For some reason, the Knight Commission meetings always make me think of a group of older people sitting around a mahogany table, sipping wine and speaking in snooty British accents. A couple of the men wear fedoras. At the end, they all congratulate each other on their great ideas and go home.

Now, I know this is not true, but the Knight Commission — a watchdog group which seeks reform in college sports — can sometimes make the obvious assessment when there’s no real solution.

Like, for instance, they noted all the recruiting websites contacting high school football prospects is a bit creepy, but what are you going to do? And, yeah, eighth graders committing to college basketball coaches does seem a bit odd, but you aren’t going to stop someone from giving a verbal commitment. And so on.

Here’s the latest from its recent meeting: the college basketball season is too long. Players are missing too many classes. There are too many road trips.

That is probably true. Basketball is a rare two-semester sport, putting pressure on the players for the entire school year. Practice starts in October and the season ends, for some teams, in April with maybe one break for Christmas in between.

“There are too many games and too many road trips, and the grades of these athletes show the consequences,” said William E. Kirwan, Knight Commission Co-Chairman and Chancellor of the University System of Maryland. “Let’s adopt a schedule that is in the best interest of the athletes, not the TV programmers.”

That sounds poetic. But here’s a pesky little problem: reality. The NCAA’s contract with CBS to televise the NCAA basketball tournament is six (cue Dr. Evil voice) billion dollars. I don’t care if you’re a zillionaire oil magnate in Dubai and owner of an underwater hotel made out of ice, and little dolphins carry visitors to their rooms. That’s a lot of money.

You’re not moving back the NCAA tournament, which leads perfectly into the Masters for CBS.

“Us coaches have talked about making it a one-semester sport for many years. I think it’s great conversation. I think it does make some sense. But you’ll never see it happen,” said University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach John Shulman, making the most sense of all.

Shulman is a realist. Yes, all the road trips detract from study time, especially for a UTC team that often takes the bus when the bigger schools fly charters. If the Mocs play at UNC-Greensboro, they’ll get back at 5 in the morning and the coaches still make the kids go to class. And I’m sure they’re listening attentively to the professor and zzzzzzzzz.

“How productive can you be?” Shulman said.

But Shulman understands money. The obvious move, since pushing back the season is not happening, is starting the season later. Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt pitched the idea to the Knight Commission, saying, “I think about seven of the 10 coaches I talk to are advocating shortening the season and pushing back the start of practice. Coaches say, ‘I used to start the season around Thanksgiving, and now I’m opening Nov. 9.’ It’s too early.”

Again, reality kind of messes up all the plans here. Remember when the two “preseason” tournaments were held in Hawaii and Alaska? Now, Shulman estimates, there are “30-to-40” exempt tournaments. UTC will play in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff this season on ESPN, which is getting heavily involved in these preseason tournaments. That means more money involved and more reasons not to start the season later.

The Knight Commission takes up a noble cause here, but there’s too much cash at stake. So Shulman will continue preaching about education, get his kids to study on the bus and hold study halls on the road.

“A shorter season? I don’t know. These kids come here to play ball. That’s what they’re dying to do,” Shulman said. “But they’re also coming here to get a degree. You can preach studying, but they know if they don’t make grades they can’t play. That ball dictates a lot.”

Don’t we know it.

E-mail Darren Epps at depps@timesfreepress.com

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