Mitsch: Make the age limit older or don’t have one at all

College basketball should thank Bobby Knight.

When the coaching legend condemned the NBA’s… College basketball should thank Bobby Knight.

When the coaching legend condemned the NBA’s new 19-year-old age limit for entry into the Draft last week, calling it “the worst thing that’s happened to college basketball since I’ve been coaching,” he did college hoops a huge favor by vocalizing his thoughts.

Why? Because he was right.

Call it sour grapes, because Knight has to coach a team in the same conference as Kevin Durant, who, should he have been allowed to enter into the NBA Draft out of high school, would have been as sure a lottery pick as is the probability of a Bengal being arrested in the next 24 hours. But Knight has a point.

The new age limit is already severely affecting college basketball and, should it remain unaltered, could be the catalyst to the game’s tragic decline, in which college basketball would evolve into the new NBA Developmental League.

Look at the recruitment of O.J. Mayo, for instance. Everybody who hasn’t been writing their own sequel to Thoreau’s “Walden” for the last two years has heard about the prep-star’s road to college that’s taken more twists than a swizzle stick.

And exactly where will Mayo suit up next year? USC – the basketball program that’s been UCLA’s Scottie Pippen for the last 30 years.

With all due respect, the Trojans have the makings of what could be a competitive program in the future, but that’s nowhere near the primary reason Mayo chose to lace up in cardinal and gold.

“[Mayo] sees the big market and knows that he’s not too far away from being marketed,” a source told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz when Mayo committed.

See that? Marketed. He didn’t want to go to a storied program and contend for a title year-in and year-out. He didn’t want the energy and die-hard fanfare that envelops programs like North Carolina, Duke, Kansas and the like. He wanted, well, wants to go to the NBA, and in what better location to do it than the city that owns the league’s most recognizable franchise?

Not that you can blame Mayo. He’s like any other prospect who has aspirations to play pro ball and even make millions of dollars through endorsements alone. Hey, what I wouldn’t give to have that kind of talent. But it still doesn’t change the nature of the growing beast and the fact that college basketball is becoming more and more professional with each TV timeout.

As a continuing result, recruiting will only become more and more competitive. Take this, for example: Washington State recently received a verbal commitment from 6-foot-7 Patrick Simon – a 14-year-old high school freshman from Pullman, Wash. This kid can’t even sign a letter of intent for another two and a half years, and the Cougars think they already have him locked up.

What next? I heard there’s a lot of raw talent at the Rising Star basketball camp for sixth-through-eighth graders. There’s even rumors of a 5-year-old from Topeka who can get rim. Word has it he’s been putting up 20 and 10 against some top 8-year-olds in intramurals, and most scouts believe he’s a sure bet to leave preschool early.

Which is another keystone of Knight’s argument that deserves priority – school. As Knight mentioned, players who want to pull a Carmelo and leave after one year don’t even have to go to class at all during the second semester. If you don’t believe that’s an unfair advantage, talk to any of Pitt’s student athletes who manage a full course load, and, on top of that, practice or work out every day and have to play and travel sometimes multiple times a week. And most of them will never even sniff a shoe deal or a pro contract.

And that’s why the age limit is unjust. If you’re going to have an age limit at all, make it 20 or even 21 for that matter. The NBA could even stipulate that players must be three years removed from high school to be draft-eligible. That’s the way the NFL does it, and that league seems to be doing just fine. Who knows? College basketball could see a lot more stars stay four years and actually (gasp) graduate.

If the above were the case, imagine the current pros who might still be in college. Go ahead and tell me that you haven’t said to one of your buddies, “Dude, what if LeBron James went to Ohio State?” And Andrew Bynum could actually be playing and improving instead of watching Kobe Bryant drop 40 a night from the bench. Hell, I watch Kobe Bryant, and I don’t see my game getting any better.

Either way, something’s got to give. College basketball is suffering from this 19-year-old age limit business. Look at LSU. One year removed from the Final Four and they’re struggling to keep above .500. Tell me Tyrus Thomas wouldn’t have made that much a difference had he stayed.

But he didn’t stay. Neither will Mayo. Nor Durant. The way players are coming and going seems like free agency and it’s not right – no, it’s not college hoops. College basketball is losing some of its purity that was on nostalgic display when Butler battled Southern Illinois during BracketBusters.

Problem is, though, the age limit probably won’t change any time soon. The NBA is the business of basketball, and business reigns supreme. Only college basketball, the NBA’s loyal subject, doesn’t have much pull in its decisions.

Unless, of course, Bobby Knight has any say in things.