Let the silly season begin

By Sean McDonald Sports Central Columnist

The Final Four is over. Maryland has won the championship, and that's the end of college basketball until November, right?

Not anymore.

Gone are the days of basking in your team's glory, or if you are not a Terrapin fan, wondering what went wrong.

In these times, college basketball doesn't disappear from the public's eye, but instead, shows up briefly in wire services and during the last 15 minutes of SportsCenter, and these glimpses are usually the looks that college basketball doesn't want.

Some of these moments started before the tournament ended.

Coaches have been fired, new ones hired, and one has called for his firing, been fired, appealed his firing, and had that appeal dismissed.

Players like Michigan State's Marcus Taylor and Stanford's Casey Jacobsen have announced they are turning pro.

These announcements keep college basketball in the news, but the light they shine on the game exposes the flaws and the professionalism that has overtaken a supposedly amateur sport.

I'm not going to rant and rave about college or high school players turning pro. That decision is their right and if it is the best decision for them, I wish them all the best of luck.

The one thing I wish of all these young men wouldn't do is hire an agent. Instead, go to the NBA pre-draft camps and see if you can play at the next level. If not, go back to school. There is no shame in getting a college education.

Talk to your coach and find out where you fit in the draft. Double-check that information.

For every Kevin Garnett, there are three or four Omar Cooks.

Omar who, you ask?

Exactly my point. These are the players who do turn pro, do not make it in the NBA and have lost their chance to receive a college education at a cost much lower than the average 20-year-old.

I know it is not going to happen, but in my ideal world, I would like to see both the NBA and NCAA put a ban on players hiring agents unless they have received a degree.

While the NCAA has restrictions -- loss of college eligibility -- to enforce the rule, the NBA does not. In addition, the NBA is not obligated to have any either, legally or morally.

Think about it... when was the last time the NBA marketing wizards highlighted a player's academic achievements?

However, this world is not ideal, and for every Taylor or Jacobsen who decides to declare without hiring an agent, there will be countless other players who will listen to people outside of the game and harm their future by signing with an agent and going either undrafted, or falling to the second round, which is NBA's purgatory for 11th and 12th men on a roster.

The other problem with college basketball in these times is the revolving door of coaches who are getting hired, fired, or re-signed to new contracts.

I understand that if you are the coach of UCLA and you go 10-18 for three straight years, you are probably not going to have a job. That is understandable.

What is not understandable is the plethora of mid-major coaches who are also fired every year.

I believe that college athletic directors are watching the NCAA tournament and seeing Southern Illinois and Kent State succeeding and wonder why their program isn't there.

A great run through a tournament for most mid-major schools coincides with a couple of factors.

Experience and good luck are what propels mid-major schools to a run of success in a national spotlight.

Picking up an overlooked recruit like a Dan Dickau and surrounding him with an experienced lineup can turn a program around.

The problem is that there aren't that many players like Dickau around the country and there aren't that many opportunities for everything to come together in a specific season.

I'm not advocating ten-year contracts for coaches at small schools, but for people like Bradley's Jim Molinari, who was hailed as a genius four years ago for taking a mid-major program and making it a consistent winner, to be fired doesn't make much sense.

Did he lose his coaching ability? Did he lose his recruiting ability?

The answers to these questions are most likely "no."

If there is a top player in Peoria, Illinois, obviously, the University of Illinois is going to be knocking down their door (Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin, and Frank Williams all hailed from Peoria). They can offer more to a high ceiling player than Bradley can.

The mid-major coach has to work harder to find players with less talent or players who have potential, but are not elite high school players.

The job isn't easy and these coaches shouldn't be shown the door with the same fervor as elite, large conference coaches.

If you are watching the NBA draft this summer, don't pay attention to the Jason Williams' or Caron Butler's of the draft.

Their story will have a happy ending because they will be playing at the highest level of basketball and getting paid well for it.

Instead, pay more attention to the last half of the second round and wonder what will happen to the young men who left school early, only to have one minute of fame as assistant commissioner of the NBA, Russ Granik, tries to set a new record for the fastest round in a professional draft.

Please remember that for every up-and-coming coach you will hear about coming up in the next year, there is one more coach who will be pushed aside to make room for him.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.