Jay Bilas Reacts To Enes Kanter Ruling

Jay Bilas – never to be one late to a party – posted his reaction to the Enes Kanter ruling earlier today.  Bilas is known to fans for his level headedness and rational thinking despite having graduated from Duke and being employed by the obviously UK hating world wide leader ESPN.  While Jay see’s how the ruling falls into line with the NCAA’s policies, he Bilas looks at how the NCAA rules themselves are contrary to their mission statement – helping put the student in student athlete.

The article is an ESPN insider, so I’ll just quote it in pieces.

The NCAA’s mission is one of education and this ruling is contrary to that mission. It is accepted that Kanter could have stayed in his home country of Turkey and made hundreds of thousands of dollars as a professional. Instead, Kanter chose to come to the United States to attend college…

Who is served by disallowing Kanter to play? Are we so concerned that European pros will turn down millions to come to college and pursue an education that we need to exclude them? How is the cause of education furthered by excluding a qualified student who has traveled to this country to go to college and play, while turning down the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars?…

Money does not corrupt education or the educational mission. This ruling is based upon a principle that ignores the reality that other countries have different systems than ours. And it hurts the very person the NCAA’s mission should protect and value — the willing student-athlete.

Bilas also goes into the ambiguity of letting minor league baseball players suit up for basketball teams as amateurs – including Trajan Langdon from his alma mater. Well put Jay – and overall a point that is often overlooked when discussing the Kanter case.  Who does Kanter being given an opportunity to play really hurt? Other than other basketball programs? So long as your motive isn’t to ensure someone other than Kentucky wins the NCAA Tournament, but instead to give athletes a chance to be students – why not give the kid an option to play?