Villanueva headed to NBASTORRS, Conn. (AP) -- Two years ago, Charlie Villanueva thought he was ready for the NBA. This time, he says he's sure.
UConn's 6-foot-11, 240-pound sophomore forward announced Tuesday that he [sic] forgo his final two years of college eligibility to enter the NBA draft.
It will be the second time Villanueva has gone through the NBA evaluation process. Coming out of Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., in 2003, Villanueva declared for the draft, but changed his mind after workouts in front of NBA scouts.
Villanueva may feel he's ready, but I'd say that this is not the most glowing of recommendations:
Villanueva is the eighth player during [coach Jim] Calhoun's tenure at UConn to leave school early for the NBA. The coach said he is not shy about telling players when he thinks they are not ready.
"I don't think Charlie's making a mistake," he said. "Would I have liked him to stay for another year? Yeah. Could he use another year? To some degree, they all could."
The article goes on to say that "he chose to go pro in part because his mother was in a serious car accident last year on her way to work, and he doesn't want her to ever have to work again." Honorable intentions, and I can't fault him for that, because I myself would love to be in a position to relieve my mother of the responsibility of needing to work as a present for her upcoming birthday [but I'm not, sorry mom]. Regardless, I know my mom would have done the same as his, urging me to stay in school before making the plunge. I guess the millions he'll use to take care of her will have to serve as a consolation prize. Hopefully she'll find some way to cope.
Even though Villanueva will likely earn millions of dollars next year, his departure will hurt UConn's grade under a system being implemented to evaluate academic progress of NCAA programs. Calhoun said that should be changed.
"Right now, we seem to have lost a little bit of sight that a few of our very, very special students have an opportunity to get a very, very special job."
agreed. they should definitely take in consideration kids who leave early, and not penalize those institutions whose athletes maintain a good GPA, even if their time in school is cut short.
