I don't know, or remember if I have done a men's NCAA college midseason redo, and I want to talk about why I haven't today.

I have been quite critical of men's college basketball for some time. I am not a fan of the whole "one and done" era. I feel like it has made the sport nearly unwatchable. I also think, if a kid feels like they are good enough to go straight from high school to the pros, let them. Also, if they don't get drafted, let them go to school for a couple of years to hone their skills. While the college game isn't in a good spot right now, it is better than the G League. I also have zero problem with star high school players going overseas for a year. At least then they are getting paid to play, and as you all know, I love the whole pay to play idea being floated right now.

Lets get back to why I didn't do a midseason redo. I didn't do one because this particular season of men's college basketball has been a very, very bad season. I don't know most of the top players because, as is the case with "one and done", I have had no time getting to know these kids. I know who is on Michigan's team because they are my team. But, if someone told me they would give me 100 dollars to name just one single player on Baylor's team, the current number one team in the nation mind you, I couldn't do it. Hell, I can't name a single player on Gonzaga, and they are the number 2 ranked team. In fact, of the top 10 teams, I can only name a few of star players on these teams. I know Azubuike from KU because he is a third year player. I went and saw Obi Toppin from Dayton when they came to Saint Louis to play SLU. And I know the names Carey and Stanley and Jones from Duke, but that is because Duke is always on TV. As for the other teams, San Diego State is undefeated, and I can't name a single player. Louisville is a top 5 team, no idea who they have. FSU is ranked highly, and again, I thought Johnathan Issac was still on that team until I saw a Magic game on League Pass the other night. And Maryland, who is inexplicably in the Big Ten, I don't know anyone they have, and I have watched them once or twice this year. Hell, it takes until I get to Kentucky, the 12th ranked team, before I recognize a guy that could go high in the draft in Tyrese Maxey. From there on out, I am totally lost, especially since Michigan State and Michigan aren't ranked.

This is my biggest problem, and I don't know if this year is an anomaly, or if this will become the new normal. Starting next year they are getting rid of "one and done", and while I like that, I think it will water down the college game that much more. There is no continuity. There are no real star players right now, or if there are guys considered "stars" this season, they are hurt or play for bad teams. I see this Edwards kid on the top of most mocks, and he is supposedly great, but he plays for Georgia. They aren't making the NCAA tournament this year. Cole Anthony, who I watched super close this weekend, is on a 10-13 UNC team. Side note, I was very, very wrong about them being a title contender this year. James Wiseman has already left college after the NCAA made it their mission to get him out of Memphis. And the rest of the "top" guys are overseas, hurt or playing for Dayton. This Toppin kid is great, but no one knows who he is. I only heard of him a couple of weeks ago. LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton are in New Zealand and Australia. And Tyrese Haliburton, from Iowa State, is going to miss extended time with a hand injury. It's such a bummer to see these top guys on bad teams or hurt.

When I sit back and try to figure out why the college game is so bad, I keep coming back to the fact that the NCAA is corrupt, and they only care about these kids as long as they go to the Kentucky's and Duke's and KU's of the world. I thought KU was supposed to get hammered with sanctions by the way. What happened to that? Also, Duke isn't as good as they were last year, and Kentucky hasn't been a legit contender since KAT was there. But again, all of this leads me back to the NCAA and how ridiculous they are. What men's college basketball has become is a kind of farm system for the NBA for all the "one and done" guys. This has totally watered the game down. And if you look at the recent champs, with few exceptions, the teams filled with "one and done" guys hasn't won anything of importance. Zion and RJ Barrett at Duke last year only got to the Elite Eight. When Ben Simmons was at LSU they didn't even get in the tournament. The Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid KU team, they got bounced in the second round. In fact, the only two teams filled with "one and done" guys that won were Kentucky, who had an otherworldly talent in Anthony Davis, and a Duke team that had Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and some other dudes.

Honestly, I don't think the men's game will get any better until they have put pay to play in fully, and let the high school kids who didn't get drafted come back. They need to do what the MLB does. There would be so much more incentive to these kids to stick around, for at least two years, if they are getting paid a stipend, and getting to refine the skills they need to to become better, more NBA ready players. Take a guy like Jahlil Okafor. He is a dinosaur in the modern NBA, and he can barely see the floor. If he had the option to return to Duke, and work on his jumper, maybe he is a sixth man. Or take Andrew Wiggins. He has struggled mightily since being the number one pick a few years back. Say he was able to make some real money while at KU, get info from the NBA on what he needed to work on, and was able to do that at KU for another year or so. What would his career look like now. Or think about all the high draft picks that spent one, maybe 2 years in college. Take a guy like Anthony Bennett. He was total flop. But, he was only at UNLV for like a year, and he needed to go pro to make some money. Say he was getting some cash for jersey sales at UNLV, and he could've stayed and worked, gotten better, and maybe, just maybe he wouldn't be a footnote. Or go back to when high schoolers could still declare. Take someone like Kwame Brown. Say he gets the intel while in the draft process, decides to go to school for a few years, I think he comes out as a much better pro, and imagine how dominant he would've been in college for a few years. It would have been awesome.

I'm very down on men's college basketball. I have been for a few years. But this season has been especially awful, and I feel like it will continue in this direction until we give these student athletes some real compensation, and open up the draft process a little more. I don't know that I necessarily agree with the "draft experts" that this isn't a "good" draft. I just think that the college game is so bogged down with players are filled with "potential", but don't get the adequate time to prepare for life as a pro basketball player, and that is on the NCAA and NBA to change that.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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