One and done

Good for Ben Simmons.

Mostly, though, Simmons grouses about what a waste of time college is. “The players get nothing,” he says at one point. “They say an education, but if you’re only going to be here a year, that’s not much education.”

Although he does much better than a 1.8 G.P.A. in his first semester, he decides he has had enough and stops going to class once the second semester begins. “I’m here to play,” he explains. “I’m not here to go to school.”

After Simmons starts missing classes, his coach, Johnny Jones, gets after him, warning him that there will be consequences if he does not show up. “I’m going to the N.B.A. next season,” Simmons says when he misses another class. Why pretend “if it’s not going to help me”?

His punishment? Jones benches him for the first 4 minutes 30 seconds of a game against Tennessee. When word leaks out that Simmons had to sit out the beginning of the game for academic reasons, the reporters covering the team want to know the details. “Why didn’t you go to class?” he says to himself as he heads to the news conference, mimicking the reporters. “Well, I can’t get a degree in two semesters, so what’s the point?”

The NCAA makes millions of dollars off the athletes it uses. There's no need for anyone to bolster their sanctimonious dodge about "the value of a college education." It's just bullcrap.