Stanford should follow the University of Chicago's lead and get rid of school-sponsored athletics. President Hennessy recently called for an increased undergraduate population in an editorial in the Stanford Magazine. Too few deserving students are able to benefit from the quality of a Stanford education under the current arrangements, he argued. Instead of expanding the freshman class, let's stop admitting academically-unqualified athletes and give their seats to students who would take Stanford's academic program seriously.

Mr. Lopez obviously doesn't have any intention of earning a degree at Stanford. He is here to increase his earning power when he goes to the NBA. If you were not planning to finish a degree, you wouldn't work very hard on your studies, would you? This is a general problem with college basketball in the power conferences, as many top players are living a lie in which they pretend to be students when their minds are elsewhere. I think Stanford has to make a difficult choice about whether it wants to be rigorous in upholding academic standards, or whether it wants to compete with the best in high profile sports such as basketball. I agree that academically unqualified students should not be admitted into Stanford just to bounce a ball. And Stanford can do very well in many sports without admitting them. Basketball will be tough, but even there Mike Montgomery's 1998 team had a 30-5 record and a Final Four berth despite not having any players with as much raw talent as Brook Lopez. But we'll probably have to accept that we won't be winning men's basketball games against the likes of Duke, Arizona, and UCLA with our normal admissions requirements.

It also seems that things are not in good shape with the basketball team. Yes, Lopez deserves the blame for not performing well enough to be eligible. But I also see a general lack of discipline on the team since Trent Johnson took over in 2004. We lost Tim Morris to Washington after he became academically ineligible in 2005, and guess who was the coach when that happened. The academic problems are just one symptom of the overall lack of leadership from Trent. It's been bad decisions, poor judgment, and inconsistent execution and effort for the past few years. Mike Montgomery was about commitment and always giving your best. One of the advantages of coaching at an academically selective institution like Stanford is that the students tend to be more disciplined and committed to overachieving. Montgomery understood that and used it to his advantage. Trent Johnson obviously doesn't get it.

BALLIN`!!!!!!!!!!

I hope his suid is Blopez.