Ordinarily I’d prefer to see athletes who enroll in college stay more than just one year. As Bob Knight said, the one-and-done makes a mockery of the system because it’s a joke for the student-athlete. All these athletes need to do is make grades for one semester, play ball, and then they get to drop out after that to prepare for draft camps. When you look at it that way, you realize the system winds up making the university look even worse for accepting the player. Normally that’s how I feel about players leaving early, but there are rare exceptions. USC freshman forward DeMar DeRozan falls under that category. While it looks like he’ll be joining teammates Daniel Hackett and Taj Gibson by leaving early for the draft, DeRozan has the best reason of all for his choice:

DeRozan’s decision was hardly a surprise because of his family’s health issues. His mother, Diane DeRozan, suffers from lupus.

“Overall, I think I’m in a great position for the draft,” DeRozan said. “I’m also in a great position to do something for my family.”

The decision was a difficult one, said his father, Frank DeRozan: “DeMar was torn between going into the draft and staying at USC. He wants to stay, but his mom is real sick.”

Now it can be said that DeRozan’s decision also coincides with his explosion towards the end of the season including being the star of the Pac-10 tournament. Even if that is the case, I actually am happy for a guy who will be able to leave for the professional ranks in an effort to make some money to take care of his family. Depending on how ill his mother is, a year could make a big difference. I hope he’ll find a team that can pay him some decent money and that he can reciprocate with good play on the court. Oh, and Draft Express has him as a top-10 pick, not too shabby.

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