By Brandon McConnell

Growing up, I lived and breathed college basketball.  My earliest basketball memory was watching Keith Smart (above) hit the game-winner against Syracuse.  I remember when everyone was a Running Rebels fan.  Does anybody remember that “Fab 5” member that called the timeout against Carolina in the championship game, or number 32 for the Duke Blue Devils that hit the shot against Kentucky?  What memories do you have of the last 10 years of college basketball?  Absolutely nothing!

In the ’90’s, college basketball had great teams and great players to carry the sport.  Back then you actually watched the whole NBA draft to see your favorite player get picked.  Now we stop watching after the 5th pick.  The ’90’s were full of great college players like Larry Johnson, Christian Laettner, Chris Webber, and Glen “Big Dog” Robinson.  There were actually great teams of which you could remember the whole starting five.  You had the 1991 Duke Blue Devils, 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks, and the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats teams.  I could name you the starting five of all those teams.

So, what happened to the sport?  I actually had to Google who won the national championship last year.  Nobody is going to remember Kemba Walker or the other 4 players that played with him 10 years from now.  This year the media is predicting that Kentucky’s freshman center Anthony Davis will win the Naismith Player of the Year.  I checked his stats and found out he averages 14.3 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks per game.  Are you kidding me.  I’m going to give you the stats of some of the Naismith winners in the 1990’s.

1991 Larry Johnson  22.7 pts 10.9 rbs 3 ast
1992 Christian Laettner 21.5 pts 7.9 rbs 2 ast
1994 Glen Robinson 30.3 pts 10.1 rbs 1.9 ast
1996 Marcus Camby 20.5 pts 8.2 rbs 1.8 ast
1997 Tim Duncan 20.8pts 14.7 rbs 3.2 ast

What has happened to college basketball when a FRESHMAN who averages 14.3 points per game is our possible player of the year.  Nothing against Anthony Davis, but I have a problem with the lack of talent that is being produced in college.  We don’t even draft from college anymore.  The majority of the players drafted come from overseas.  Reminds me of our economy.  MESSAGE!  Let me know what you think and how can we improve the talent we produce in college basketball.

Brandon McConnell of “Respect Da Game”, for War Room Sports