Good article in NY Times calling out NCAA for double standard- Perry Jones III

Proverbs 20:10 reads, "Unequal weights and measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord."

There is a good opinion piece in the New York Times discussing the unequal treatments of Perry Jones III- a talented basketball player at Baylor University and Jim Calhoun- a highly successful coach at national champion UCONN.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time around Jones earlier this year. I was invited by Baylor to go on a trip with the basketball team to Lubbock, Texas to watch them play Texas Tech.

Hard to imagine a more humble kid than Jones. He along with the other freshman players grabbed my bags as they came off the plane and loaded them onto the team bus- something that made me feel very uncomfortable but it is a rite of passage with the Baylor basketball team. Freshmen have to pay their dues by doing things like this on the road. And they are expected to show gratitude to the guests that travel with them by little gestures like this.

I was having a hard time imagining a Duke or North Carolina player having to carry other peoples' bags. There was something refreshing about it. No sense of prima donna in Perry. Here was a kid that will soon have agents and NBA personnel catering to his every whim and he's doing something without any aura of entitlement.

Perry seemed to love the camaraderie with his teammates and coaches. He's one of those guys that is light-hearted and keeps the conversation from being serious. During dinner, calamari came out as an appetizer and a couple of the players had never tried it before. I urged Perry to give it a try. He did but clearly not his thing. We had a discussion about who the best point guard in the NBA was and rap music. I came away thinking, "This is just a kid. Hasn't even tried calamari."

Two months later the NCAA is handing down a ridiculous punishment considering the alleged offense- his mom borrowed money to pay the rent and Perry accepted an invitation to watch a Dallas Cowboys' preseason game. For this the NCAA suspended him six games including just hours before the Big 12 tournament game against Oklahoma.

Now he's grappling with the decision of whether to go pro before he's probably mentally and emotionally ready as a true freshman. If he decides to turn pro, he will likely be one of the top 10 picks in the NBA draft due to his freakish athletic potential. Innocence lost and the NCAA has its part in that.

Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/opinion/09nocera.html

Jason King from Yahoo Sports had written similar thoughts a month earlier:

If Perry shocks the Baylor nation and decides to come back next year, a strong case can be made for Baylor to make a title run:

They have stockpiled a lot of talent in the frontcourt. All of these players were rated in the top 50 in the nation at some point during their high school years:

6'11" 265 Senior Bobo Morgan (3 pts; 2 reb; 1 block)
6'11" 235 Soph Perry Jones (top 10 national player- 14pts; 7 reb; 1 block)
6'10" 190 Senior Anthony Jones (9 pts; 5 reb; 52% FG; 82% FT)
6'9" 220 Soph Cory Jefferson (redshirted)
6'9" 210 Freshman Quincy Miller (top 10 national player)
6'5" 180 Freshman Deuce Bello

what is scary about that frontcourt talent is that it doesn't include perhaps Baylor's best frontcourt player: 6'7" 225 lb senior Quincy Acy who averaged 12 pts and 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Acy brings an aggressiveness to the position that the others don't have.

Fred Ellis is another senior- 3pts/ 2 reb. The questions for Baylor are in the backcourt. They lose their top scorer- Lace Dunn. Dunn averaged 20 ppg, but shot a career low 40% from the field and averaged almost 4 turnovers per game.

AJ Walton (PG) led the big 12 in steals at 2.3 per game. AJ struggled with the primary ball-handling responsibilities. He did average 5 assists and 8 pts but turned it over 3 times per game. He also shot only 63% from the foul line.

Walton should have plenty of help this year. Hopefully, Baylor lands JUCO all-American Pierre Jackson from the College of Southern Idaho. Jackson is visiting Baylor this weekend. He's a 5'9" freakishly athletic PG who can get to the hoop with his speed/strength and also makes good decisions in distribution. Jackson also visited Creighton and is being heavily recruited by them and other teams in need of guard help. But it looks like Creighton and Baylor have the inside track here.

Baylor also has Stargell Love an athletic guard who was injured a bunch as a freshman. And two impact transfers in Brady Heslip- Boston College. Brady is a tremendous shooter. Gary Franklin is the other transfer- from Cal. Franklin averaged over 8 pts as a true freshman for Mike Montgomery but parted ways and transferred to Baylor. Franklin is eligible for the 2nd semester of the 2011-2012 season.

With or without Perry Jones, Baylor looks to field a much more balanced team with weapons inside and out. It is a shame that Perry's freshman season ended in such disappointment. It would be great to see him enjoy college basketball by making a deep postseason run instead of becoming the target of the NCAA's unequally-weighted policies.