Student Chosen Topic #4: Andrew Ours

 Over winter break, I had the opportunity to raid my Dad’s bookcase to find a book I had not read before. I had the opportunity to pick up a book titled, The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein. The book is about the 1999-2000 season in the Patriot League conference of NCAA College Basketball. What I found most interesting is how the narrative explored in the book is still ever present today in College Basketball. The thesis of the book is that college basketball is an organization corrupted by money and the need to win for the bigger programs. However, there is a purity to the integrity and how the game is played in the Patriot League, true Student Athletes. Today, there is a debate on if college athletes should be paid to play, due to the amount of money they made for their college and university, especially in college basketball and Football. In today’s game, for the top universities, even more so than they were in 1999, it is just a stepping stone for professional basketball. This is very sad for me. I grew up watching college basketball more than the NBA because of the environment and passion that the players and their fans showed for the university, not the players. Gone are the days that John Feinstein penned about, players with a collective GPA of 3.5 throughout the Patriot League, playing team basketball who stayed four years. For better or for worse, this is the reality of College Basketball today.  

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