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	Comments on: Morning Five: 02.16.12 Edition	</title>
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	<description>The Independent Voice of College Basketball</description>
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		By: garik16		</title>
		<link>http://rushthecourt.net/2012/02/16/morning-five-02-16-12-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-709372</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[garik16]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:13:42 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[Wow, that comment started in a different way than I ended.  I meant the comment is misleading in that the Junior Leagues don&#039;t really function as Minor Leagues, in the baseball sense of the word.  It&#039;s very strange - closer to AAU than minor leagues, but much more like professional hockey than AAU is to professional basketball.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Wow, that comment started in a different way than I ended.  I meant the comment is misleading in that the Junior Leagues don&#8217;t really function as Minor Leagues, in the baseball sense of the word.  It&#8217;s very strange &#8211; closer to AAU than minor leagues, but much more like professional hockey than AAU is to professional basketball.</p>
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		<title>
		By: garik16		</title>
		<link>http://rushthecourt.net/2012/02/16/morning-five-02-16-12-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-709370</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[garik16]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:12:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rushthecourt.net/?p=61247#comment-709370</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[&quot;Hockey is obviously a different animal than basketball in that many of its top players bypass college completely choosing instead to play in a variety of leagues that essentially amount to the minor leagues while hoping to make it to the NHL. &quot;

This is a bit misleading.  Hockey&#039;s system is odd....essentially, North American* players start their careers at age 16 (rare talents can start at 15) in one of three/four junior leagues (OHL, WHL, QMJHL, and the USHL, which is weird).  It&#039;s not AAU as these are full time sports leagues (so there&#039;s a lot more structure than AAU and the role of &quot;all star games&quot; is mainly taken by international junior competition), which include some players who have already been drafted.  

Now players in the 3 most common junior leagues (the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL) can&#039;t go to college - the NCAA rules them not to be amateurs.  And this is a majority of young North American Talent.  Players in the US Hockey League (USHL) do go to college, and present the situation that Nocera shows.  That said, while the quality of the players in the USHL has risen over the years, it&#039;s still a substantial minority.  (At best I&#039;ve seen a report a 1/3 of the NHL consists of kids who went to college, and I think that overstates it).  

The end result is that college hockey, unlike basketball, baseball, football, lacrosse, and some other sports, is SERIOUSLY diluted from a talent standpoint.  There are great players who come out of college of course....but even with favorable NHL agent treatment, most young hockey talent chooses to forgo college.  

So if the NCAA wants to foster some level of quality in D1 hockey, it has to let the agents in...there&#039;s already enough preventing D1 hockey from being great as it is (which is why there aren&#039;t a lot of teams)]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Hockey is obviously a different animal than basketball in that many of its top players bypass college completely choosing instead to play in a variety of leagues that essentially amount to the minor leagues while hoping to make it to the NHL. &#8221;</p>
<p>This is a bit misleading.  Hockey&#8217;s system is odd&#8230;.essentially, North American* players start their careers at age 16 (rare talents can start at 15) in one of three/four junior leagues (OHL, WHL, QMJHL, and the USHL, which is weird).  It&#8217;s not AAU as these are full time sports leagues (so there&#8217;s a lot more structure than AAU and the role of &#8220;all star games&#8221; is mainly taken by international junior competition), which include some players who have already been drafted.  </p>
<p>Now players in the 3 most common junior leagues (the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL) can&#8217;t go to college &#8211; the NCAA rules them not to be amateurs.  And this is a majority of young North American Talent.  Players in the US Hockey League (USHL) do go to college, and present the situation that Nocera shows.  That said, while the quality of the players in the USHL has risen over the years, it&#8217;s still a substantial minority.  (At best I&#8217;ve seen a report a 1/3 of the NHL consists of kids who went to college, and I think that overstates it).  </p>
<p>The end result is that college hockey, unlike basketball, baseball, football, lacrosse, and some other sports, is SERIOUSLY diluted from a talent standpoint.  There are great players who come out of college of course&#8230;.but even with favorable NHL agent treatment, most young hockey talent chooses to forgo college.  </p>
<p>So if the NCAA wants to foster some level of quality in D1 hockey, it has to let the agents in&#8230;there&#8217;s already enough preventing D1 hockey from being great as it is (which is why there aren&#8217;t a lot of teams)</p>
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