Think of the NCAA as a ship that’s been listing for quite some time, taking on water as fast as pumps can expel it and leaks can be plugged. Adequate resources and gifted shipwrights are on hand to apply transient fixes, but denial and patchwork measures like those offered by the Rice Commission on College Basketball won’t maintain the vessel’s seaworthiness indefinitely. Rust and wear, not to mention cranky internal systems and external injury, make lasting repairs essential.
Yet the NCAA sails on, its fundamentally compromised 112-year-old hull creaking and groaning, threatening to come apart at the seams as it wallows in contradiction and equivocation.