John Calipari supports lowering the age limit for players to enter the NBA draft

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John Calipari said the NBA's new proposal to lower the age limit for the NBA project to 18 years will change the college basketball for the better, if it is passed.

USA Today reported on Thursday that the NBA had formally proposed to change the minimum age required for the draft from 19 to 18 years, and Calipari said it would be "ecstatic" if this change implied that players who have come to the university stay longer.

John Calipari says that he is "100%" in favor of allowing players who complete high school to enter the NBA directly. AP Photo / Ted S. Warren

However, the The Kentucky coach also said that he opposed the "baseball rule" that would require players who choose college basketball to stay in school for two or three years. Players should have the right to leave when they are ready, he said, but those who go to university and give themselves the chance to leave after high school will probably remain for several seasons.

"We should not adopt a baseball rule," Calipari said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Auburn on Saturday. "If a kid goes to college and after a year or two wants to go to the NBA and that's good enough – and he grew up, he became taller, he had more confidence in him Let him go.Why would you now force a child But if they come to college, let me explain: very very few of them will be able to leave after a year or they would be gone. So now they're going to college, they're going to stay for two or three years, and you do not think I'm happy about that, I'd be ecstatic. "

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Calipari said the change would increase the level of experience at college basketball and that he was less "anxious" before the one – and – done era.

"This program has been special and will remain special whatever the rules, so I think it helps us," he said. "I'd love to train kids for three or four years." Do you make fun of me? That's what I did before. I think I was not so anxious. games with juniors and seniors aged 10-0. Timeout. "Come on guys. You know you're better than that. "Know where the game is going. And all of a sudden, you look up and we get up at 8 pm

He also mentioned Zion Williamson, who suffered a slight sprained knee 36 seconds after Wednesday's loss to North Carolina and destroyed his left shoe.

"The kid is so unusual: size, explosiveness, fast contraction," said Calipari. "I do not care what it was wearing.It's amazing that both shoes did not explode.

"What Nike will do with him, if he decides to leave with Nike, is that they would make him a special shoe," Calipari said. "I doubt they'll be able to do it because he's a college player." Now, they've done things with Karl Towns [narrow]so they had to do something special for him. "

Zion Williamson has not yet regained his status for Saturday after suffering a grade 1 sprain in his right knee against North Carolina. Streeter Lecka / Getty Images

Kentucky recently teamed up with Nike for an exclusive team coloring of its PG 2.5 shoe, the same model as Williamson. Nike's stock plunged the day after Williamson's injury, but Calipari said the shoe's make and model would not have mattered.

Williamson, averaging 21.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, is listed on a daily basis. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said he is "optimistic" about the candidate's status as a player of the year during his Thursday evening show on ESPNU radio before the match. Saturday against Syracuse.

If the NBA changes its rules and players like Williamson can become professional players after high school, Calipari said Kentucky would adapt.

"If they go out of high school and they can go directly to the NBA, get a rough draft and earn millions of dollars, I'm 100 percent," Calipari said. "Do not just depreciate education, do not just devalue it, do not just talk about basketball, what we do and how we do it is important."

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