All the way back in February 2004, I took note of how Christian Drejer, a forward from Denmark at the University of Florida, decided to turn his back on NCAA Basketball and return to Europe in order to sign a nice contract at FC Barcelona. While some folks here in the U.S. condemned the move -- Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo called it a "low blow" -- I couldn't help but cheer, as it simply indicated to me that elite international basketball players not yet ready for the NBA had access to another option outside of American college basketball.
But that wasn't all I said:
But the real problem for American college basketball has yet to emerge. Because while it's one thing for a European off the bench to bolt for dollars back on the continent, the real explosion is going to occur when an American kid opts for the European professional leagues straight out of high school or even earlier.
These days, the folks at Indiana figure they've always got the inside track on recruiting next year's Mr. Basketball. But it won't be too much longer when they're going to start worrying about scouts from Europe lurking in their gyms with promises of elite basketball training and big bucks, all without the attendant hassles of the NCAA and the fiction of American amateurism.
Please note that I wrote that a full four years before Brandon Jennings decided he wanted nothing of the NCAA experience, and went straight to Europe for a full year before being drafted #10 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2009 NBA Draft. At the time, Jennings was widely pilloried for skipping the college experience, but after reading the latest contribution by Jason Chung over at The Situationist, it's pretty clear that Jennings made the right call for both him and his family:
It is drilled into the minds of most Americans that higher education is the way to go in order to attain professional and personal success. In addition, for student-athletes, playing in the NCAA is viewed as the traditional way in which to interest NBA teams and to raise your draft profile. Jennings bucked conventional wisdom and the resulting immediate reaction on the part of some of the public and NBA analysts like Rose was to question the motivations, financial and otherwise, behind this decision.
This initial reaction is simply not supported by facts.
And as you might suspect, the folks who are running the show inside the NBA and the NCAA don't want those facts to gain wider currency among elite, college-eligible players.
UPDATE: More proof that the global marketplace in basketball talent is here to stay: Ricky Rubio spurning the Minnesota Timberwolves to play for FC Barcelona.
