No high ground to be had?

Is there any high ground to be had involving DI college basketball?

Yes, the question is a facetious one yet...

There's the unctuous NCAA, gathering in all the riches, especially from the Big Dance, and now just offering additional crumbs from the training table for their 'student-athletes' to consume.

Try ADs in charge of hiring the right coach for this or that opening yet some choose to bring in buddies as if operating a personal employment agency whereby allegiance to friends is more apparent than to any college or university.

There are coaches with a minimal amount of behavioral and actions black marks against them but always remember that at such a level it is a business enterprise. Hiring and firings are determined simply by wins and losses and all other talk about graduation rates and modeling behavior is promotional collegiate claptrap. Purity is extremely hard to maintain when such may result in being out of work, having to move, uprooting the kids, et al.

Don't forget the parents, handlers and hangers-on who demand their cut of the pie when, in reality, an infinitesimally minute number ever actually contribute anything towards the well-being of a prospect.

Plus, the equation would be incomplete without the fans who, for the most part, are willing to sell their soul in order for 'their' team to win. Just ask this question in college towns around the country: would you accept 'your' team finishing with a .500 record if each player graduated and was well equipped to be successful post college? Granted, sodium pentothol might need to be administered to get at the actual truth.

Hey, we haven't even gotten to the kids.

So offer thanks to the individuals in all these categories who really do strive to do best for themselves, for the kids and for all others around them. It's hard to do right when enmeshed in a system where values are all askew.