Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMBB | Skipping school
Brandon Jennings chose Europe over college. Will others follow?
By Michael Bonner
Posted: 11/11/08, 5:21 AM EST Section: Sports
|
After Jennings took that last exam, Oak Hill head coach Steve Smith knew his prized point guard would never step on a college court.
"He's capable, but he really doesn't like school," Smith said. "From the day he took his last final here he said something to me like 'Coach I just went to my last class.' I knew right then he wasn't going to college."
Whatever his test scores turned out to be, he was done with school. Done with junior college. Done with prep school.
But the Oak Hill grad's options were curtailed by the NBA's famed one-year-rule: the much publicized, three-year-old edict which requires all potential draftees to be one year removed from their high school class and at least 19 years of age.
So Jennings went to the only option he saw available. He signed a three-year deal with Lottomatica Virtus Roma, an Italian basketball team. The contract allows Jennings to buy out the remainder of the deal after each season, meaning he can return to the United States to submit his name in the NBA Draft as soon as next season.
The move was seen by some as a monumental precedent. Jennings seemed to blaze a path for other talented high schoolers: Evade college while earning a nice payday in the process. But while Jennings' migration opened up another route for talented recruits, the talent level of European basketball could prove daunting for many teenagers. Most college coaches maintain the likelihood of high school recruits rushing to sign European contracts is an unlikely prospect.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is one of them.
"I don't think I'll be dealing with multimillion-dollar contracts. It's not a trend, it was a one-time thing," Boeheim said. "Guys like Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, one-and-done guys, they get more publicity over here.
"If he got his grades up he'd be at Arizona right now."
But he's not a Wildcat. He's in Italy. And he may not be alone.
"I think it's going to happen and I think it should happen," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said. "I think if someone does not want an education or does not qualify to get his education, he has to go to Plan B, and Plan B is to go to Europe and make a half million dollars."
Be the first to comment on this story