Senator Claire McCaskill Rips Duke for One and Done

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
William Bigelow

After Duke won the men’s NCAA basketball tournament Monday night, Senator Claire McCaskill weighed-in on Twitter.

McCaskill’s snide remark implicitly slammed Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, who is leaving after his freshman year to turn pro, and other Duke freshman who may not return for their sophomore seasons.

Duke has gained a reputation as a school where players complete their education before turning pro. According to statistics compiled by the NCAA, every student recruited to Duke by Coach Mike Krzyzewski between 2004 and 2007 eventually graduated.

As recently as 2013, Krzyzewski, discussing the Champions Classic, in which freshman participated and garnered huge publicity, said, “Nationally, I’m a little bit worried that that is always becoming a thing. I think part of it is that people who show our games show NBA, too. So, the constant thought is cross-promoting. I love ESPN, and I think they should do whatever they want to do. But what I’m saying is, in some ways, we as a college basketball community should not completely buy into that.”

Apparently times have changed; Krzyzewski won the championship with four freshman, and several are expected to go pro early. This is the way college athletics now works, as John Calipari’s Kentucky program proves. But McCaskill doesn’t like it – although she doesn’t explain why highly talented young black men shouldn’t be able to leave college early to pursue their careers, unlike talented young white men or Hispanic men who skip college altogether to play baseball. McCaskill’s rant continued:

Translation? The kids must be pushed through higher education despite the fact that their career aspirations lie in the NBA, not in an MBA.

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