What Ever Happened to the Student-Athlete? - June 6, 2009

Who needs schooling when you can play basketball, right?

This particular mantra seems to be the recruiting slogan that John Calipari and the Memphis Tigers basketball program has held over the past few years.

Just ask Robert Dozier and Derrick Rose.

Apparently, Dozier and Rose were both admitted to Memphis University by submitting fake SAT scores. While their scores were apparently far and above eligible for admittance to Memphis, there remained a slight problem: they weren’t actually their scores.

"Hi I'm Derrick Rose, i'm here to take the SAT."

The recent allegations that have been raised against Memphis University and their basketball program are sickening. Its sad to see these academically underachieving basketball players being given full rides to universities when their are some truly brilliant, hard-working students out there who don’t even get to attend college due to factors such as rising tuition costs. There is something seriously wrong with that.

Obviously I realize that these same athletes bring a good amount of revenue to the school through ticket and merchandise sales. But this shouldn't excuse these athletes from taking the SAT. The University of Georgia had enough willpower to turn away Dozier when they finally realized that his C - high school GPA and his 1200+ SAT score didn't correlate, why couldn't Memphis?

In any case, it seems unreasonable to think that this type of corruption will be avoided. Universities nationwide, therefore, should strive to, at the very least, bring their athletes up to par. Contrary to popular belief, the term student-athlete is not an oxymoron. Yet, too many times have I heard of athletes taking ballroom dancing classes to fill their course schedule.

At the very least, these schools should require their student-athletes to take public speaking classes so they are media-ready. These players are representing their schools and universities should do their best to ensure that their athletes at least appear to be educated, even if they are far from it.

On the bright side, if the NBA doesn't work out for Dozier and Rose, at least they'd have a fallback. I hear they are about to release another sequel to Dumb and Dumber and these two, given their educational track record, would be the the perfect candidates for the lead roles.

Dumb and Dumber Go To College - Starring Robert Dozier & Derrick Rose