It's easy to understand why people worry about the health of Division I men's basketball. It's the flagship sport at most member institutions, and revenues generated from the CBS television contract for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship are crucial to an Association committed to providing a wide range of benefits to schools.

So, when visible young stars in the sport skip out of college to turn pro, or when a coach or student-athlete's off-court behavior generates damaging publicity, people in college athletics aren't inclined to shrug it off. In fact, they literally can't afford to ignore any problems that arise.

As a result, people who currently hold or previously have held key roles in overseeing college basketball can suggest a long list of issues -- real or potential -- to worry about.

But they also take a lot of comfort from the likelihood that college basketball is as strong a game today as ever, despite recent challenges.

"In many ways I believe it's stronger than it's ever been," said NCAA Executive Vice-President Tom Jernstedt, who has overseen development of the basketball championship since 1973 from a 25- to 65-team field, been present through a series of crucial negotiations over television contracts, and maintains relationships between the Association and such important membership constituencies as conference commissioners, institutional athletics administrators and coaches.

"Kids at the grass-roots level follow the game at all levels on television -- they hear about it and watch it -- and that has been a very important factor in the game's growth," Jernstedt said. "The fact that the game is inexpensive -- it's played in barnyards and in urban areas, and all you need is a rubber basketball and an iron ring with a wire or nylon net, or a peach basket, as it was when the game was invented -- and it's easy to play; that's also helped the game evolve."

"Coaching is outstanding; we have a lot of quality coaches in the game today," said C. M. Newton, retired director of athletics at the University of Kentucky and a former chair of the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules and Division I Men's Basketball Committees, and currently a consultant to the Southeastern Conference. "And there are a lot of really skilled and fine athletes in the game today.

"The NCAA tournament is such a unique event. It brings together the best teams from all different levels -- the mid-majors, the very high-profile conferences, all of those -- and turns them loose with a single bullet in the gun. You lose, you're gone. And that is very exciting to fans, it's exciting to the media -- it's exciting to everyone."

Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said that several factors have contributed to a greater talent pool.

"More student-athletes are selecting to play basketball, they're better coached and have better exposure," said Haney, who also notes that a series of scholarship reductions have played a role by spreading that talent around to more schools.

"The game is better off today," Haney said. "I don't agree with some of the legislation -- for example, the 'five/eight rule' (limiting the number of new scholarships that can be awarded annually), which I think has gone too far -- but I think that where we are today has created a more competitive environment, and therefore greater interest."

And, while administrators such as Jernstedt, Newton and Haney serve as the stewards of the game, student-athletes still play the most crucial role of all. One administrator takes comfort in his belief that, even as society changes and college sports grow bigger, student-athletes really aren't changing much at all.

"I don't things have changed as much as people like to think they have," said Lee Fowler, director of athletics at North Carolina State University and chair of the Division I Men's Basketball Issues Committee, which is developing into a key sounding board for current affairs. "We read about the very few who leave college early to turn professional, but the majority of student-athletes are still in school and playing, and the game is healthy. That's what we need to be selling, rather than worrying about the one or two kids who may be using college basketball as a step to get to the pros; most are using it to get an education and go out and be successful business people, or doctors and lawyers."

Strengthening relationships

Still, that tendency to worry about the game's health is persistent -- and even the game's biggest boosters concede there is plenty to worry about.

"Walter Byers once was asked, during the year he retired (1987), 'With all the experience you have with the NCAA, what is your biggest fear or concern about sports in general in the years ahead?'" Jernstedt recalled. "Walter's answer was gambling; there is nothing that would destroy the fabric and the integrity of the game more quickly."

Indeed, many of today's concerns about the game relate to maintaining integrity -- and the consequences of losing it.

"When you ask people to pay a significant amount of money to go to a game, they're going to make a choice," Haney said. "They're going to look at the cast of characters they're going to see, and support. If they don't believe that the game has integrity, if there's cheating going on, it undermines the perception of the game."

That concern motivated the NABC to call last fall's mandatory summit for Division I coaches after a series of incidents that generated negative publicity for the coaching profession.

"While the pro game is identified by the players, in the college game, the constant is the coach," Haney said. "So the image of the coach is going to affect the image of the game, and we have to ensure that the credibility of the coach is strong."

Haney believes the NABC summit not only reinforced that message with its members, but also was an important step in the organization's continuing efforts to be an active participant -- in fact, an active partner with the NCAA membership -- in reform efforts.

"I think the NABC board, and some of its positions and actions coming out of the problems of last summer, were met with respect and appreciation for the association taking action," Haney said. "I think they (the NCAA) believe we care and we want to raise the standards."

The NABC appears to be building a stronger relationship with the NCAA than ever before -- a big step from an NCAA Convention during the early 1990s when Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski made an appearance to speak against a proposed reduction in scholarships and was openly ridiculed by some delegates.

"In the past year or so, there's been a sort of evolution," Haney said. "I think we're closer now to working in a more harmonious way, a more unified way, with the NCAA. I think there is a level of trust that is building -- the input coaches are providing is worthy and can be trusted and cannot be slanted toward a position that, 'Well, if the NABC is supporting it, there must be some weird thing they're trying to accomplish.' "

Working to resolve issues

For its part, the NCAA also is reaching out more often -- and more formally -- to coaches and other constituencies in college basketball.

NCAA President Myles Brand personally has solicited input from NABC representatives on various issues. The basketball issues committee chaired by Fowler also is developing as an important channel of communication. Its members include administrators, coaches and student-athletes.

"It's in kind of an evolutionary stage," Fowler said. "Right now we're dealing more with issues where coaches or staff seem to think there has been a rule change and it can't work, and we need to try to find some way to make it work. It's everything from recruiting AAU teams to dealing with how many weeks we should be recruiting.

"I think a few people on the committee, early on, thought we were really going to be involved in new legislation, and we haven't been, so far. But I've been happy with the way it's evolving. More and more people seem to think we're the place where some things can be resolved, and hopefully, that's what we're there for."

A few concerns surrounding college basketball stem directly from restrictions imposed by NCAA legislation. Fowler himself suggests that limitations on recruiting and contact with prospective student-athletes, designed to protect prospects from excessive interaction with coaches, have had unintended consequences.

"I think we're losing a little bit of touch with high-school administrators and coaches," he said. "Where that started, I don't know, but the AAU has gotten a lot more control of athletes. I think sometimes it's because we've legislated some things, like coaches can't go and see kids, or can do it only at certain times of the year, and coaches aren't going to be with them during the summer.

"As we've tried to make sure people aren't doing things the wrong way, we've probably isolated ourselves a little bit too much from high-school student-athletes. A lot of times, coaches and student-athletes don't get to know each other well enough in the recruiting process, because it's limited -- it's a birds-eye view of five schools, and then you pick one and it isn't what you thought."

Other observers' concerns stem from circumstances that are more structural. Newton, for example, worries that college basketball is overexposed on television, possibly causing fans to become more passive in attending games. He particularly fears that student attendance at games is dropping, potentially decreasing the game's future fan base.

He also worries that the business demands on institutions playing Division I basketball create an environment in which "bottom-line" decisions sometimes take precedence over doing things in the best interests of student-athletes.

Newton suggests creativity in solving problems.

"If I were the commissioner, the dictator, and could make one change in college basketball, the one thing I would do would be to move (basketball) into the second semester and make it a one-semester sport," he said. "I think that would answer most of the problems and issues that we've got right now, especially related to academics. Start the season any time after final exams. Before a youngster can play, he would have to satisfactorily complete the first semester."

Newton also suggests his approach would eliminate competition between college basketball and football for fan support late in the fall semester, and address some financial concerns. He believes there may be enough interest in such a concept to at least generate discussion about it sometime in the near future.