BY TYLER SMITH, SPORTS EDITOR.
I’m one of the biggest college basketball fans you can find on campus. I think I’ve mentioned that March Madness is my favorite sporting event of the year close to 500 times. However, the team I grew up rooting for, the Duke Blue Devils, will more than likely not be participating in the tournament this season.
Ranked ninth in the preseason AP top 25, the Blue Devils were never able to cement themselves as the powerhouse they have come to be known as. After cancelling most of its non-conference schedule and losing six of its last nine games, Duke looks to be on the outside looking in this March.
The going only gets tougher for the remaining six games in Duke’s regular season. I don’t want to assume they will be playing in the ACC Tournament given the way they’ve handled the season thus far. Regardless, the Blue Devils’ top recruit, Jalen Johnson, has decided to opt out of the remainder of the season to prep for the upcoming NBA draft.
In just 21 minutes per game, Johnson averaged 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 53% shooting over 13 games. He also shot 44% from three-point range.
Sports media and pundits around college basketball have labeled Johnson a quitter, claiming “opting out” with three weeks left in the regular season as quitting.
Now, I don’t like that Duke and Jalen Johnson using the term “opting out” because colleges and players have opted out of play this year before the season began, largely due to COVID-19 concerns.
Where my agreement with the media ends is the attack on Johnson for this move.
Looking at it from a Duke perspective, I mentioned that the Blue Devils will likely watch the NCAA tournament from their couches. Will Johnson’s presence make a difference in the outcome of the rest of the season? Sure, maybe he helps them to a win over Georgia Tech. Big picture? Johnson being on the court does not change the reality of an early end to the Blue Devils’ season.
From Johnson’s perspective, opting out makes perfect sense. People claim his Duke departure actually hurts his draft stock, where I see it as a potential positive.
Johnson had a foot injury that kept him out of action for three games, but those three games took place over the span of nearly a month. The majority of Johnson’s minutes down the stretch of this season have been taken over by freshman center Mark Williams and freshman forward Jaemyn Brakefield.
There was speculation over how serious Johnson’s injury was, with many claiming Johnson and the Duke coaching staff had off-court issues. Either way, the man is putting his future, and himself, first.
And the claims that Johnson opting out will hurt his draft stock are just lazy to me.
NBA scouts look at talent and potential, not your contributions to a mediocre college basketball team (this season). People seem to forget just five years ago Ben Simmons left LSU when they knew they wouldn’t be in the NCAA tournament. Spoiler: Ben Simmons was selected number one overall in the draft.
Let’s stop treating NBA lottery picks like normal students and see them as what they really are: a paycheck for big school athletics.
Don’t take that as a shot to these prospects. Take it as an indictment of the crooked system that is the NCAA pipeline to the NBA draft. These Power 5 schools make unfathomable amounts of money from top recruits and those individuals reap none of the benefits other than a (likely) one-year scholarship and “exposure” that hopefully turns NBA scouts’ heads.
Those who have criticized Johnson are so wrapped up in this dated mentality that Power 5 schools do top prospects a favor, when in reality, it’s the exact opposite.
Johnson does not owe Duke a single thing. He was projected a top-10 pick before college basketball season, and nothing he accomplished during the season did anything to change that.
Yes, NBA scouts watch college basketball. What it really boils down to, however, are pre-draft workouts. Pre-draft workouts are the first time that general managers, coaching staffs, and scouts get together to evaluate prospects in unison.
That is what Johnson will be evaluated on. Not his 19-point, 19-rebound game vs. Coppin St., or his 8-minute, 3-point outing vs. North Carolina St.
Johnson is an elite athletic wing who finishes with finesse around the rim, as well as sharpshooting ability from deep. He will provide instant offensive production and the length necessary to become a versatile defender.
I can’t wait until Johnson proves the dinosaurs that labeled him a quitter wrong.
