So You're Going to Play College Ball...

How many of you have your future planned out? If you were anything like me it probably sounds like this: After a stellar high school career, go on to play at a big time college, then represent your country in the Olympics before making a career playing professional basketball in front of thousands of adoring fans.

My dad always stressed the importance of grades so I also had planned in a couple of years at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar just like Dollar Bill Bradley of Crystal City, MO. Bradley went on to play at Princeton and then played for the Knicks when he returned from England. He went on to be a Senator from New Jersey and even attempted a run at the presidency. Kids, go to Google and check out Bill Bradley - excellent role model!

There is a reason high schools and colleges refer to kids as "student-athletes." Very few people are blessed to play a sport in college - especially for an NCAA institution - let alone make it to the professional ranks. Below are some statistics to help you keep things in perspective. Don't let it stop you from dreaming - just make sure you don't forget about the school work.

• Only 3% of high school seniors playing basketball will play at an NCAA school
• Approximately 1% of NCAA senior players will get drafted by the NBA or WNBA
• 5.7% of high school senior boys will play in the NCAA
• Only 1.8% of NCAA Seniors will be drafted by the NFL

So what does it mean? Only 0.08% of high school seniors will eventually be drafted by the NFL and only 0.03% of high school seniors will eventually be drafted by the NBA.
Bottom line is that dreaming is a great thing to do and I strongly encourage for kids to set their goals high but don't forget to work on your grades - just in case you change your dream to making a difference versus playing a game!