College stars just passing through

It’s a long time since the NCAA saw young players like these, which is why a Sports Illustrated cover proclaimed it “the year of the freshman.”

Of course, this sets the stage for next season, “the year of the freshman, Part II.”

They’ll all be the years of the freshmen from now on, or “the One and Done Tango,” if history and present indications are any guide, because most or all will go straight into the NBA draft.

Actually, the fact that Greg Oden and Kevin Durant saw a day of college is a gift from the NBA, which finally succeeded in raising its age rule with no help from the NCAA, which declined to become involved long ago.

Happily for the NCAA, the first freshman class to be affected was one of the all-timers.

Unhappily, the age was moved only from 18 to 19 because that was all the NBA Players Assn. would go for.

From the league’s standpoint, it’s better than nothing.

From the schools’ standpoint, they’re really going to hate Act II of this play in which their young stars flee en masse.

You could look at this as just business, if you’re comfortable with grown-ups throwing millions of dollars or guilt trips at teenagers, who may be no more ready for fame than Britney Spears.

Personally, I’m with Texas Tech Coach Bob Knight, who called the new system “the worst thing that’s happened to college basketball since I’ve been coaching.”

Having been responsible for one or two of the previous worst things, Knight knows what he’s talking about.

What the NCAA sees as a contest between Education (them) and Greed (NBA) is just a turf war among two billion-dollar enterprises and one millionaires’ union, leaving the young people who are their lifeblood to be exploited and pawed over.

Oden arrived at Ohio State as part of Coach Thad Matta’s “Thad Five,” which included Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook, who are also projected as first-round picks.

All three could leave, and Ohio State, which looked like a rising juggernaut, could be down to the “Thad Two.”

Low-key Oden said he’d have attended school without an age rule, leading to speculation he might stay, but breaking his wrist appears to have changed things.

As if to confirm speculation Oden will turn pro, the Indianapolis Star just reported that Mike Conley Sr., the former Olympian who serves as Oden’s advisor, is setting up his own agency, the Mac Management Group.

Texas Coach Rick Barnes was so confident Durant would stay when the season ended, he bet a friend a steak dinner on it. By last week Barnes was down to “50-50.”

Suggesting the Longhorns’ dismay at what they found themselves up against, one of them -- “a source with the Texas basketball team” -- told the Dallas Morning News that Kobe Bryant called Durant to relay Nike’s offer of $30 million to $50 million.

Bryant denied it, but his involvement is beside the point. If Nike wants to pay that much, which wouldn’t be out of profile, it won’t have trouble getting word to Durant.

Taras Brown, the AAU coach whom Durant calls his godfather, told the Morning News that Durant wants to stay, but if he goes, it will be because “the shoe companies will make ... an offer where it’s impossible not to go.”

Meanwhile, at last week’s McDonald’s All-American Game in Louisville, the next class of the One and Done Generation was watching with (ka-ching!) interest.

UCLA-bound Kevin Love, one of the top-ranked players and a friend of Durant, told ESPN’s Pat Forde, “He doesn’t know what he wants to do yet.

“I told him, ‘The only thing you can do is go down or get hurt so you might as well go.’ ”

Two more freshmen, Brandan Wright of North Carolina and Spencer Hawes of Washington, have yet to say what they’ll do. Both are projected as lottery picks.

In baseball and football, college players must stay three years before they can be drafted (baseball players are also eligible coming out of high school).

Basketball prodigies have more impact, are worth more and deserve protection they don’t get in this system in which everyone must go to school.

(Sweetheart that he is, Oden is taking two courses, Sociology 101 and History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.)

In a plan NBA Commissioner David Stern couldn’t interest the NCAA in 10 years ago, an 18-year-old could enter the draft at the prevailing scale ($8 million for two years if he’s the No. 1 pick).

However, to keep from luring teens early -- as the rookie wage scale did -- the four-year countdown to free agency wouldn’t start until they turn 21.

The NBA would have gotten tremendous cost control, not to mention the publicity bonus that comes with three-year college stars.

The NCAA would have gotten the players who choose to attend for three years. The players would have gotten options they’ve never had.

In real terms, no one can control the Nike Menace, the NCAA is helpless (President Myles Brand just told the Boston Globe he’d like more years “if I had a vote -- and I told you that I don’t”), the union is opposed and no one worries about the kids, including the kids and their parents.

Whatever you think of this farce, it’s the only one we’ve got.

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