Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: The backlash of staying in school

Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports

I do admit to a point that I do get Zagoria’s point, yet we are talking about sophomores in college. Five years ago, it would have been insane to suggest that college sophomores should go pro early, no matter how good they are. But somehow, Kentucky Wildcats basketball players get the venom for not going pro early while other schools with just as many talented players get a pass.

If you are going to attack players based on the projections and players not leaving early, look no further than Duke. The Duke Blue Devils also have nine McDonald’s All Americans on their roster. And as of now, just three Duke players are projected to be a first round NBA draft pick by Chad Ford. Jahlil Okafor is listed at #1, Justice Winslow at #5, and Tyus Jones at #26.

If you are a McDonald’s All American player, odds are that you have been listed as a potential lottery pick at one point or another. But where is the mock outrage and the bashing of Duke players that are not going to leave early? It is non-existent.

Mock drafts, when taken as gospel by players and families, can be toxic.

The real poison is the media projections that start ranking these kids as NBA superstars before they even get their drivers licenses. And these mock drafts are created by the media. Guys like Chad Ford and others are well paid for their insight and actually have access to NBA sources for information. But pro basketball mock drafts are a 24/7, 365 day a year machine. You do see football mock drafts, but they are not as prevalent and only seem to be published after the college season.

ESPN and other sites have weekly updates on the success and failures of these college players because they are well, big page view generators. And everyone with an opinion is able to trash any player that does not live up to their projections. It seems that some writers have taken it personally that they picked the Harrisons to be first round picks and they are not.

Call it the rage of being wrong and some coaches have called mock drafts a poison. Bill Self and Jim Boeheim have voiced their displeassure on the mock draft mentality.

"“The mock drafts don’t mean anything,” Self said. “And I would tell the guy if he was here doing the mock drafts. They don’t mean anything. They’re ridiculous.” Self wasn’t done yet, and we’ll get to the rest of his rant momentarily (as well as a thoughtful response from DraftExpress.com’s Jonathan Givony), but this is a rant that more coaches should go on. Mock drafts, when taken as gospel by players and families, can be toxic."

And it seems that the Kentucky Wildcats basketball players are held to this mock draft projections more than any other player on any other school.  And that is just wrong and needs to stop.

Let’s just say that Andrew and Aaron Harrison do not go pro after this year and stay for their junior season.  If that happens, they have the potential of going to four straight Final Fours and possibly playing on two national title teams.  And in just three years, could go out as a pair of the biggest winners in all of college basketball history, especially if this years teams lives up to the undefeated hype.

They would also be very close to their college degrees.  Duke and Louisville fans like to brag and say their players graduate college, but it seems to be a mortal sin if a Kentucky Wildcats basketball players chooses to return to school.

What is more important?  Players living up to the insanely early projections made by the media?  Or the players doing the best thing for them and their futures.

Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The history of the NBA draft is littered with players who under bad advice left school early, went undrafted, and basically was left without that free college education in the process. Does anyone think that Anthony Bennett would have gone pro after just one year at UNLV if not for this noise? Bennett was the number one pick in the draft in 2013. After two years, he is with his second team and has started just two games and averages 4.7 a game for his career.

Relax on these mock draft projections and quit taking them as the Bible.  It’s OK to follow and read them and even argue over them.  But when you start bashing and attacking players for not living up to outrageous, preconceived projections that did not come true?

Then maybe it’s time to examine what you are doing as a member of the media.