We rarely disagree with Mike Krzyzewski and we don't totally here but we do have one point to make that we think is critical.
On Tuesday, at the ACC media event for basketball, Coach K said that he could foresee the G-League challenging college basketball in a few years.
Well yes and no.
First, we’re not sure the NBA wants to. Currently they have a free farm system. Obviously the G-League is a different level but still, you can’t get teachers there as good as Mark Few or Rick Byrd. Not happening.
And second, well, they are clearly farm teams and not bound to their cities and fans the way that a university is. How many baseball farm teams draw well on TV? Doesn’t happen.
Is it possible that the NCAA could blow that? Well sure - it’s the NCAA after all. Still, universities have a completely different attraction. Graduates of Campbell will follow Campbell. It’s just the way it is and a pro franchise might excite people, but Campbell has a network with very different values and loyalties.
And of course that goes both ways.
So while you could see the Fort Wayne Mad Ants move to, say, High Point, there’s no way that High Point University moves to Fort Wayne. City and school are bound in a way that pro franchises cannot be (consider the sad demise of the once unshakable bond between George Shinn’s Hornets and Charlotte for example).
For a somewhat different example look at college football which has already stepped away from the NCAA to an extent. It is something different from the NFL and always will be. Alabama and Clemson are at one end of the spectrum but there are also schools like Marshall, BYU and ECU that have considerable followings.
Basketball and football are not the same of course but the bond between fans, alum, school and location are very important factors and there’s also this: the G-League currently has about 336 players on 28 teams. D-1 has a lot more than that and there are thousands of players competing for spots and they come from all over the globe. As long as the game listens to K on being aware and evolving, it should endure.
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