. I don't expect the NBA Players Association to endorse that idea, however, so I say stick with the current situation, which at least is better than the previous one.

The Bilastrator responds:

The Bilastrator likes the rule, but wishes it went further. The NCAA has no control over this rule; it just impacts the game greatly. The rule is the NBA's, and don't believe the age-minimum was adopted for the good of college basketball. It was not. Early entries were hurting the NBA's bottom line, and the rule allows the NBA to better evaluate talent -- an inexact science -- and better weed out frauds. The rule is a watered down compromise in the collective bargaining process between the NBA and Players Association, but it's a good first step.

The Bilastrator approves of any rule that encourages players to go to college. The college game is enhanced by great talents such as Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, and the Bilastrator believes those players benefit greatly as well. In this age of skipping steps, college is not a step anyone should skip.

This rule provides young players a genuine reality check. A year or more of college better reveals readiness, better develops basketball and life skills and gives the NBA a more finished, better-educated product.

The Bilastrator believes there are three valid reasons for a young man to enter the NBA Draft early: desperate financial need, current physical and mental preparedness to be an impact player, or the player is an overvalued fraud and needs to cash in before he is discovered. The rule eliminates only the frauds and requires others only a delay.

Exactly how, and on what timetable, a player is educated is in the sole discretion of each individual institution, and should not be subject to a blanket rule. The Bilastrator believes exposure to college can only be of benefit, and once exposed to college, a player is more likely to stay. Any argument of a student-athlete shirking schoolwork in the second semester applies equally to any player, freshman to senior, once a decision to enter the Draft has been made.

If he were really in charge, instead of just in his delusional state of actually believing so, the Bilastrator would require those entering the NBA Draft to be two years out of high school and 20 years old. If allowed to choose between entering the Draft being forced to stay in college for two years, Oden and Durant would never have set foot on campus. The game would have been poorer for that, and so would Oden and Durant. Tim Duncan and Grant Hill stayed four years and graduated, and both have wild financial riches. More importantly, both have banked life experiences that money cannot buy. Right or wrong, LeBron or Kobe will never have that, and never be viewed in the same manner as Duncan or Hill, because the college experience matters to thinking people. Duncan and Hill are not better, they are just richer.