Let me start making my analogy. Just as Monty Burns brings major league ballplayers to the power plant for their skills in the field rather than their industrial expertise, most universities bring in blue-chip football and basketball players for their athletic ability rather than for their academic ability. In essence, scholarship athletes in the major-revenue sports come to universities as ringers. The latter type of the student-athlete isn't getting paid enough. When athletes come to a university merely to prepare for a professional athletic career, there is no reason to stay longer than necessary.
Universities pay athletes nothing to play, and on top of that, they make athletes go to classes.
Meanwhile, professional teams dole out millions to players, because that is how much revenue these same players generate. What I'm saying here is that student-athletes, just like any other ringers, shouldn't feel compelled to stay in school if they're not being adequately compensated. And it is up to each individual player to decide whether he is being adequately compensated. Someone who values a college degree or the college experience might think a four-year scholarship is easily worth his work on the basketball court or football field. To say that, is to say that all people should assign a high value to a college degree and the college experience, which isn't fair to say.