Since there is a little bit of a lull (although congratulations to Iona for winning the MAAC tournament), I will say some of my thoughts on the scandal of paying players.

• I am glad that players like Wendell Carter were not severely punished for having a meal with an agent and allowing the agent to pay for it.  I understand it is against the rules, but that doesn’t seem like a NCAA violation that should end a player’s college career.
• I believe in innocent until proven guilty, and so I am willing to wait out the end of the FBI investigation to find out if Arizona’s Sean Miller offered $100K to make sure Deandre Ayton became a Wildcat.  But if the wiretap really caught that, he should never coach in college again.  Ever – no second chance,  no going to a small school – it needs to be a lifetime ban.
• I am not naive enough to believe that it is just the 20+ schools in the Yahoo! report.  I sadly believe this is a small portion of the cheating.

I have some very specific comments about LeBron James entering the fray and talking about how corrupt the NCAA is for exploiting the players.

• Let’s remember, LeBron, that the one and done rule is not the NCAA’s.  It is the NBA that created this mess – they are the ones who wanted to stop high schoolers going straight to the pros because of the large portion of them who would get drafted and flame out.  With the amount of money at stake for the NBA teams, they wanted better scouting of these players before giving them millions of dollars.
• LeBron was quoted – “I’ve always heard the narrative that they get a free education, but you guys are not bringing me on campus to get an education; you guys are bringing me on it to help you get to a Final Four or to a national championship, so it’s just a weird thing.”   This is not evidence they are corrupt.  Of course they are offering these athletes scholarships to win basketball games.  The payment they are offering is an education – they are a large university that does not care if you take advantage of all the valuable opportunities they offer.  They are giving their services for your services – they are going to take every advantage they can from your services.  It is the student athlete’s responsibility to take advantage of the opportunity to get a degree.
• Then LeBron laughably said the NBA G-league was an option.  Because not only was the NBA the ones who created this mess by stopping the athletes from going straight to the their league, but the NBA cares so much about these young athletes that they offer their G-league players an entire $26,000 to play in their league.  If that player is talented enough to play overseas, they can make at least 3 times this – plus, the European clubs tend to pay for the player’s lodging and sometimes even taxes.
• Oh – and that corrupt NCAA is offering a full ride scholarship that on average is worth about $38,000.  And that is the net amount – so it would be more like $50-60K pre-taxes.  So, even the corrupt organization is offering twice as much money as what LeBron is suggesting these high schoolers take.  Their G-league salary won’t help them get money to their families when they are barely scraping by to pay their rent for where they live.
• And if they blow out their ACL playing G-league ball and their career is done, they have nothing to fall back on.  But I am sure the NBA will take care of them because they care so much.  We could all argue about how corrupt the NCAA is, but you have to be joking if you are saying the NBA is looking out for these young athletes.

Sadly, I don’t have the answers to how to make this work.  I am not involved with college athletics, so I can’t tell you how bad things truly are or what you can do to make it better.  But some thoughts.

• While in principle I like it, you can’t offer them the opportunity to make money through endorsements / autographs / etc.  That simply becomes the open door to allow boosters with deep pockets to come in and give the athlete’s money.  Then, recruiting simply becomes which school’s boosters have the best endorsement deals.
• Make all scholarships five year commitments.  If a player gets injured and can no longer play or even if the school simply thinks the player is not good enough to play on the next year’s roster, the school is allowed to offer another player a scholarship to fill their team – but the injured player gets to keep their scholarship to finish their education.  If we are going to say it is about the student-athletes getting an education, lets ensure the athlete can get that education no matter what.
• I think the athletes should be allowed to sign with an agent.  You can set up rules (that maybe even you could get your caring friend in the NBA to help) where agents are not allowed to offer high schoolers gifts or loans for signing with them.  They can take them for a meal to discuss if they are the right agency (and the agent can pay for the meal as their business expense), but no gifts that could have a future monetary value.  Be very clear what is allowed and what is not – and enforce it.
• Make the draft open.   All college athletes are allowed into the draft.  If they don’t get drafted, they can return to college assuming they have eligibility remaining.  Their agent can help set them up with the right tryouts to see if they are ready.  If they do get drafted, they have the right to continue playing in college to finish their education – but the NBA team that drafted them will retain the rights to sign them when they are done (we all know if they get drafted, they will leap to the NBA).
• If an agent is caught giving gifts to the amateur athlete, they lose their license.  Coaches can not be caught paying agents to funnel players to them – if they are caught breaking that rule, they receive a lifetime ban from coaching (and schools can then immediately end their contracts with no additional payout).  If you want to stop the underhanded money, you need to make the punishment large.

Basically, take away the agent’s reason to give them money (he wants to sign the athlete, and now he can do it without having to give him things along the way).  Take away the coaches incentive by making the punishment that they will never coach again.  And give the athlete the opportunity to go immediately to the pros when the pros think they are ready.  Don’t make them have to choose between their education or their dream.   Let the pros decide if they are ready and if not, let them continue to getting their education both on and off the court.

None of that will likely happen.  We will have lots of people say that they care – and not much will change.