Brandon Jennings to Skip College and Play In Europe | Antone's Blog

So as you may have heard by now, Brandon Jennings has decided to skip his Freshman year at Arizona and play overseas in Europe instead:

Arizona signee Brandon Jennings will pursue a professional basketball career in Europe, backing out on his commitment to the Wildcats. "Over the course of the last two months I have consulted a number of people in basketball before coming to this decision," Jennings said in a statement released Tuesday night through his attorney, Jeff Valle. "I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process." Valle said several European teams have expressed interest in Jennings, but would not reveal where his client might be headed. "We're disappointed in terms of Brandon's decision, but we want to wish him the best of luck," Arizona coach Lute Olson said in a statement. "We hope that things turn out well for him in the future." (ESPN)

I'm disappointed about this news because I was looking forward to watching Jennings play in college this season at the University of Arizona. Since most of the best players leave college for the NBA each year, as a fan of the college game I always like to watch the top freshman play because they are usually the best players in the whole college game. The departure of Jennings to Europe means that we will have one less top player in college basketball this season.

I truly have enjoyed being able to watch players like Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, and Derrick Rose for one year in college before they enter the NBA. A lot of people are against one and done players but I like it because we can watch them play and become familiar with their games, so by the time they enter the NBA, there is a familiarity with them that wouldn't exist with a high school senior jumping straight to the pros. I believe this is the same reason why it is so hard for us to follow the European players who come over to the NBA because we simply just aren't familiar with who they are and there is no connection to them or their individual games.

If Jennings is successful, it's quite possible that other Freshman will follow his route in the future, which in my mind would greatly dilute the talent pool of the college game. It would basically be like watching a bunch of mid-majors compete against each other. Now I don't think every top Freshman would follow in Jennings footsteps and head over to Europe but I'm sure this won't be the last time this happens, unless the NBA makes high school players eligible for the draft again.

Even though Jennings will be playing overseas in Europe, I fully intend to follow his progress and give updates on his performance as frequently as possible. I'm not sure how much info is out there on Euro league games but I'm sure that there will be plenty of information on Jennings for me to offer. The only drawback is that we probably won't get to actually watch him play in a game, although I would not be shocked if ESPN televised one of his games every so often if he performs well.

As soon as Brandon Jennings signs with a European team, I will fill you in on the details.

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July 11, 2008 09:11 AM ET

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I think it's a good move. This kid didn't want to go to college. Even if he did qualify academically, I still think he would have chose this route. If he succeeds I am sure more kids will follow.

J. HOVA: BROOKLYN

Brooklyn, NY

Total Comments (18072)

July 11, 2008 02:02 PM ET

It's good for him but bad for us. Sucks that we won't be able to watch him dominate at Arizona but he is doing the best thing for himself and if it's true that he doesn't have the grades, then this might be his only option anyway.