Yikes! As many as 3 dozen Division I basketball programs could face NCAA penalties

[KCKUKFan]

I've never understood how allowing college players to make some money when their name or image is used should be a problem for anyone.

The NCAA set up this weird all-or-nothing system where any attempt to make money ruins amateurism. It's just way too Draconian. There are Kentucky players over the years who could have made a lot of money in just local ads and so on. A lot of these guys weren't even great players.

What's the issue with that?

What do you give Sam Malone, sitting down at the end of the bench? The same as John Wall? If not, why? Who determines what the player is worth?

It's easy to say "these players need to be paid," but there are lots of hypotheticals that come along with it. Not all players are created equal.

An equal stipend for everybody? If that's the case, cheating will still happen -- the bigger names will get paid more on top of it.

[George]

What do you give Sam Malone, sitting down at the end of the bench? The same as John Wall? If not, why? Who determines what the player is worth?

It's easy to say "these players need to be paid," but there are lots of hypotheticals that come along with it. Not all players are created equal.

An equal stipend for everybody? If that's the case, cheating will still happen -- the bigger names will get paid more on top of it.

That's always been my hang-up, too, and the fact that it would obviously have to extend beyond the big profit generators (basketball and football). Do you pay the captain of the swim team the same as you'd pay Kentucky's starting PG? Do men's and women's sports get equal pay?

Unless academia suddenly warms up to capitalism, you're right in that there'd still be rampant cheating. Otherwise, you'd have to assess the monetary worth of not only each sport, but each player. It'd be an absolute nightmare.

[Lighthouse]

A thought. If payment of a stipend to players is allowed, what chance is there for it to become like it is in the NBA? Agents negotiating for players to get the highest stipend. The amateur status has been taken away.

[Joneslab]

What do you give Sam Malone, sitting down at the end of the bench? The same as John Wall? If not, why? Who determines what the player is worth?

Sam Malone would be able to make some money. Not as much as Wall obviously, but these walk-ons would at least be able to at least pocket the money they make on autographs and such. And one could imagine Malone starring in local commercials--there'd be a market for him in Lexington. Fans love these walk-ons on good teams.

I've never been sure why there's injury upon anyone else when a college athlete makes money off his own image.

[BobS]

The problem with paying players will be Title 9. You will have to pay a women's field hockey player as well. Or drop the sport. That's a lot of $$ that many schools will say they don't have.

I don't have a solution really. Not opposed to the pay but there will always be an equity issue of some sort.

[Catsrock]

This is why schools don't have to pay players. Just don't keep them from getting paid. They each have their own market value.

[J.Jennings]

All i can say is i would feel alot worse about this situation if Duke and North Carolina wasn't on this list, not sure about Kansas, it's a wash as the end of the day. Funny how Lonzo Ball makes the comment that everybody is doing and everybody knows about it except he says he was clean lol lol lol lol. If any of our players curent or past are involved i do not think it's a situation such as Louisville, i don't think Cal would do that..

Anyways, bottomline, are we going to jail or not???

[Catsrock]

I don't remember when the NCAA was created, but I would imagine that in the beginning it was a honest and upright organization. Then, as happens so often, power, greed and personalities overcame it. Now the NCAA is a total dishonest mess and I see no way it escapes this intact.

I have no doubt of this. The bigger the money the bigger the corruption. And there were many years the best players stayed 4 years and that was the era with the best product. About the time KG and Kobe jumped straight to the NBA the league was having enough misses like Kwame Brown to agree to the one and done rule which the NCAA has greatly benefitted from as well. They can claim these mercenaries have no place one the college game but I can promise they don't want an era when every player in college is just having some fun on their way to beings nurse or teacher.

They pretend to be high and mighty and after a pure college product but the 2 most important groups of people to their continued fat pockets are players and even more importantly--us--the fans who buy tickets and merchandise. They create a boring product and it's game over. They're not QUITE that stupid.

[J.Jennings]

I have said this many times and i will say it again, all of this crap been going on for years, even back in the 80's. I remember UofL players visiting a small town in Eminence all the time to visit a banker who was in with UofL. That same banker was eventually indicted and had to server prison time. Everybody knew what those players were doing there. I mentioned T wilt under pressure Williams and his 50k purchase of a GMC Yukon prior to his Senior year. Funny thing is he traded in a new loaded Dodge Charger with 7k miles and left tons of video games, new shoes, clothes, everything in the car, he just didn't care at all. Hell, truth be told, my family members used to be the sponsor at UofL for vehicles fof coaches, etc, etc, we furnished them vehicles for years, even the University of Kentucky...

Anyways, this whole problem is much deeper than the big schools, it's been in the smaller college schools for years as well. You may not be getting money directly from a coach but you sure not turning down a envelope that gets dropped off to you by some random person you never met before. I know kids who played for small colleges and didn't even start yet everything was taken care of. I do think the NCAA needs to share some of that money and help these kids out in some kind of way. Since everything is now a business, technically they are working for the schools and bringing in revenue.....

[Joneslab]

Gary Parrish on how to fix it.

Let agents secure representation of players and also throw out this corny, outdated idea of amateurism.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-is-broken-and-heres-the-only-way-the-ncaa-can-fix-the-sport/

[BobS]

Parrish's solution could work and no money comes from the schools or their shares.

[Lighthouse]

IMO, when the word amateur leaves College Athletics, it will spell the end of most interest in the college game as we know it. Agents will take over and the teams that can afford the best will become farm teams for individual Pro teams, much like the minor leagues in baseball. They will determine how long a player stays at a school, and so on. Many of us already don't watch Pro sports, and I'm afraid the college game will be the same.

[George]

IMO, when the word amateur leaves College Athletics, it will spell the end of most interest in the college game as we know it. Agents will take over and the teams that can afford the best will become farm teams for individual Pro teams, much like the minor leagues in baseball. They will determine how long a player stays at a school, and so on. Many of us already don't watch Pro sports, and I'm afraid the college game will be the same.

Not judging, but I’ve never understood why so many people need the college game to maintain a certain level of purity. At the end of the day, the same ball goes through the same hoop.

[Lighthouse]

Not judging, but I’ve never understood why so many people need the college game to maintain a certain level of purity. At the end of the day, the same ball goes through the same hoop.

In my case, I'm 75 and have been a part of Kentucky BB and FB for as long as I can remember and that relationship is very important to me. I don't like the changes that have already come to college athletics, and further changes that IMO will further disintegrate the games will only hurt. It's kinda funny in a way because the NCAA has been moving the BB games toward the NBA for several years by changing some rules and training their Officials to call some things like the rule has been changed but it hasn't. Now, it may prove out that they have shot themselves in the foot.

[KCKUKFan]

IMO, when the word amateur leaves College Athletics, it will spell the end of most interest in the college game as we know it. Agents will take over and the teams that can afford the best will become farm teams for individual Pro teams, much like the minor leagues in baseball. They will determine how long a player stays at a school, and so on. Many of us already don't watch Pro sports, and I'm afraid the college game will be the same.

Word or no word, there has been nothing amateur about college sports for years, unless you're talking about the performance of the governing body.

And isn't what you just described what Kentucky has been since Cal got here?