COLLEGES Exodus of players hurts game

College basketball faces a challenge as it continues to lose its great players to the NBA early.
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College basketball for $100, Alex.
Answer: Jason Gardner and Luke Walton of Arizona, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich of Kansas, David West of Xavier, Erwin Dudley of Alabama, Mario Austin of Mississippi State.
Question: Who are some of the players of the year and All-American candidates for college basketball's 2002-03 season?
For the casual sports fan, those players mentioned are not a who's who, but a "who's that"? The continued early exodus of players to the NBA has put college basketball in jeopardy, because very good players are filling the spots usually taken by great players.
"It's a huge problem," said Jay Bilas, an ESPN college basketball analyst and former Duke player. "College basketball has become too hard for a lot of fans to follow. There's just not a familiarity factor with the players. Fans used to be able to watch players grow and develop for three or four years."
Krzyzewski's view
Bilas' former coach, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, is one of several college coaches who prefer to see their sport's glass as being half full, not half empty.
"I don't think it's as important who the national championship contenders are now, I think it's the teams that develop into contenders," Krzyzewski said. "Now, when [the media] make predictions, that's what they are -- predictions.
"When you list the top players, the top shooters, the top three men, you don't list freshmen. But freshmen in our conference and other conferences should be on those lists. I think there's excitement in seeing players you haven't seen before or a player who has had more of a marginal role maybe take off as a result of having opportunity."
Only sports fans who read every pre-season publication, or who spend hours searching Web sites, can be up-to-date on the ever-changing rosters.
"Now, a college basketball fan has got to do homework," Bilas said. "It used to be as the champion was cutting the nets down, a fan would know which teams had their best players coming back. Now, the fans don't know who's coming back until after the NBA Draft."
The NBA Draft
The NBA Draft has helped decimate the college game of its marquee players. If not for early entry to the pro game, Duke would have three seniors -- Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy -- who would be pre-season All-America and Player of the Year candidates.
Before last season, Williams and Boozer made it clear that last season would be their last season. Dunleavy, who would have been a lock as the leading Player of the Year candidate, surprised many with his decision to skip his senior year.
Michigan State is another team that is missing players. Forward Jason Richardson would be a senior while center Zach Randolph and point guard Marcus Taylor would be juniors this season. Richardson and Taylor left East Lansing after their sophomore seasons while Randolph departed after his freshman year. Taylor was recently cut by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"Whether we would have been better or worse with Marcus, unfortunately, will never be determined," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "I feel bad that Marcus left, because I don't think it was the right decision. It hurts college basketball, it hurts pro basketball and it hurts the players. I can't believe we can't come up with a solution."
Jeffries left, too
Another potential Player of the Year candidate who left early for the NBA is Indiana's Jared Jeffries. Last season as a sophomore, he helped the Hoosiers reach the championship game.
"Somebody will fill in the void, we just don't know who they're going to be," Baylor coach Dave Bliss said. "We used to be able to earmark this guy, this guy and this guy. We were conditioned over two or three years to know who the good players are. Now, we find out over half a season."
This year's Player of the Year award could be more of a lifetime achievement award. The leading candidate going into the season is Arizona senior point guard Jason Gardner. A solid player, Gardner averaged a career-best 20.4 points last season, but for his career, he's averaging just 14.5.
As a sophomore, Gardner nearly joined several of his teammates to leave for the NBA after the 2000 season. However, he returned for his junior season and realized how much he enjoyed playing college basketball.