Crazies Corner

Forget David Stern. The biggest winners in the NBA’s age limit debate are college basketball coaches, who can once again recruit top talent with the security that their players will actually set foot on campus. The new guarantee that high school players must wait a year before entering the draft will restore intensity to recruiting battles for players like the Class of 2006’s OJ Mayo from Ohio, who likely would have headed straight to the NBA without an age limit.

Burned once by current Los Angeles Clipper Shaun Livingston, Mike Krzyzewski will have fewer qualms pursuing players like Nashville, Tennessee superstar Brandan Wright, one of the nation's top three rising seniors. And although the Blue Devils will continue to focus on recruiting long-term players, those likely to remain in Durham for three or four years, Krzyzewski—and the rest of the nation's coaches—will be less reluctant to shoot for the 17-year-old stars in the future.