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On Thursday, the NCAA ruled Kentucky center Enes Kanter permanently ineligible for receiving benefits above his needed expenses while playing for his club team in Turkey. While the university will appeal the decision, here's my reaction to the ruling.

What It Means To Kentucky

The loss of Kanter is the difference between very good and potentially great.

The loss of Kanter this season is equivalent to the loss of DeMarcus Cousins last season. Kanter would have been the leading rebounder and perhaps the leading scorer.

The Wildcats will still be very good, and can be a top-10 team in time, given the talent level of the eligible freshmen. Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones are both future pros who are special talents and are prepared to impact the college game right away. However, Kanter would have made a major difference in the power potential of this team, and his loss is a big blow to Kentucky's Final Four chances.

The Ruling

Based upon the NCAA's definition of the amateurism ideal and the "model" of college sports, this ruling was justified and expected. But, based upon the NCAA's outdated view of amateurism, the ruling shows the organization to be out of touch with today's game and with its own mission.

The NCAA's mission is one of education and this ruling is contrary to that mission. It is accepted that Kanter could have stayed in his home country of Turkey and made hundreds of thousands of dollars as a professional. Instead, Kanter chose to come to the United States to attend college, pursue an education at Kentucky and prepare himself for an NBA career.

The system of education and sport overseas is very different from the system in this country. Kanter has not demonstrated intent to be a professional. To the contrary, he has demonstrated that he has turned down the pros in order to be a full-time student and play as a collegiate athlete. By ruling Kanter ineligible, the NCAA is effectively standing in the way of Kanter pursuing and finishing a college education.

If Kanter were allowed to play, he would be in an educational environment for at least one year, and would be more likely to come back and complete his college education even if he were to leave school after the spring semester to enter the NBA. Kentucky would also have a vested interest in encouraging Kanter to return to school to finish his education. With this ruling, Kanter is unlikely to stay in school and even more unlikely to return to finish school. That hardly advances the educational mission of the NCAA.

Who is served by disallowing Kanter to play? Are we so concerned that European pros will turn down millions to come to college and pursue an education that we need to exclude them? How is the cause of education furthered by excluding a qualified student who has traveled to this country to go to college and play, while turning down the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars?

Does anyone believe former Duke star Trajan Langdon did not receive an education, and did not love the game? Well, while Langdon was in college, he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars playing professional baseball in the minor leagues, yet he still suited up for the Blue Devils as an amateur basketball player.

Money does not corrupt education or the educational mission. This ruling is based upon a principle that ignores the reality that other countries have different systems than ours. And it hurts the very person the NCAA's mission should protect and value -- the willing student-athlete.

Jay Bilas is a college basketball analyst for ESPN and a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.