Knight's Move May Be Revolutionary

Scarbinsky: Knight's `precautionary' move may be revolutionary, too

By Kevin Scarbinsky -- The Birmingham News

May 09, 2010, 5:30AM

Kentucky signee Brandon Knight, a baller and a scholar. (Slamonline.com)I don’t know his GPA, his ACT or his IQ, but Brandon Knight has to be one of the smartest student-athletes in the country.

His basketball smarts are obvious.

He looked at John Calipari’s last three point guards and saw a No. 1 overall draft pick and NBA rookie of the year in Derrick Rose, a No. 4 overall pick and rookie of the year in Tyreke Evans and another top pick and top rookie in waiting in John Wall.

Seeing a pattern, Knight, a talented point guard himself, picked Kentucky.

But what may be most impressive about him are his street smarts.

He didn’t sign a national letter of intent with UK. He signed scholarship papers with the school.

That binds the school to him, at least for one year – more on that later – rather than him to the school.

In short, Kentucky has to give him a scholarship if he shows up, but he’s not legally obligated to show up, as he would be had he signed an NLOI.

Justin Knox probably wishes he’d thought of that.

Brandon Knight’s mother, Tonya Knight, told the Lexington Herald-Leader her son signed a scholarship and not a letter of intent as "a precautionary measure."

Could be revolutionary, too.

"You always want a way out in case the coach leaves," she said.

Kudos and Happy Mother’s Day to her.

It’s about time student-athletes played the game outside the lines as well as they play it inside them.

For too long, they’ve been well-publicized indentured servants, subject to the whims of their coaches/masters and their schools/plantations.

They’ve watched coaches come and go without strings or remorse, enriching themselves in the process, and wondered how a grown man who’ll ask for a commitment isn’t willing to make one in return and stick to it.

They’ve watched other student-athletes in need of a change have to make it in handcuffs. Yes, the school/plantation tells them, we’ll let you leave, but we’ll decide where you can and can’t go.

Oh, and once you get there, unless you arrive with a loophole, like a sick family member or an undergraduate degree, you’ll have to sit out a year before you can play.

The balance of power between the players who do the bulk of the work and the coaches and schools who reap the financial rewards is more lopsided than the final score to come between Alabama and Georgia State.

Now the student-athletes have an unusual, and unusually powerful, potential ally in the U.S. Justice Department.

Uncle Sam’s legal eagles have been asking the NCAA why athletic scholarships are good for only one year at a time and must be renewed, usually at the school’s discretion, every year.

The Chronicle of Higher Education just reported that the NCAA’s general counsel has sent a message to alert athletics directors and conference commissioners that lawyers from the Justice Department’s antitrust division may be contacting them on the subject.

About time someone introduced the NCAA to Justice. Not to mention justice. They’ve been strangers for far too long.

The NCAA released a statement on the inquiry. The statement’s key argument: "The NCAA is working with Justice to help it understand that athletics financial aid is a ‘merit’ award and an annual review of whether an individual meets the standards of a merit award is the most appropriate way to ensure that the most deserving student-athletes receive that award each year."

In short, players have to keep up or risk getting cut.

That kind of logic runs counter to the already phony concept of amateurism in big-time college sports, but it does help explain that the student-athlete is a pawn in a big-money game.

That’s why it was so encouraging to see a high-profile prospect like Knight play that game so well.

The Herald-Leader said Knight’s mother seemed surprised when asked how she knew about the distinction between a scholarship and a letter of intent.

"My husband and I are very informed," she said. "I don’t understand how any parent would not be aware. As a parent, that’s your job."

See? Knight comes by his intelligence honestly.

Other student-athletes should take a lesson from him and his family.