The issue of whether or not NCAA basketball players should be paid is a longstanding debate that has caught fire and burst into the realm of probability in the aftermath of the FBIs probe into more than 20 major D1 hoops programs. With the lawsuits filed by players in recent years for money gained by the NCAA for the uncompensated use of players likenesses and similar exploitations and the discovery revealed in this recent college basketball scandal, the pressure is building for the NCAA to come up with a new set of rules or open up the piggy bank and decide how to compensate players for the money they generate.
Doing this can open up a Pandoras box of extenuating dilemmas and really complicate things, but some prominent voices think its necessary. There are, however some folks who believe that attacking the NCAA and calling it exploitive and corrupt, as LeBron James did, is doing the young, black student-athlete a disservice.
The Shadow League spoke with former UNC TarHeel center and Turner Sports hoops analyst Brendan Haywood and the always opinionated Charles Barkley, fresh off hosting SNL for the fourth time, at CBS and Turner Sports’ NCAA Media Day on Tuesday.
Charles Barkley Don’t Think Brendan Haywood Was A Shot Blocker
Chuck has absolutely no chill
Both guys will be working in unison to make NCAA March Madness coverage a hit. However, they had a sound clash of opinions on just how to fix this messy college hoops landscape.
Brendan Haywood:
Everybodys to blame for the latest college basketball scandal. The Student-Athlete, The NCAA, and the coaches and agents, the sneaker companies, because overtime, everything has just eroded.
I do think players should be paid. And I do think the NBA and NCAA should work together to abolish the one-and-done rule. Guys who dont want to play college basketball shouldnt be forced too. Then you take it from there.
I still think they should stay in college for two years. If you got a bad NBA team you need to get somebody who is going to make your team better right away. Under the one-and-done rule or getting rid of it all together, now you have a kid that might be good in three or four years. If I’m a fan I dont want that.
Haywood:
Whether the NCAA gives guys stipends or says they can get endorsements, they have to find a way to pay the players. People are using their likenesses for jerseys and all types of sales and theyre not getting anything from that. They have to make this fair.
Charles Barkley:
The players took the money so dont act like theyre innocent bystanders. Is the NCAA perfect? Not even close. But I don’t want these people out here telling young black kids education isnt important.
Charles Barkley Athletes Monologue – SNL
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Education is really important. How many of these guys are actually going to go pro? Less than one percent. I listen to all the chosen ones, who are making all of this money sit around and talk about how corrupt the NCAA is because they make $20, $30, $50 million dollars a year, but the truth of the matter is, Im more concerned about the 99 percent who dont gopro. The people who have to get a real job and can use the free education.
I’m not here to pound the drum for the NCAA. The NCAA has some issue. But this notion that they’re screwing these players. I hate that. They get a free education and thats really important.
Haywood:
I know they are getting a scholarship and scholarship has its value. But some of these guys…you think Marvin Bagleys scholarship is equal to the money he generated on the court this year for Duke basketball. Probably not.
The battle rages on between one side of the basketball planet that wants to move into the future and another who isnt prepared to fully face the exploitive foundation of college sports.
