Virginia's Ryan Odom Talks Current State Of College Basketball & What Needs To Change

There have been some interesting things happening in college basketball with former G League players returning to the sport, like London Johnson, Thierry Darlan, and Abdullah Ahmed, to name a few. Even a current two-way NBA player, Trentyn Flowers, was drawing college interest from a number of major blue blood programs, but was struck down by NCAA President Charlie Baker.

Johnson was expected to play this season for the Cardinals after coming down from the G League after three seasons, but head coach Pat Kelsey reaffirmed that he will not play in a postgame press conference after a 79-70 loss to the Hoos. It is a fine line of what is going on currently in college basketball, and it has become too blurred where college teams can take professional players. There has to be some type of guard rails and enforcement to help the evolution of the game and protect high school players who are already grasping at straws to land limited spots.

Head coach Ryan Odom gave a comment and a response on the current state of the game and how the game is evolving.

"Yeah, I mean, I think honestly they're all kind of professionals now. Over the last few years. And so, I can't speak for F, but I can speak for our guys, you know, who are playing for us. You know, probably making less money than the guys that were playing over here the last couple of years, all right, where they were playing. And so, you know, it's part of the sport now. So I understand, like my father's old school, you know, and he grew up and came up in an era where it was just, you earned your way, and I still think that exists. It has to still exist,” said Odom.

“We can't give kids everything that they want. But clearly, overall, we need to figure something out. There needs to be some stability, some guard rails around, you know, our game. And I don't think there's any coach that would dispute that at this point, and, you know, who's going to make that decision, who's going to be the first to do it, I have no idea, but clearly, we all, I think, want that. Going forward, you can't fault anyone, you know, for utilizing the rules all right to their advantage, the way that they are currently set. I think it's just part of the game until they figure out all right, where are we going with this thing, and that's not for Ryan Odom to decide."

Coach Odom said it best. There has to be stability and a clearly defined line on what can happen. Kids are abusing it, and even professional players' careers who haven’t panned out how they had hoped are coming back and getting opportunities that a young kid could have had. The college game is exciting and beneficial for a lot of people, but there still needs to be a precedent set forth that allows the best for the kids, fanbases, coaches, and the entire sport. Until that is done, we will continue to have chaos and a lot of unknowns about what should or shouldn’t happen.

More Virginia Basketball News:

•The Good, Bad and Ugly of Virginia Basketball’s Victory Over Stanford

•Key Takeaways From Virginia 70-55 Win Over Stanford

•The Plus/Minus: Defense Carries Virginia Basketball Past Stanford

•Everything Ryan Odom Said After No. 23 Virginia Defeated Stanford Today