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The Commission on College Basketball is a subcommittee of the NCAA that was formed last October "to fully examine critical aspects of Division I men’s basketball." It was formed after all the criticism arose from the FBI investigation that shined a light on the massive cheating by NCAA basketball programs. Condoleezza Rice was the committee chairman.
They released their long-awaited report this morning, which everyone expected would address how to deal with and prevent such cheating.
However, their report disappointed everyone. It basically rehashed a few older ideas, had no real solutions, and blamed the cheating problem on the schools, agents, and shoe companies, and claimed the NCAA was not to blame.
Summary of their report (my comments in parentheses)-
1. There is a lot of cheating going on, which hurts the sport (no kidding)
2. End the 19 year-old/one & done rule for the elite players (this makes sense)
3. Players, including high schoolers should be able to test the NBA draft and be allowed to return to college if undrafted
4. The NCAA should certify and regulate agents, and make them available to high school players to assist their decisions whether to go pro (not sure we want agents representing kids to go back to college)
5. Need to deal with allowing players to profit off name & likeness, but need legal clarification first, so no recommendations were made (huge cop out)
6. Harsher penalties for cheaters; They recommended a 5-year postseason ban for Level 1 violations (I don't see that happening to schools like Louisville, North Carolina, etc.) and ban individual cheaters for life.
7. Paying players is not the answer (this I agree with), but there should be a way for players to benefit from the use of their names or likenesses
8. The NCAA should outsource investigations of the most serious infractions cases (probably a good idea, because allowing the NCAA to investigate themselves if like the fox guarding the henhouse)
9. The NCAA should investigate the financing of non-NCAA events such as AAU, and summer events, and greater transparency regarding money from the shoe companies (not sure how the NCAA can investigate or regulate private businesses)
10. The rule requiring transfer students to sit out a year should remain intact (most people thought they would advise eliminating this rule)
11. And finally, the commission said the responsibility for keeping college basketball clean was the University Presidents' and Athletic personnel's job, and not the NCAA's job (This seems like the ultimate cop out)
The only recommendation that I think will help is to allow high school athletes to enter the NBA draft. That is not a new idea, but it would eliminate the bidding war by college coaches for the elite talent. It might be hard to get the top Power 5 schools to agree, since it will take a lot of their talent away from them.
In the end, it is the NBA's decision to make, not the NCAA's, so it is a rather meaningless recommendation.
They released their long-awaited report this morning, which everyone expected would address how to deal with and prevent such cheating.
However, their report disappointed everyone. It basically rehashed a few older ideas, had no real solutions, and blamed the cheating problem on the schools, agents, and shoe companies, and claimed the NCAA was not to blame.
Summary of their report (my comments in parentheses)-
1. There is a lot of cheating going on, which hurts the sport (no kidding)
2. End the 19 year-old/one & done rule for the elite players (this makes sense)
3. Players, including high schoolers should be able to test the NBA draft and be allowed to return to college if undrafted
4. The NCAA should certify and regulate agents, and make them available to high school players to assist their decisions whether to go pro (not sure we want agents representing kids to go back to college)
5. Need to deal with allowing players to profit off name & likeness, but need legal clarification first, so no recommendations were made (huge cop out)
6. Harsher penalties for cheaters; They recommended a 5-year postseason ban for Level 1 violations (I don't see that happening to schools like Louisville, North Carolina, etc.) and ban individual cheaters for life.
7. Paying players is not the answer (this I agree with), but there should be a way for players to benefit from the use of their names or likenesses
8. The NCAA should outsource investigations of the most serious infractions cases (probably a good idea, because allowing the NCAA to investigate themselves if like the fox guarding the henhouse)
9. The NCAA should investigate the financing of non-NCAA events such as AAU, and summer events, and greater transparency regarding money from the shoe companies (not sure how the NCAA can investigate or regulate private businesses)
10. The rule requiring transfer students to sit out a year should remain intact (most people thought they would advise eliminating this rule)
11. And finally, the commission said the responsibility for keeping college basketball clean was the University Presidents' and Athletic personnel's job, and not the NCAA's job (This seems like the ultimate cop out)
The only recommendation that I think will help is to allow high school athletes to enter the NBA draft. That is not a new idea, but it would eliminate the bidding war by college coaches for the elite talent. It might be hard to get the top Power 5 schools to agree, since it will take a lot of their talent away from them.
In the end, it is the NBA's decision to make, not the NCAA's, so it is a rather meaningless recommendation.
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