Blaming The One-and-Done Rule Doesn't Work - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

In the wake of the USC-O.J. Mayo-BDA-Guillory affair (I'm still trying to figure out a catchy scandal name for this that excludes the use of "-gate."), are the expected condemnations of one-and-dones being the root of this evil. That's bull. There's a lot to dislike about the 1-year NBA restriction that is in effect, including the impact on the programs afterward with the Academic Progress Rate, but the problems began long before the present restrictions on entering the NBA draft.

You might as well blame Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and others. High school players who successfully made the leap over 10 years ago. Arguably, their success encouraged many to look for the talent to whom they could attach when the access and ability to influence would be easier.

Marcus Camby got mixed up with a street agent while at UMass. The problem was always there, it just seems that now it starts earlier.
I don't buy into one root cause. That's just looking for that one scapegoat to put all the blame when it is always so much more complex than that. The problem is, to go complex diffuses blame. That just doesn't work. We need one thing or person to blame. It's more convenient. It's easier, and then the solutions looks so much more simpler to enact.

So it's Myles Brand's fault for going along with the NBA rule. It's the player's fault for taking the money. It's the agent's fault for funneling the money. It's the runner's fault for slipping his way into the kid's life. It's the school/program/coach's fault for turning a blind eye to the obvious red flags. It's the culture of AAU and sneaker camps. It's something.

And, unfortunately, it seems that the answer to all of those is, "yes."

Yes it is the NCAA's fault for happily accepting and exploiting the one-and-done system enacted by the NBA without care. Then pleading helplessness to the system when called on it.

Yes, the kids know exactly what they are doing. They know the rules and are happy to break them. They can excuse it by observing all the adults and institutions making money off of their talent and ask, "where's mine?"

Yes, it's the agents who happily search for the talent in high school and start connecting with the kid's circle to get him the the money for a relationship and eventual pay back.

Yes, it's slimy adults becoming part of the entourage of a high schooler to give the kid the money from others, skim some for his own troubles and hope to hang around when the real money starts rolling.

Yes it's schools, athletic departments and coaches who actively pursue a course of plausible deniability. They don't want to know more than they need to. They just want to win games, sell tickets and jerseys hoping that nothing comes out for a few years. And if it does, make sure that they have things lined up to look like they were unfortunately ignorant rather than willfully blind.

Yes it starts before college. As the top talent gets identified and lauded. Be it at exclusive camps, being recruited to top AAU teams that have coaches getting financial support (and then some) from sneaker companies and agents and all these altruistic souls who are looking for an in with the next great NBA player.

This system has been building to a complete mess for some time. There won't be any one thing that will stop it. Anyone who claims that or pushes it, is just looking to make the obvious symptoms go back underground.

If people are serious about stopping or even minimizing this it will take as much time to address as it did to reach this point. Unfortunately, the money isn't nearly as good. So more likely, it will get cosmetic touches that the concerned parties will hope to make it less obvious.

If that seems cynical, negative and depressing I have to ask, "What about any of what has been happening and the response from those who have closely followed these things leads you to think otherwise?"