Pitino: College basketball should have salary cap

St. John's head coach Rick Pitino suggested Thursday that college basketball conferences should adopt salary caps and replace letters of intent with two-year contracts in an effort to "preserve our great game."

"For basketball, have all the Power 5 (and) Big East Conference commissioners get together and create a salary cap between ($1.5 million and $2 million)," Pitino tweeted Tuesday. "All other conferences establish their own salary cap. I would never exclude anyone from the NCAA Tournament."

In a separate post, the 71-year-old called college players "professional athletes" and said, "The NCAA should be taken out of the equation."

"Do away with letters of intent. Make athletes sign a two-year binding contract," Pitino suggested.

This statement comes on the heels of the National Labour Relations Board's ruling Monday that players on Dartmouth's men's basketball team should be considered school employees, making them eligible to form a union.

Dartmouth is part of the Ivy League, which does not grant athletic scholarships. Unionizing would allow players to collectively bargain with their respective schools over pay and working conditions.

After the ruling, Pitino joked that he couldn't have extra shooting practice with his players as "they had reached their 20 hours for the week."