ASU Men's Swimming/Diving Cut

Interesting column today from Jason Whitlock, the always-controversial sports columnist for the Kansas City Star: Full column: www.kansascity.com/.../624817.html Bad guy is NCAA, not KU’s Arthur By JASON WHITLOCK The Kansas City Star May 18, 2008 Excerpts: "The bad guys are the people running the NCAA who refuse to acknowledge that their current system is almost completely void of consistent academic integrity, the people unwilling to recognize that it’s criminal to allow the young men who generate all the money to rot in academic wastelands until age 18. The NCAA knows that nearly all of its member institutions recruit a good handful of kids in football and basketball who are totally unprepared for college. When you’re talking about elite-level hoopers — kids in Rivals.com’s top 250 — I’d venture to conservatively estimate that 70 percent of them are unprepared academically. I’m not talking about meeting minimum eligibility requirements. I’m speaking of hitting campus ready to take advantage of the full academic experience a university has to offer. They’re not ready. They need almost 24-hour tutoring or remedial courses....." "....The NCAA should finance basketball and football academies for elite athletes starting in ninth grade for football players and eighth grade for basketball players. You want athletes prepared for college? Prepare them yourself. Don’t leave them to rot in poor schools or with jock-sniffing teachers. Get involved with them before the street agent. Take a significant interest before they’ve covered themselves in tattoos and owe a debt to someone who cares little about their intellectual evolution....."

Interesting column today from Jason Whitlock, the always-controversial sports columnist for the Kansas City Star: Full column: www.kansascity.com/.../624817.html Bad guy is NCAA, not KU’s Arthur By JASON WHITLOCK The Kansas City Star May 18, 2008 Excerpts: "The bad guys are the people running the NCAA who refuse to acknowledge that their current system is almost completely void of consistent academic integrity, the people unwilling to recognize that it’s criminal to allow the young men who generate all the money to rot in academic wastelands until age 18. The NCAA knows that nearly all of its member institutions recruit a good handful of kids in football and basketball who are totally unprepared for college. When you’re talking about elite-level hoopers — kids in Rivals.com’s top 250 — I’d venture to conservatively estimate that 70 percent of them are unprepared academically. I’m not talking about meeting minimum eligibility requirements. I’m speaking of hitting campus ready to take advantage of the full academic experience a university has to offer. They’re not ready. They need almost 24-hour tutoring or remedial courses....." "....The NCAA should finance basketball and football academies for elite athletes starting in ninth grade for football players and eighth grade for basketball players. You want athletes prepared for college? Prepare them yourself. Don’t leave them to rot in poor schools or with jock-sniffing teachers. Get involved with them before the street agent. Take a significant interest before they’ve covered themselves in tattoos and owe a debt to someone who cares little about their intellectual evolution....."