Stay in school, or leave early?

The NBA draft is coming up this week, and once again, the mock-draft boards by people who pay more attention than I do is littered with underclassmen. In fact, the 2008 Player of the Year, North Carolina senior Tyler Hansbrough, may not even be picked in the top 20.

On the one hand, I do not begrudge a youngster to strike while the iron is hot, to start making the big money now and bank it for the future. It's free-enterprise, capitalism, and the libertarian right to do what you please without regard to rules or naysayers (like me) telling you what to do.

On the other hand, I wonder how LeBron James feels now -- MVP season, a statistical career like few others have ever had, yet falling well short of his stated goal of a championship.

Now, there are millions of reasons to participate in sports besides winning championships. Lord knows I've never been close to one, and still enjoyed the thrill of participating. However, when you are being paid the amount of money they throw around in pro sports, there should be an expectation of production.

The worst things that have ever happened to the NBA are the unquestionably successful careers of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Garnett -- all who skipped college entirely to jump to the NBA from high school. The unfortunate result is, any high school kid who wins a game of HORSE believes he has what it takes to make the jump as well. Yet for every Kobe or LeBron or KG, how many countless Kris Humphrey's or Rick Rickerts are there, players who believed their inflated hypes and the ill-advised recommendations of "friends" and made the jump prematurely, getting scant minutes in the NBA (Humphrey) or never making the NBA at all (Rickert)? Although, they do have Wiki pages, which I guess is pretty cool (I don't have one!).

The vast majority of underclassmen declaring for the NBA draft simply are not ready to play in the NBA. They are talented but have few skills (Humphrey led the Big 10 in points per game and rebounding, but averaged 0.3 assists per game; I suspect the ball was slapped from his hands and ended up with a teammate once every three games. The basic play was, throw the ball in to Humphrey and turn around and set up for defense because he didn't know how to pass it back). And weak skills are making the NBA weaker as a result.

Contrast that with University of Colorado track star Jenny Barringer, who while a senior, has one more semester to complete. With her performance at the 2009 Prefontaine Classic, Barringer became only the third American to break 4:00 for the 1,500 meters (and one of the other two is suspected of using performance enhancing drugs, though most likely later in her career). She is considered a near-lock to qualify for the US World Championship team next week, where she has here eyes set on a medal. She's never been hotter than she is right now, and a poor showing at US Nationals or the World Championships in August could conceivably cost her money. But, she wants to graduate, and she wants to have one more season with Colorado's Cross-Country team in order to win a collegiate national championship. Is she making a mistake? Maybe if your definition of success is money. However, I admire the hell out of her decision, and will be paying close attention to her this summer, and hopefully for may summers to come.