Schea Cotton is
leaving Alabama for the NBA after just one season. A talented player
who has been hyped since the 8th grade.
Cotton said he left school to be close to his father, who is ill, and that he
wants to help out. Hard to argue with that, really, though Cotton has made it
clear for some time that he was trying to get to the NBA expeditiously, and his
stay there may be brief.
It occurred to us that if the NCAA adopted the idea we mentioned the other
day, of striking an NCAA-wide deal with a shoe company, that this is one of the
areas where they might be able to be innovative: what if the shoe money also
paid for family insurance for needy kids? Schea Cotton was probably going to go
early, and maybe William Avery might have too, but it would have given both an
option they might have chosen to use.
And again, with contract in hand, the NCAAÂ could do humane things which
would make everyone happier, and not any less significantly, rein in the shoe
companies and get a voice in the current summer lunacy.
21 non-seniors have now declared for the draft, meaning that there are almost
enough early entries to go around. Here's the current conference breakdown
- A-10Â - Karcher
- Big East - Barkley, El-Amin, Darius Miles (about to announce (oops, there
he goes now - signed with St. John's) - Big 10Â Â - Przybilla, Redd
- Big 12Â - Fizer, Dooling, Stevenson (HS, signed w/ Kansas)
- SECÂ Â Â Â - Miller, Harvey
- C-USA - Johnson, McPherson, Richardson, Brown, Hightower (last two JC
signees of Cincinnati) - PAC 10 Moiso, Rush
 So far you'd have to argue that the C-USA took the worst hit with
DePaul and Cincinnati losing five players between them, but the school which
might be hurt the most could be UCLA, which lost 2/3 of the starting
frontcourt. Florida will survive their dual hit, but it will hurt.
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