Just labeling something "super" doesn't make it so. And turning it into a big event, broadcasted on national television, doesn't render it relevant. Yes, somebody hears the tree falling in the forest, but does it follow that the sound it makes is important?

On Thursday, Major League Soccer conducts its annual SuperDraft of college players and some young foreign signings. But with every year that passes, the question of whether the draft is worthwhile or even useful becomes more urgent.

The league's own rapid development has relegated its primary talent distribution mechanism to an afterthought. Some years ago, MLS made its clubs open their own youth academies. They dutifully did and then began investing significantly. And that's where the best young talent now emerges from – not the college game. And when the late-bloomers do spend a few years in the collegiate game, their rights are often already controlled by an MLS team because they were registered to their academies at some point.

View photos Jordan Morris, college soccer's biggest prize, won't be available in the SuperDraft. (Getty Images) More

Case in point: Jordan Morris, the biggest prize to emerge from the college game in years, if not decades. He's a full U.S. national teamer with seven caps and is apparently also being pursued by Werder Bremen of the German Bundesliga. Morris won't be in Thursday's draft. His rights are controlled by the Seattle Sounders, which has offered him a homegrown contract, the typical method for picking the fruit of your development labor.

This is how it goes now. The real talents are either signed out of high school through the academy, or, if they're not quite ready, brought back as "homegrowns" after a year or two in college. (Save for Morris, a total aberration, none of the upperclassmen who come out of the NCAA seem to be serious prospects.)

The notable exception was Cyle Larin, a Canadian striker who didn't manage to stick after several training stints in Europe, committed to the University Connecticut, stayed for two years and broke the MLS rookie scoring record with expansion team Orlando City in 2015.

But Larin has been the most productive rookie in years – well, ever, actually. Most draft classes don't produce more than a small handful of players who get playing time straight away, and no more than a dozen or so who even have anything resembling a professional career.

View photos The SuperDraft is the centerpiece of the big yearly NSCAA coaches' convention. (AP Photo) More

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