Why do women's basketball players stay in school four years?

Maybe the women are smarter than the men by actually staying to get their degrees. It blows my mind that someone would walk away from a free college education like that. Just blows my mind.

 

Agreed. And I don't understand why some folks think they need to leave early. If they love playing college sports, let them enjoy the ride.

 

Maybe she IS exercising her own leverage by getting a college degree.

 

Even in the case of college football and basketball players who have the chance to make millions more dollars if they leave early? That gives them plenty of money to return and pay for that education if they actually value it.

 

Won't the money be there for Griner next year too? The long-term value of a degree would seem, in the abstract at least, to be worth more than $1 million over a lifetime. And that's before even factoring in whether she might want to live half a world away where no friends or family members can see her play and forgo a chance to make history by leading her team to an 80-game winning streak.

Jeremy Tyler did it, and I figure he regrets that decision every day.

 

You guys tend to fetishize college degrees. Not just you guys, but the public at large. If a million dollars a year is on the table if you leave early, and nobody ever takes it, there is something deeper going on here. I can understand if one player like Andrew Luck makes a decision to stay in school. But the percentage of women who do it, even just among those who could realistically make big money overseas, is microscopically low. That bothers me. And I'm not convinced it's just because they all value a piece of paper, a piece of paper they could easily pick up later. I hesitate to use this metaphor, because I know how inflammatory it can be, but I'll do it anyway: They've all been convinced that you don't leave the plantation.

 

Why? Why would you do that? There are SO many other ways to say that. Why be a dickbag?

 

Someone will have to show me statistics on the number of professional players that actually go back to school and finish and get the degree they walked away from. I would suspect that it is a very smaller percentage.

It is hard as hell to go back to school later in life, no matter how many millions you have in the bank.

I've always been a supporter of the ones that get their degree before going to the pros.

 

It's an apt metaphor.

 

A friend's sister played overseas in the 1990s. In addition to salary, she got a free apartment and car. Once a week, the team did a public appearance at a grocery store and got free food in exchange.

 

Not only can Griner be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, she could be the first woman in the Slam Dunk Contest ... and don't think the thought hasn't crossed David Stern's mind.

 

Why would you need the degree if you're a millionaire?