that way. College presidents should make college an unattractive option for one-and-done types. In fact, colleges should make college unattractive for any potential athlete who does not see a free ride as adequate compensation. This can simply be done by requiring student athletes to earn their eligibility up front. Require a student to complete freshman academic requirements toward a degree before they can begin their freshman year of sports participation. Then, they must complete sophomore requirements toward a degree before their sophomore year of participation.
This would be a show stopper for one-and-dones. It would force the pro leagues to create an alternative for them. This is particularly true for basketball.
Arguments against this are:
1) It would ruin the quality and interest in college basketball. I think it would remove only 10 - 20 players a year. Only blue-blood programs would be impacted. It would level the playing field. As for interest, most college fans are loyal supporters of their school. Interest would not be affected except for bandwagon jumpers supporting Duke, Kentucky, and the like.
2) This is a return to freshman ineligibility. Maybe, kind of, sort of. Actually, a good student could be eligible as a freshman through AP classes and summer school if motivated. Otherwise, this is about making "student-athletes" be students before they are athletes. They would still have 4 years of eligibility. I hate that one-and-done basketball players come to school, take 12 credits of the easiest courses they can find during fall semester, play a season, and leave without completing the spring semester. Why where they allowed to play if they ended up not being a student for the spring semester? Essentially, they played and were not students. End this nonsense.