To leave or not to leave....

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To leave or not to leave.....that is the question. With all the talk of Larry potentially leaving for the NBA early next year it might be interesting to debate the pros and cons of leaving a college program early fom the standpoint of the individual as well as the universities and the athletics programs they play for and what if anything should be done about it.

Should players be required to fully execute a full 4 year agreement if they attend on full scholarship??
Should players complete their degrees for the lifelong educational and vocational benefits?? What are the benefits to remaining from the standpoint of the professional sports career (improving draft, salary??) What are the risks?? Does risk outweigh benefit to remaining??
Are their any NCAA regulations on this and should there be?
Do the majority of student athletes leaving college early eventually go on to earn their college degrees? Do many regret not staying?

Can we outline a good enough argument here to convince Larry to stay??????
 
If Larry is a first round NBA draft pick he would be crazy to stay. If not a first round pick he should stay, hone his game and pick up a few more accolades.
 
College athletes are not guaranteed 4 years of scholarships. They sign 1 year scholarships and have 5 years to play 4 years. An athlete's tenure at a school is a two way street. The athlete can leave early and the school can also not renew the scholarship for the next year. Schools not renewing scholarships happens on a regular basis. I'm pretty sure Ndongo's scholarship was not renewed for this year.
 
Can we outline a good enough argument here to convince Larry to stay??????

the only "stay" in larry's vocabulary right now need only pertain to the following:

1. stay out of foul trouble.
2. stay on the court in basketball games.

as for staying at vcu after next season, whether or not nos. 1 and 2 happen will answer your question rather easily.
 
As an educator, I have long felt that it sucks these guys can opt out and leave for greener pastures, but the truth is, others are not bound to stay in college if their charted life course takes them elsewhere, so why should the scholarship'ed athletes be any different?

Nobody forced Bill Gates to finish his degree at Harvard, and he appears to have done OK for himself...

If Larry stays - great. If his performance on the court shows the type of improvement he made from fresh to soph years, he will likely have little to gain athletically and from a draft perspective by staying, and little financially to gain by completing his degree in 4 years (NBA salaries do not take into consideration highest degree completed, although a PhD in shot blocking sounds good). In that case, I will be happy we have been able to have him for three years, and will watch his progress thru his career like I will watch EM's with pride - whatever he accomplishes at the next level helps us in recruiting without a doubt.

Just my 4.6 cents...
 
Lets all be honest.. The primary reason people go to any college is to put themselve in position to earn a good living doing something that they hope they would enjoy and make a career out of..... There are a couple of ways to look at the sitiuation....I mean if I had a chance to be financially straight I would probably jump on it too.... I think it would be wise for Larry to confirm his projected stock at the end of the season before he makes a descision...I would like to see him graduate but...that is the optimum we can expect...If he is not in a sitiuation where his family or personal financial situation would let him stick around that is cool....On the converse of that ....what if you have a shot at being a descent draft pick ...stay around another season...and get a career ending injury...that is also something you have to consider...and lets face it you can finish school and earn your degree and get a good career...but more than likely you will not earn the money you would get by playing professional sports....In any event ..I wish Larry the best not matter what direction he goes...and if he is being highly sought after at the end of the year then that means he had a great year which more than likely means VCU had a great year... :ugeek: :ugeek: :ugeek:
 
If there was a rule that mandated that a player had to stay 4 years, you have to consider, how would you enforce it? You can't force somebody to work, and calling it playing doesn't change that. You could put in contractual terms that say that somebody has to pay back some portion of unearned tuition... you might even be able to get away with some limited restrictions on how long or how far away the player has to wait/go if they want to play elsewhere... but legally those tend to only be considered enforceable if they're limited

but way beyond what might technically be possible and enforceable, is what is practical... who would want to pick Hardass U over Stepladder State?


I hope Larry stays... I think another year against college level competition would help him a lot as compared to being tossed into the NBA still relatively raw... the extra year of college playing could very well translate into an extra 5 or 6 years of pro career over the long run... but that being said, if the front end of that career looks to be more lucrative if sooner than later, can't blame him one bit for going for it
 
Its like holding a winning lottery ticket. Its hard to blame anyone for not taking that leap.
 
He could also recieve a career ending injury his first year in the Pros and no degree or future-There are many, many ex pros flat broke for various reasons in all sports. His guaranteed money won't be a drop in 40 ys when he gets my age unles he makes a lot of good investment choices.
 
vcu70 said:
He could also recieve a career ending injury his first year in the Pros and no degree or future-There are many, many ex pros flat broke for various reasons in all sports. His guaranteed money won't be a drop in 40 ys when he gets my age unles he makes a lot of good investment choices.

If he goes as a lottery pick he's looking at $3-4 million in guarantee money.

I'm fairly certain he'd be set for life with even an average financial advisor.
 
xjohnx said:
If he goes as a lottery pick he's looking at $3-4 million in guarantee money.

I'm fairly certain he'd be set for life with even an average financial advisor.

You can live a very comfortable life off of just interest on gov't insured bonds with that amount of money.
 
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