Courting corruption

Acommission charged with cleaning up the Superfund site that is college basketball issued some strong reform proposals last week. But the NCAA panel, led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, stopped shy of urging the true overhaul necessary to return integrity to the sport.

The crux of the problem remains that big-time college basketball — while pretending to function in the best interest of student-athletes — actually operates as a minor league for a billion-dollar pro league, with students nothing but cogs in the machine.

The result is a sport seven feet deep in scandal. Late last year, the feds handed down a stunning indictment of coaches, alleging elaborate bribery schemes that steered players to certain schools in return for illicit cash from shoe companies and agents.

Rice’s commission smartly calls for ending the sport’s one-and-done rule, by which the NBA blocks players from declaring for its draft until they complete one year of college. It’s paternalistic nonsense that encourages colleges to rent players for a year — making a mockery of academics.

It also recommends letting players hire agents to serve in advisory roles, so they can find out whether college or the pros would be the best option. While risky, this could help rebalance the scales of power.

And demanding that student athletes complete actual, not fake, coursework.

Meantime, the commission calls for harsher penalties on cheating coaches and programs. Long overdue.

Alas, the proposals fail to attack the game’s three biggest problems: money, money and money.

No one can wave a wand and make college basketball unpopular; viewers want to tune in, which means networks will pay billions for rights, which means cash will slosh about.

But colleges can and must demand that a far larger percentage of the millions go toward scholarships to ensure underprivileged kids get a real education.

They can and must let student-athletes market themselves off the court on YouTube and the like, profiting in ways any other student can. That above-board cash will reduce the lopsided power of agents and shoe companies.

And they can and must end the era of the coaching gods. In 39 states, the highest-paid public employee is either a football or a men’s basketball coach. That’s obscene.

Take those steps, and watch the swamp slowly begin to drain.