Jack Ford; Marquette President Dr. Michael Lovell; Villanova President Rev. Peter Donohue
NEW YORK – BIG EAST men’s basketball tournament week presented by JEEP means several things.
There is championship basketball at the world’s most famous arena Madison Square Garden for an unprecedented 36th consecutive season.
Boisterous and passionate fans fill the Garden shaking the arena to its rafters.
A cross section of basketball industry executives, leaders and former athletes gather for wide-ranging conversations about the state of the game at the Basketball Roundtable.
This year’s fifth annual Basketball Roundtable was held on Friday at the Westin Grand Central Hotel hours before the tip-off of the tournament semifinals.
The role of being a thought leader in the sport is one that comes easily and is embraced by the conference said BIG EAST commissioner Val Ackerman.
“This is our annual opportunity to gather experts to talk about some of the key opportunities and challenges in higher education, intercollegiate athletics and of course the great sport of basketball,” Ackerman said in her welcoming remarks.
The panelists including Villanova President Rev. Peter Donahue and Marquette President Dr. Michael Lovell, National Basketball Chairman for Boys & Girls AAU basketball Boo Williams and former BIG EAST players Arturas Karnisovas (Seton Hall), Tony Chennault (Villanova) and Nate Lubick (Georgetown) did not duck the day’s hot button topic in the game – the news reports of money being paid by coaches and business executives as a recruiting tool to student-athletes.
“The word is devastating, it has been a terrible thing for the game,” said Lubick. “It makes you upset, the game has been such a big part of my life and still is.”
“There are a few instances out there that are troubling for all of us that taints the whole brand of men’s basketball,” said Lovell. “Hopefully at the end of the day we’ll clear things up and move on.”
While the public might be shocked at learning about this part of the game, Lubick is not.
“It is the nature of recruiting. This has been going on for a far longer time than when we were recruited, it was always part of the business,” acknowledged Lubick.
“It was probably necessary that all of this stuff comes out, some real change needs to happen. I don’t think it will be easy to change things; it will take some time to change. We need to find a way to marry the good, and fixing the bad is what is important,” said Lubick.
That there is plenty of good that college basketball provides to the student-athlete on and off the court should not be dismissed or lost today was a consensus of the panelists.
“It is an opportunity to help them grow physically, mentally and spiritually,” said Donohue. “It is a place to gain a better awareness of who they are. They are really exploring who they are in many facets. They are not professional athletes; they are students first and foremost. To really focus athletics as part of the university and not the ‘be all, end all’ ”
At Villanova that is achieved by stressing the importance of becoming part of the general student population said Donohue.
“They are encouraged to be regular students, to get involved in other things so that they are not this elite group of players. They are not kings, they are seen as ordinary students,” said Donohue.
The positive experiences of being a student-athlete are life long said Lubick
“There are so many universities doing the things the right way. I wake up every day and Georgetown and the BIG EAST is such a big part of me”