Remember Brandon Jennings, the top-rated high school recruit who signed with a European team instead of attending college at Arizona? The guy who was going to be the trendsetter in spurning college, bolting to Europe for a one-year payday and then coming back when eligible for the NBA Draft? Yeah, things aren't going too well for him over there.

Jennings, who is playing for the Italian team Lottomatica Virtus Roma, told the New York Times:

"I've gotten paid on time once this year. They treat me like I'm a little kid. They don't see me as a man. If you get on a good team, you might not play a lot. Some nights you'll play a lot; some nights you won't play at all. That's just how it is."

The only thing that's inherently surprising in that quote is how surprised Jennings seems about his situation. Take away the late paycheck and that quote could have been delivered by any high school kid that jumped to the NBA. So why would Europe have been any different?

Jennings may be unhappy with his role (defensive specialist) and playing time, but the story doesn't end here. While the predictable hardships Jennings has faced are disappointing to him, he's still 19 years old, getting paid $1.2 million and is predicted to be taken in the lottery of June's NBA Draft. In short, Brandon Jennings' European experiment might end up being a relative success. But will it encourage others to make the same leap?

Probably not. Between Jennings' warnings, the difficulty of improving draft stock in Europe and the lack of novelty to get media attention (there won't be articles in The New York Times about the second high school kid to play in Italy), expect high school stars to stay stateside and play in college. The goal of high school ballers isn't to get paid to play basketball, it's to get paid to play basketball in the NBA. Nobody in the U.S. dreams of suiting up for a second-division team in Spain.

Also, the Times fails to mention two key factors in Jennings' decision: the fact fact that he wasn't academically eligible to play in college when he turned pro and the chaos in the Arizona basketball program. Reports indicate that the Arizona recruit was awaiting the results of his third SAT test when he signed his professional contract, something that makes him less of a trailblazer and more of an 18-year old painted into a corner. Since almost every other high school star becomes academically eligible to play NCAA basketball, they probably won't feel forced to take their game overseas. 

Photo: Getty Images