Would Matt Burston have been offered one?

james harvey turned down a full scholarship to attend USC.

why would someone decline a scholarship to play NBL???

talking to brad and those around him about his decision, it came down to the different styles of basketball played in college and the nbl. brad felt it would be better for his development to play nbl.

pretty sure Chris Blakmore, Brad Mckinnion and Tim Brenton all turned down scholarships at some stage as well.

In the cases of Holmes and Forman, both signed contracts that equalled (Forman) or came near (Holmes) a full scholarship. Both also receive(d) yearly educational allowances that went some way to matching the educational side of a scholarship. College players cannot be paid to play, NBL players are paid to play.

Finally, it was a reasonably good time for both of these guys to join the 36ERS. Moving on from the previous year at the time were Kevin Brooks, Mark Davis, Paul Maley. All three of these guys would spend time at the positions played by Jacob and Oscar.

Look at guys like Jason Williams and Paul Bauer. When they first joined the 36ERS, Williams suited for 1 game and Potsie for 2. The next year they averaged 0.4 PPG and 1.9 PPG respectively.

In 2001-02, Oscar suited for 27 games in his rookie year, and Jacob for 18. They averaged 2.4 and 2.5 PPG in their rookie years, and Holmes jumped to 8.5 PPG in 2002-03.

Look at Newley's opportunities due to a fading Robert Rose. Good timing for him to join the Crocs.

Yes but wouldn't they still have had these opportunities after a four year scholarship

SERAPIS,

Not necessarily. If Holmes and Forman weren't with the Sixers, would Smyth have had more minutes to offer Newley? Then would you see significant minutes available to returning players when the club already had Rychart, Nash, Newley, etc? Not necessarily.

Also, consider this: someone like Dench (I think he went to college, right?) might come back after four years and start at $50-100k. First four years in the US are $0. Then start the fifth at $50-100k.

Contrast that with someone playing locally. First year is capped at $25k or whatever it is. Within four years they will be at that same $50-100k level. They could have their degree or made inroads on it, be earning the same amount in the fifth year and have four years of earnings under their belt that a US graduate may not have. Both Oscar and Jacob have bought houses while in their first four years -- I don't know if they would have had that same opportunity were they returning from college.

It's a different experience, but not necessarily a lesser one. Look at Holmes -- 21-22 yo, has been starting for the team for a while, earns a good amount, has a house, is studying (I assume he still is) -- not much to complain about there!

Isaac and Anonymous

Very good arguments. What if they do the four year stint at a college and go extremely well, what then. NBA????

What does an NBA bench player earn. Not saying that they may have got that far but after four years playing against the elite you would think they would be extremely well rounded players.

I think the arguments you have raised are certainly valid and if I had the opportunity to be 21 again and already have purchased a house and back studying I would be quite happy as well.

If you are good enough to be offered a College Scholarship, and you knock that back to play NBL and get some money, is that the same as a District Div 1 standard player wanting to play Div 2 to get more court time???

Isn't development to full potential always the goal?!?!?

I don't think that I suggested that money was the sole difference. If someone made a decision purely for the money you might have more of an argument.

A player could head to college and barely get on the court -- what sort of game-development would occur there?

I think a goal is personal satisfaction and happiness -- that would be a combination of things, development being one of those. I remember when Oscar was deciding between LMU and the Sixers, and there are many factors that influenced the decision.

Unless I'm mistaken, guys like Brett Maher, Martin Cattalini and Shane Heal never attended college. They seem to have developed pretty well!

Touché Isaac!!!!

A big part of the descion depends on the school.

Newley turned down Arizona i believe. This would have seen him regularly on tv and in front of many scouts vastly improvong his chances of an NBA offer.

With most NBA teams taking punts purley on athletic ability these days, Newley has made a big mistake IMO.

In 2 years he could have signed a deal that would have set him for life instead he would be taking rookie wage for 1 and then may be 80 tops for the next.

I will also add that in a college team, you don't know what you're going to get. You might have no NBA potentials in your squad. You might get limited opportunities in games too.

Oscar and Jacob have had four years playing against some Olympic-standard players and even near-NBA standard players also. They spend a number of days each week training with and against guys like Maher and Farley and (in the past) Cattalini. That would be pretty good for their development.

That they both scored in double figures last season (Oscar had 329 points in the 33 games if you include the elimination final, close enough!) on a team with three of the top scorers in the league says they've done pretty well I think.

As was posted further up too, look at Brad Hill -- incredibly good time for him to come into the team. He'll learn tonnes from Maher and could take the reins.

Whilst alot of people think of college as the road to the NBA - how many Australians have gone to college, not got an NBA gig, a euro gig and have either a) come back to Australia and plyed in the NBL or b) given up bball all together to finish studies or if finished start a career.

I think the idea of college bball is great and everyones first thought is who the heck would turn that down, but you have to remember the age/maturity of these guys when they would not only be leaving home, but the country.

And heck I think most of us would be pretty damn happy to be 21-22 earning a decent amount of cash, purchased a home and playing ball! :-)

Newley's not doing too bad, he will have international competition experience with the Boomers that he might not have got in college. If he hadn't had such a stand out rookie year in the NBL, he might still be in Goorj's sights, but wouldn't currently be in NZ.

The good players rise to the top eventually one way or another. In college, that might not have happened for Brad for a number of years...

Where's Justin Brown these days? He's an Aussie who sat on the bench at Conneticut for 4 years.

Different strokes for different folks. I think in Oscar, Jacob & the Brad's case they probably made the right choice, but who can doubt Luke Kendall or Mark Worthington's decision either?