Arizona Basketball: Terrance Ferguson vs. College Basketball

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What If?

The tricky part to Ferguson’s career choice is the idea of “what if”—What if this works out great for him? What if Ferguson enjoys a relaxing year down under, getting paid to play basketball for the Adelaide 36ers, partying with Young Money and Lil Wayne, before being drafted in the lottery of the 2017 NBA Draft and enjoying an NBA career of fame and fortune. Just as players started following the path of Brandon Jennings, one would think that high school athletes would try to follow the path of Terrance Ferguson.

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While I am not undermining nor discrediting the nobility of his fulfilled promise to his mother where he makes enough money to buy her a mansion through playing professional basketball, Ferguson’s promise was not the singular factor that weighed into his decision to play in Australia and join Young Money Sports. This precedent of young fame in hip-hop culture is certainly enticing for young athletes, but it doesn’t take much foresight to see how this precedent could spell doom for the future of college basketball.

However, in the time being, this entire discussion stands as pure speculation: maybe Ferguson doesn’t get drafted in the lottery. Maybe he really likes playing in Australia and decides to stay there. Or maybe he even drops Lil Wayne and Young Money Sports somewhere down the road. Who knows. But at this point, all we can do is begin to watch and follow the beginning of Terrance Ferguson’s potentially unprecedented professional basketball career and hope that it does not develop into a cautionary tale.

Next: Arizona Basketball: Kadeem Allen leads Pac-12 All-Stars in Loss to Australia

While we would have enjoyed seeing Terrance as another Arizona Wildcat taking home Pac 12 Freshman of the Year honors, we wish him nothing but the best in Adelaide.

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