It really is simple. He graduated.

When I first heard that EB was not going to come back for his final year of eligibility, i was pretty bummed. its obvious that this team needs him. He was, along with Yoe, the best player on the team, and integral to the teams success, and I was hoping that BYU would be able to not have the same amount of attrition as it has over the past few years. I think i, along with most of you, could not understand why Mika left early, when his stated goal was to play in the NBA and the best path for that for an American kid is going through college. Every indication was that Mika was not going to be drafted, but he hired an agent, did not get drafted and is now in Italy. In my opinion, had he stayed he could have possibly improved his draft stock and made a second run at the draft after playing this season. At that point, if there was no improvement, I woudl not have not have been as critical as I still am about Eric leaving. I thought he did have a chance to be a journeyman NBA player, but now that he is in Italy, that ship has completely sailed.

But these Mika and Bryant's situation are very different. I, for several reasons, do not see Bryant's and Mika's situation the same. I also do not see things the way I used to. I used to believe that the value of a free college education was compensation enough for a kid to play a sport for that school. With the enormous amount of money that schools, and the NCAA are making off of these kids, the giant restrictions placed on them while playing, and the level of corruption I see in college basketball, I no longer think that it is fair compensation. When I heard that EB, per NCAA rules is not alllowed to monetize his own YouTube channel, because to do so is a violation of NCAA rules, it really does seem unfair that any other student on any campus can do such a thing but an Athlete cannot.

The main reason I do not blame EB for making his decision, is because he has graduated. EB is talented enough to play at least in Europe, or even get on with a G league team here in the US, and since he has stated tht it has been ihs lifelong goal to play professionally, coming back to BYU for one more year would mean he would essentially be playing basketball for free, since he has no intention, at this time, to get a masters degree. As others have stated he is 22, and not getting any younger and so that clock has started ticking.

I could go on, but I will say, If the NCAA doesn't change, I do think that the big revenue sports will eventually split from the NCAA and maybe even spit from college all together. I don't think, especially FBS football appreciate the fact that they bring in millions in revenue to a university only to have that money spent on sports that no one watches. I would not be surprised if in the future, the p5 break completely from teh NCAA. But all of this has to be factored in when thinking about kids like EB and what they decide.

I don't blame EB for his decision and I wish him well. I do selfishly wish he would have come back, but it is what it is.

The world is a changing.