The end of the college basketball season triggers a few of my favorite things.

You get the absurd pre-preseason polls for next season, news of coaches rotating between jobs and my favorite, numerous players making the exodus from college to the professional ranks.

All of the positioning ends in the most glorious of nights, NBA Draft night. It’s a night of ridiculous suits, random foreign players being interviewed and my favorite, NBA commissioner David Stern shaking hands with players who are at least a foot taller than him.

A player leaving early opens up so much fun debate among sports fans about whether or not he’s making the right decision.

When North Carolina forward Sean May hinted that he’d be staying for his senior season, May made headlines.

In each of these stories, there was a sense of admiration of May, a feeling like he should be applauded for doing the right thing.

Also, there are stories about players leaving early, leaving after one or two years. In these stories the tone is often different.

It seems like these players are vilified, considered greedy, selfish, delusional or all three.

People talk about how the need for an age limit in the NBA, about how these players bring along a lot of baggage or how they abused their time in school to better their NBA Draft stock.

In reality it’s fans that think players should stay in school when they can be first-round picks that are truly selfish, greedy and delusional.

These fans are greedy and selfish because they want to see college basketball keep its best players, in theory, producing the best possible games.

These fans fail to estimate the financial impact a NBA contract can have on someone, especially someone who doesn’t come from a lot of money.

Before we glorify May’s decision to stay in school, you have to look at his background. His father, Scott, played in the NBA during the late 70s and early 80s. I assume May’s decision, whether to enter the NBA or not, didn’t hinge on the need for income.

While it would be nice if all players stayed in college for four years, earned degrees and then went to the NBA, it’s just not realistic.

Players want to go to the next level. They want to test themselves against the world’s best. And they want to endorse gigantic NBA salary checks.

We shouldn’t fault them for that.

Dan Woike, a senior journalism major, is staying in school for his 6th year. Email him at [email protected] if you want to know how he’s resisted the lure of the NBA.