All ten starters in yesterday's "national championship" game were transfers. What that means, in practical terms, is that none of the starters were developed from high school by their college coaches. None of them took their lower division (freshman, sophomore) courses at Michigan or Connecticut, and for that matter, none of Michigan's players have their major declared on Michigan's fan site. It is a reasonable question; do any of them ever take upper division courses? Are Michigan and UConn sheepskins going to provide huge competition for Charmin?
More or less, both teams in the "championship" game are "the best money can buy", and neither team really has the kind of player and personal development that was the rule in college sports just a couple of decades ago. For that matter, neither team has the personal or player development that was the rule in the professional leagues until the great expansion of free agency made the development (minor) leagues and player development less important.
To me, it's a scary reality that the going deal in college basketball is pretty mercenary--the old goal of developing the player, personally, sportswise, and professionally, is all but gone. edit/update; it strikes me that the current college sportsball complex is the Monkees to the old Beatles, the "Pre-fab 4" to the genuine "Fab Four".
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