(03-23-2018 04:08 PM)mrbig Wrote:  

(03-23-2018 03:50 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  There seems to be what I think is a bit of a misconception among some on here. Specifically, I am talking about the idea that athletes are going to have the same level of reverence for that Rice degree that our most ardent non-athlete students have. I think it is absolutely fabulous to recruit athletes who value that Rice degree so much that they will stick it out through anything to get that degree. And I think those who do feel that way are admirable. But you're not going to get 15 basketball players or 85 football players or 20-odd baseball players who feel that way. Or at least if you do, that is going to be the aberration. That's just reality, and pretending otherwise is kidding ourselves.

Well, you only need 3-4 basketball players per year (assuming you spread the scholarships out). Are there really that few quality D-1 basketball players that also value a degree (acknowledging that the best ones are probably looking at Stanford, Vandy, etc.)? Not like we need 13 every year. Heck, even getting 2-3 every year would minimize the transfer issues.

We can probably get 2-3 each year. That's not enough bodies to make it through a 20-something game schedule. So we need a few more who won't have that same mindset. And some of that latter group will leave.