Officials of big-time basketball programs are taking a new look at their sport, arguably the NCAA, the most popular and lucrative, because of worries that it can no longer hang on to or even attract the game's biggest stars (Blum, 1996). .
The biggest and most obvious reason for basketball players to skip out on college and to enter into the draft is because of the big money. Many players come from poor families and run down neighborhoods. They want an education but they do not want to miss out on a chance to make insurmountable money. Most of them do not have enough money to pay for things that scholarships will not pay for. The lack of money for the players will many times entice them to fall into illegal activities. One of the illegal activities they might fall into is gambling. Boston College announced a range of punishments for 21 students who allegedly placed or handled illegal bets on sporting events (Haworth, 1997). Last November the college removed two players from its football team and suspended 11 others from the team, about 14 percent of the roster, after an investigation by the college and the local District Attorney's office revealed that the players had bet on college and professional sporting events (Haworth, 1997). Some of the athletes that were caught gambling, were even betting against there own team. The fact that these players feel they have to bet against their own team, shows their desperation. Another illegal activity that athletes fall into is accepting gifts from sports agents. This can have a huge effect on the team and on the player's future. The NCAA has demanded that the university of Connecticut return $90,000 that it received after its men's basketball team reached the semifinals of the 1996 championship tournament (Naughton, 1997). Two of the team's players had accepted gifts from a sports agent and were therefore ineligible to compete, according to NCAA regulations (Naughton, 1997).