[Stardust]

Before the NBA corrupted major-college basketball and kids competed in the classroom as well as on the court, it was far easier to predict the future.

Using the recent Final Four as a measuring stick, I could analyze the rosters and trumpet with reasonable certainty that Kentucky and Connecticut would be the most likely to return for the climax of 2012 March Madness.

If coach John Calipari’s players valued education as much as basketball, the Wildcats would welcome back Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, Darius Miller and Doron Lamb from the starting lineup that took UConn to the wire. Right now, all four underclassmen are considering the NBA Draft. Only Lamb seems likely to return to campus. If others stay, it might be because the NBA collective-bargaining agreement expires June 3 rather than love of learning.

Unfortunately, thanks to coaches like Calipari and Kelvin Sampson, mercenaries who have no interest in acquiring a degree continue to infiltrate our campuses, making a mockery of the term student-athlete. Give them bed and board, pamper them for a year or two at most, then bring in the next batch of NBA wannabes.

Hypocrisy be damned; Calipari doesn’t blink an eye. His next recruiting class, ranked No. 1 nationally by ESPN, includes top-rated Anthony Davis, a Chicagoan who evolved from a guard into a 6-10 player with a 7-foot-4 wingspan. He also bagged Marquis Teague, a 6-2 point guard from Indianapolis Pike, 6-10 Kyle Wiltjer, who led the Jesuit Crusaders to three straight Class 6A state titles in Oregon, and 6-7 Michael Gilchrist.

That’s how it works at Kentucky, home of the crave and land of the fee. Why else would officials there hire someone who derailed programs at Massachusetts (1996) and Memphis (2008)? Both schools had Final Four appearances nullified under Calipari’s watch, but he continues to thrive. To label him an innocent who naively surrounds himself with questionable characters is ludicrous.

Violations continue to pop up under the man from Teflon. The latest involves assistant director of basketball operations Bilal Batley, who resigned after only four months at Kentucky. His resume also includes stints with Calipari at Memphis, and Sampson at Indiana. Batley has been accused of illegal calls to recruits and illegal participation during workouts at Kentucky.

If the NCAA really cared about cleaning house, shady characters would be banned from coaching, and recruits would be required to spend two years in college. Instead, Calipari earns more than $3.9 million a year and freshmen like John Wall quit going to class when basketball season ends. It’s an obscene figure, more than the combined salary of UConn’s Jim Calhoun, Butler’s Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart.

Calhoun doesn’t hide his dislike for Calipari. They first butted heads when the latter served at Massachusetts. Calhoun suspended the series after two meetings in 1990, stating he would not schedule the Minutemen as long as Calipari coached there.

Of course, the venerable coach is hardly in a position to cast the first stone. He will start next season with a three-game suspension because of recruiting violations. The Huskies also have been slapped with probation and scholarship reductions.


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