Hey kids, hope everyone is excited for the holiday season! I got myself some portable mistletoe attached to my holiday hat and I am about to take a little trip down to Florida to visit that one grad student for some additional tutoring.
So, everyone remembers the very well received NCAA rule change proposal coming from the Big Ten Conference right? You know, the one that is getting shot down left and right by nearly every other school in the country because it is so freaking stupid that its unbelievable!
How stupid is the rule change proposal? Glad you asked. Its so stupid, people don’t even believe the coaches who proposed it actually got their college degree’s! No, just kidding, but its almost that dumb.
But just the other day we are provided more ammunition as to why their proposed age limit recruiting just doesn’t work.
Everyone remembers Jeremy Bracco leaving Boston College a while ago right? Yeah, you know, because the kid couldn’t hack it in a mans league like the NCAA is. Playing in the younger OHL he is almost a point a night player. Yep, the easier path was taken.
Lets welcome another defector to the pool of mistakes.
AJ Greer has left Boston University for the QMJHL. After a full season of NCAA hockey last year in which he struggled to adjust to the bigger, faster, and more mature players, Greer has up an quit. With only five points through 18 games, Greer is taking his game to the younger QMJHL.
Should anyone be surprised? No.
Both of these players are examples of either the NCAA program rushing the player to school too early, or the player trying to rush his development time to get to the NHL.
Funny that both of these players are 2015 NHL second round draft picks. Funny too that both are Canadian Citizens. Yeah I know Bracco played for the NTDP, but he is a dual citizen kids.
See, both Boston College and Boston University guessed on these kids. And they guessed wrong. This isn’t simply an “oops” either. This is more like a “holy shit we missed on that one boys”.
Scholarship money burned up. Roster spots burned up. And all the other smoke blowing when someone was probably thinking all the time that things might not work out.
This is the problem with the NCAA proposal from the Big Ten.
Eighteen year old boys, are still boys in nine out of ten cases. Twenty year old young men, are young men capable of making real life decisions.
Limit NCAA recruiting as proposed by the Big Ten, and you will have more and more of these instances. Hmmmmmmm, you know what, I think I read somewhere that BC and BU both supported the proposal too?! Nahhhh that’s cant be true? Yep, some things are just meant to happen this way.
News flash all you genius recruiters……when you commit to a player too early, you miss more times than you hit!
I hope all of you have a happy and safe holiday season. Make sure to check back for my end of the year wrap up next week, and I have an ass kicking to give out in my first article of the new year.
*The Death Pool is a mix of comedy, and satire in connection with recent events. It is not an official report of current events although it may look as though the news is so accurate that it could one day happen or may be happening.
