Coach Cal's idea is intriguing, but less than ideal for hoops

Whether you love or hate the fact that a couple of die hard fans were able to turn a sports blog into a radio and TV show, you have to give respect to the guys at Kentucky Sports Radio for the work that they have done building a brand for themselves.

They may have outdone themselves on Wednesday, as Matt Jones and company were able to not only get John Calipari to come on as a guest on their radio show, but they managed to get him to open up about how he feels these college programs can get their student athletes the money and the living expenses that many believe they need.

In short -- Coach Cal believes that the major conference schools should secede from the NCAA and form four superconferences, allowing the TV money to be split amongst the programs that generate the majority of it.

You can listen to it in its entirety here:



Its an interesting idea, and one that many have speculated will be the ultimate result of the latest round of conference affiliation swapping.

Calipari's proposal would probably work better from a football standpoint. Within four conferences that have two divisions of eight or nine teams, a divisional title game would be played for the right to make it to the National Semifinals. Essentially, it would create an eight team tournament that crowns a national champion, which we can all agree works a helluva lot better than the current bowl format.

Logistically speaking, it works for basketball as well. All of the 64 or 72 teams in these superconferences would make the NCAA Tournament, allowing it to keep its current form and retain the three week, win-or-go-home style that makes the tournament the greatest spectacle in sports.

But the tournament would lose the part that makes it so amazing. The upsets. The underdogs. The George Masons and the Butlers and the Gonzagas would no longer be on our national radar. The cinderella stories that make the tournament so endearing would ceast to exist. I don't think any college basketball fan wants that to happen.

So while this is an intriguing idea, one that would sure free up millions of dollars to allow the athletes at the schools that generate the majority of the massive sums of money the NCAA gets to receive some pocket change, it takes away the beauty of the NCAA Tournament.

And it puts Joe Lunardi out of a job.

There is also the issue that the athletes of the non-revenue sports -- soccer, track and field, field hockey, etc. -- would be getting a portion of the proceeds that are generated by football and basketball. Eventually, that will become an issue as well.

Personally, I side with Jay Bilas. Remove the barriers to amateur athletes being allowed to profit off of their likeness while in school. As Jay says:

There is no legitimate reason why a college athlete should be denied the opportunity to enter into legitimate, legally binding contracts to, among other things, hire an agent, do paid appearances, appear in advertisements, endorse shoes and apparel or otherwise profit from their names and likenesses. It would not sink college sports, substantially limit the NCAA’s massive television profits or negatively affect the education of the athletes or any other student. It would simply be fair.

The bottom line here is that there is no easier answer to this question.

Do any BIAH readers have a better idea?