Entering his freshman season at Duke as a consensus 5-star recruit and the best high school basketball player in Wisconsin, Jalen Johnson had eyes on him from the beginning. So it was all the more surprising when, just 13 games later, he was off the team. Citing COVID-19 concerns and a desire to prepare for the NBA Draft, Johnson announced his departure from Duke on February 15. Immediately, he was met with a firestorm of criticism from NCAA journalists and coaches, with claims that he “quit” on his team during a disappointing 5-8 season. These commenters publicly attacked a college student for making a decision he deemed best for his future and in doing so, continued the long trend of dehumanization that NCAA athletes face in the eyes of the media. The aftermath of Johnson’s decision exemplified the toxic ways in which the media views players as tools rather than independent young people. 

Duke, a respected blue blood program, had an unusually lackluster season and did not even get a bid to play in March Madness. While initially startling, Duke’s disappointing fate was basically a certainty by the time Johnson decided to leave the program. He was not abandoning a team on the cusp of greatness or ruining his teammates’ chances at a championship. He was leaving the worst Duke team since 1995. Jalen Johnson was risking his health and future career every time he stepped on the court—all for a team which was never supposed to be more than a one year stop on the way to the NBA in a practically decided season. Johnson is expected to give his full loyalty to Duke, but Duke, and the basketball community that surrounds it, is not protective of him. While players are smeared for “abandoning” their team, schools refuse compensation to athletes and even bar them from making money from their own image. These institutions provide their players with the bare minimum and require unconditional support in return, a lopsided deal which hurts student athletes.

Never is the NCAA scrutinized more than in the month of March. It is quite possibly the only time where one sports event dominates the national psyche for multiple weeks, and not a single player on the court receives a paycheck. Even the fans are making more money than the players. Dorm bracket pools, sports betting, and the NCAA’s huge advertising revenue all make this tournament a massive financial event—that is, for everyone except the people who actually play the games. The NCAA made over a billion dollars during March Madness in 2019. Coaches regularly make over a million dollars per year, with the highest paid raking in over $8 million. And while coaches and branding are important, they aren’t what bring in the dough. People don’t flock to the TV to watch a coach call a play, and no one is betting on what companies the NCAA partnered with this year. It is the players that create this revenue, and it is the players who are the only ones not sharing in the spoils. 

COVID-19 makes this March even more tumultuous, with NCAA Basketball players being asked to gamble their health on behalf of their schools. I know this sacrifice is understandable to many and that leading your team on a run into deep March is the stuff of dreams. Still, this does not make the danger they are being asked to face any less real or daunting. These young adults are in a bubble, seperated from friends and family….for free! With VCU being ejected from the first round due to COVID-19 protocols, danger is lurking just beneath the surface for these teams. Jalen Johnson’s treatment makes it clear that this threat is expected to be met with stoic acceptance by students, ignoring the ongoing, daily threat in order to keep the all-important NCAA machine running smoothly. For the players that are okay taking this risk, great. But scolding the players who aren’t and calling them quitters is unacceptable. 

The treatment of college athletes across all sports has been a hot button issue for years, but this year the situation reached a boiling point. With COVID-19 providing new and daily threats to player safety and the NCAA’s ongoing billion dollar tournament, player safety should be the first thing on everyone’s mind. The NCAA is a non-profit organization in charge of overseeing college athletics. Their foremost responsibility lies with students, not universities or advertisers. That’s why the media reaction to Johnson’s decision to leave Duke was so jarring and unacceptable. In any given year NCAA athletes are asked to give something up in return for very little, but this year, the deal is more lopsided than ever. COVID-19 amplified the danger already faced by players, and sports writers not taking this into account shows a lack of understanding towards the NCAA system they are tasked with covering.