I think it's just the need to complete the playing career in 5 years that would limit Kofi. As I understand it, Bediako is under that threshold.
College Sports (Basketball)
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hooraybeer
- Peoria, IL
doesn’t this at least temporarily open the door for any player that enrolled in college in 2021 or later and then entered the draft but never played in the NBA to come back to college?This seems like a potentially monumental decision. The only potential saving grace is the 5 years of eligibility rule otherwise all bets are off.
Charles Bediako gets TRO for Alabama return in NCAA lawsuit
Charles Bediako, a former Alabama standout who entered the NBA draft in 2023, has been granted a temporary restraining order to return to the team, a judge ruled Wednesday.www.espn.com
hooraybeer
- Peoria, IL
ahh okay. i bet there is a very impressive list of early entrants over the past couple years that ended up not playing in the NBA though…
blackdog
- Champaign
It potentially opens the door for ANYONE still in their 5 year windows to come back to college
you're right...and who knows. If Bediako ends up winning his case, maybe Kofi is the next plaintiff to go after the NCAA and then argue that the 5 year rule shouldn't be a thing.
They need a change of venue. Every homer judge the country is granting their hometown team's boys eligibility.
I am a fan of the UConn AD.
UConn AD David Benedict told ESPN's Pete Thamel that he's imploring Baker and the NCAA to take a stand in eligibility cases where there are NCAA rules being circumvented by a judge's ruling.
"If legally we can't control or impose NCAA rules in terms of who can play and who can't, based on a legal decision, the NCAA still has the right to determine what games count toward the NCAA tournament. And what games don't count," Benedict said.
"The NCAA has deemed [Bediako] ineligible. Fine, he can play [on a judge's ruling]. It doesn't mean the games need to count toward the NCAA tournament. Otherwise, throw away the rule book and set it on fire. There are no rules."
This would be an insane decision.This seems like a potentially monumental decision. The only potential saving grace is the 5 years of eligibility rule otherwise all bets are off.
Charles Bediako gets TRO for Alabama return in NCAA lawsuit
Charles Bediako, a former Alabama standout who entered the NBA draft in 2023, has been granted a temporary restraining order to return to the team, a judge ruled Wednesday.
But I guess if Bediako can play we may as well get Kofi enrolled in an 8 week spring semester course. He has a covid year so would to cancel our one of them so would technically still fit the 5 years to play 4 rule and he never played in the NBA.
1m4tr
Cliffmas
Yeah why five years? Seems like an arbitrary number to me.
blackdog
- Champaign
Kofi began his career in 2019 so his 5 year window is closed.
Ultimately it begins with the head coach of that program. That program must be awfully desperate to bring a guy back into their program. You can find any rogue judge to grant a player eligible so I Agree with what the UCONN AD stated.
Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
Once upon a time, there was an association between being a college student and college athletics. As most students graduated within 4 years of matriculation, colleges figured that student athletes should have four years of eligibility. Later, the red shirt year was added to give students another year to play in the event of an injury. Alas, those days are gone - the NCAA dragon has been slayed, the frog was roasted on a spit, the princess was knocked up by a serf, and the prince transferred five times in four years and is being sued for breach of contract.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Challenge the 5 year window in court. Get a temporary injunction. Start Kofi at Purdue.
This is so dumb. I hope the NCAA or Congress or whoever figures out a way to set some rules that stick..
blackdog
- Champaign
Challenge the 5 year window in court. Get a temporary injunction. Start Kofi at Purdue.
As we learned tonight he's allowed 3 flagrants before an election and he's got big elbows.
This is indeed the eventuality that seemed clear as day years ago as the direction this would go.
The NCAA has made exceptions to their rules regarding eligibility and years of eligibility in granting additional years that legally come off as arbitrary. And now the NCAA based on their NIL decision and eligibility to overseas players have made decisions that call into question the definition of "professional".
Legally, I didn't think the NCAA had a leg to stand on 2 years ago, and they have even less of one now. Once the legal challenge is made the additional walls will crumble regarding years of eligibility and professional status of player. And that’s because eligibility is no longer tied to age or years in college. And professionalism is no longer tied to payment or salary. At least legally speaking.
I also don't think the NCAA has a right to exclude a team or player from postseason play as it will ultimately either be challenged as defying a court order by attempting to get around the intention of the ruling or discriminatory.
It's over. But hey, getting to see Kofi suit up in the orange and blue again will go a long way to keeping my mind off this.
The last part about the NCAA having final say about who goes to the tournament and who doesn't is interesting.
If a team gets several former players or NBA guys, and the NCAA says that's fine, but no NCAA tournament, how can that be fought? It's an invitational tournament. You aren't guaranteed a spot and you can't sue because you were off the bubble.
At this point the NCAA should close shop and rebuild. This is a slow death march to obscurity and obsolescence. I'm mostly fine with that, but the lines are beyond blurred at this point.
I like 5 in 5 because it's clean and removes all exemptions and waivers which have opportunities for bias.
If the NCAA says you can play, but we will change the tournament rules for your team, that sounds like contempt of court to me.
I think if the school agrees to the NCAA and informs the players that they are accepting no postseason play and then the players sign anyway, I agree with you. But I have a difficult time seeing any chance of that happening in which case the NCAA is punishing a player and team for legally fielding players who have broken no rules. The players and school will challenge and file an injunction that they should be eligible for everything any other legal player team should be eligible for including NCAA tournament eligibility, and that'll be that.
Outside of that, I agree with you. NCAA probably needs to be torn down and replaced with very strict and clear rules, but that'd be a nightmare in it of itself and I'm not sure how they'd get around the same legal issues. Not sure what can really be done at this point.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
What a Pandora’s box that would open though. At some point the schools could just send their 68 best teams to The Crown or another new tournament. Same format, same teams, different name. Would the NCAA risk its cash cow? This is essentially what turned the NIT from the preeminent college basketball tournament to a postseason afterthought.
I don’t even think you need to challenge the 5 year window - just ignore it. The NCAA also has a rule you can’t have played in college and signed an NBA contract and come back but the judge ignored both of those rules allowing the TROChallenge the 5 year window in court. Get a temporary injunction. Start Kofi at Purdue.
100% it would be a mess. Right now it's being done by a thousand papercuts. Eventually they will have have no bark to go along with their increasing lack of bite and it will be a bigger mess.
If I told you three years ago that a former NBA player was now eligible to play, you'd never have believed me. What's the equivalent to this three years from now? NCAA variant? Private equity? Super conferences?
Also, I know the NCAA tournament is probably the best sporting spectacle outside of the world cup and super bowl, but how hard is it for another company to get investors and host their own tournament? If you can disrupt the tournament, that will be the final blow for the NCAA.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I just feel like saying out loud that guys who went pro in hopes of an NBA career, failing to catch on, and thereby having their eligibility permanently extinguished and forced into fly-by-night European careers they didn't even want always seemed like the single most unjust part of the NCAA eligibility framework.
It creates a big timing problem because college programs need to know their rosters before the draft happens. I don't know how to solve for that. But it is horribly unjust to put kids in a position where they make one bad decision and they are stuck in a purgatory where the NBA doesn't want them and college won't have them.
It creates a big timing problem because college programs need to know their rosters before the draft happens. I don't know how to solve for that. But it is horribly unjust to put kids in a position where they make one bad decision and they are stuck in a purgatory where the NBA doesn't want them and college won't have them.
sbillini
- st petersburg, fl
Doesn’t that type of trade off decision making happen every day? You’re looking for a job and you decide to pass on it and then you get laid off your current job. Most the time you can’t go back to the original offer. Even if the spot is still there, the employer probably won’t even want you. Is that inherently unfair? It’s a risk you need to decide if you want to take.
Doesn’t seem that different here. Yes there’s a piece of the ncaa eligibility that’s arbitrary, but in the flip side, some high school senior isn’t going to get a chance. Is that fair to him?
This is a fact. If they find a way for that for that to get screwed up, it's over.
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