College basketball is on the cusp of its best season in a long time.

With the 19-year-old… College basketball is on the cusp of its best season in a long time.

With the 19-year-old age limit, requiring either one year out of school or one year in college before entering the NBA Draft, in place, the college game is getting big stars who will instantly change the national landscape.

Just this year, several exciting players will play at college powerhouses instead of blowing in the wind for an NBA team. Studs like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, the top two high school players in 2006, will play for Ohio State and Texas, respectively.

Oden, a 7-foot-1 beast, heads up the best freshman class in the nation at Ohio State, a team that was a No. 2 seed in the 2006 NCAA tournament.

Oden’s sheer talent and skill mix well with his dangerous size, but he still can’t quite create offense for himself and lacks some reliable post moves. What better way to work out the kinks than playing in one of the nation’s top conferences — the Big Ten — with one of the nation’s best coaches in Thad Motta?

Durant, an explosive 6-foot-9 forward with more athleticism than anyone in college basketball has seen in recent years, joins a Texas team that always seems to be reloading.

Durant is also an incredibly talented kid with loads of potential, but he would struggle in the NBA right away because he lacks the muscle and brute strength to handle the physicality of the pros. He will spend this year bulking up and preparing for his bright future in the NBA.

But there are other benefits to the new age limit. First of all, it increases competitiveness in both leagues — the NBA will avoid youngsters lost on the floor for the first three months of the season and college ball gets more talent to fill out the premier lineups.

Furthermore, it saves kids from horrific failure.

I know what you’re thinking — it’s the business world; if they get lost in the shuffle it’s their fault for not being good enough. I understand that, but forcing them to at least play a year somewhere to develop could prevent colossal failures for numerous kids who otherwise can’t afford to be out of basketball that early in their lives.

Plus, if they struggle their first year in college ball, they have more time to work back to where they were. A college kid can struggle one season, but he will have three more years to improve. An NBA kid who struggles for one season will wear out his welcome faster than the kid who drank all your beer without paying.

Yet if the youngster improves vastly enough in his second season, he can jump into the NBA Draft as soon as he sees fit.

I might be getting selfish here, but spending all four years at a university gets you a coveted bachelor’s degree. I mean, hey, we all came to Pitt for its great academics and tough classes. Certainly not for its top-notch athletic program and its prime location in one of the best sports towns in America, right?

Still, many of the powerhouses are good academic schools, making that degree even better. No one ever ripped someone for having a solid backup plan — some guys probably rely on that degree these days (see: Bobby Hurley).

The age limit will also save the NBA boatloads of money. Think of all the contracts wasted on draft busts over the years.

Remember Jonathan Bender? He was highly touted as a powerful, quick, big man with good hands and incredible athleticism. Taken fifth in the 1999 NBA Draft, Bender does not play basketball anymore. He played in 237 NBA games, averaging a whopping 5.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

Bender made $7.18 million in the 2006-2007 season. No, that’s not a typo — the Pacers just owe him that much for a season in which he won’t play a single minute.

Are you laughing? You should be.

So the NBA might have at least slowed the matriculation of young kids into its draft every year for the time being. Someday soon, the debate will begin again and the limit might disappear.

In the meantime, we can enjoy some of the best young basketball talent in the country.

Listen to Jeff Greer and his hour-long sports talk show on 92.1 FM Mondays at 9 a.m. E-mail him at [email protected].