What's really sad about SEC basketball . . .

[dawgman42]

. . . is that a freshmens that has never played one minute of college basketball, despite his accolades from high school, is already picked as the preseason SEC Player of the Year (Ben Simmons at LSU). It may very well prove true, but this would have been laughed at even 10 years ago. Such is life with the the one-and-done norm. It still doesn't say much about the existing talent in the league, though.

 

[engie]

. . . is that a freshmens that has never played one minute of college basketball, despite his accolades from high school, is already picked as the preseason SEC Player of the Year (Ben Simmons at LSU). It may very well prove true, but this would have been laughed at even 10 years ago. Such is life with the the one-and-done norm. It still doesn't say much about the existing talent in the league, though.

You didn't see it 10 years ago because Ben Simmons would be in the NBA already right now. How is that a good example of what HAD made the league worse?

 

[patdog]

2 of the 5 players on the consensus All-American team last year were true freshmen. With the NBA's 1-year rule, it's not unusual at all for the best player in a conference to be a true freshman. As engie said, 10 year ago Ben Simmons would be in the NBA this year.

 

[thf24]

When a guy has been projected as an NBA lottery pick since he was a sophomore in high school, it's not a stretch to assume that he's probably better than guys already in college who aren't presently projected as NBA lottery picks.

 

[preacher_dawg]

Dawgman, I couldn't help but notice your avatar. King's X fan?

 

[WrapItDog]

but this would have been laughed at even 10 years ago.

Simmons was in the studio for an interview with Finebaum today. They had a pretty good laugh about it on his show.