Blog Mark Cuban Wants a New System
February 27th, 2008I saw this comment by Mark Cuban linked on TrueHoop:
“At some point, hopefully someone will spend the time to put together sports alliances completely outside traditional high school and college ruling bodies that will allow students to be passionate and work hard for their dreams both on the court and field and in the classroom. Which is exactly what happens overseas in most sports. The supremely talented and promoted can still prosper in the current system, but for those who are willing to make up for whatever they may lack in natural gifts with hard work, and good tutoring, the NCAA doesn’t make dreams come true, they do their unknowing best to kill dreams. Coach Sampson deserves his share of the blame, and he is accepting the consequences. When are we going to realize that the NCAA deserves more than its share of blame. They are dream killers, not enablers.”
I agree. The final chapters of Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball Development outline my proposals for an Elite Development League and High Performance Centers. I am still looking for people with enough clout to take an interest in the idea. Thus far, I have received inquiries from Nike (George Raveling did not show up for our scheduled meeting), Pony, Ka Eh Productions, Anomaly, a TV writer, Basketball British Columbia, Basketball Scotland, Suwanee Sports Academy, three individuals trying to build basketball facilities and existing academies in two different countries. I handed Mike Dunleavy a book in Ireland, and someone handed George Karl one at a clinic; I sent Jerry Colangelo a copy; I sent David Stern a copy through one of his employees; at least five copies are at Nike Headquarters; I sent a copy to Sonny Vaccaro’s house. However, thus far, the interest and inquiries have led to little action from the powerful people