As I watched Kentucky win the national championship, I thought about how the NCAA talks about their student athletes going pro in something other than sports.

That may be the case most of the time, but for the best players in college basketball, it’s becoming very difficult to believe they are even student athletes.

We will never see Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Terrence Jones again. Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist are “one-and-dones,” and while Jones stayed for two years, none of them ever planned on getting their college degree.

I don’t understand why the best high school players in the country even have to go to college for one year. These kids are meant to play in the NBA for 15 to 20 years instead of in college for one.

The only league that should have an age limit is the NFL, as some high school kids could be seriously injured if they went pro early. Otherwise, if I’m the equivalent to Anthony Davis in any sport, I should be able to go pro whenever I want.

For me, it’s the same as if someone who graduates from high school and joins the work force instead of going to college. They don’t necessarily have to go to school to get a job. If they aren’t going to college, they probably have a profession in mind already.

If I am a high school player, and I know I am going to be a first round pick in the NBA draft, I would just want to go. I am going to be a basketball player, so why should I have to go to college. Is there a class in college called “PRO 101” or “Intro to The Life of a Pro Athlete”? If there isn’t, I’ll just take my money.

Not only does the rule force some kids to not fulfill their dreams and play in the NBA, but it also greatly affects the college game and not in a good way. I thoroughly enjoy college basketball, don’t get that wrong, but I wish the game would go back to the way it was. Now, it is becoming too much like AAU basketball for my taste. A lot of these would be one-and-done players’ games aren’t meant for the college game.

They also make life difficult for college coaches. Do you recruit these probable one-and-done players? You want a long-term commitment to your team generally, and you want players that you can imagine being on campus for all four years. Nowadays, though, if you get a player to stick around for three years, that is considered an accomplishment.

Luckily, here at Marquette, only one player has left early for the NBA in the past 10 years — Dwyane Wade. Fans have been lucky enough to get to know Golden Eagles players during their time at Marquette, which is what college basketball is all about.

Kentucky fans would probably disagree with me on that, as they will take their national championship with their two, possibly three, one-and-done players. They really are the only team in the country that prides itself on building their strength on freshman every year. Otherwise, most schools do a pretty good job of finding kids who will stick around for three or maybe even all four years.

Many a superstar made the jump right from high school to the NBA, including the game’s two biggest stars in LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Those guys weren’t meant to play college basketball, the same as as a few of this year’s freshman stars. Some kids are meant to play in the NBA, and there shouldn’t be any rule that says they have to wait to do so.

With the current rule, all David Stern is doing is forcing kids to do something they don’t want to, and delaying the fulfillment of their dreams.