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NCAA at it again - freshmen ineligible in basketball ?
- Thread starter turtle
- Start date
It was just an idea floated by the Pac 12 coaches and chancellors about the "one and done" of freshmen basketball players.
I myself am fine with the one and done concept. I find it interesting that if Joe Smith, just a regular college freshman, drops out of school to take a job at Caterpillar, to work in the factory, nobody cares. But if a star basketball player does it to make millions of dollars, a lot of people think that is wrong. In my mind that's hypocritical. Nobody got all excited and thought it was wrong when Zac MacCallister went pro in baseball after his high school career. He has done quite well and appears to be a real role model.
I have never understood why people think it's wrong that players be allowed to leave after their freshmen year. I heard people say, "they're too young and don't know how to handle money and they'll wind up broke". Guess what, I know a lot of people that have gone to college and graduated, made good money, and still filed bankruptcy. Maybe they don't want them to leave because they enjoy watching them play basketball. Or maybe they don't want them to leave because they weren't good enough to have that opportunity.
I myself am fine with the one and done concept. I find it interesting that if Joe Smith, just a regular college freshman, drops out of school to take a job at Caterpillar, to work in the factory, nobody cares. But if a star basketball player does it to make millions of dollars, a lot of people think that is wrong. In my mind that's hypocritical. Nobody got all excited and thought it was wrong when Zac MacCallister went pro in baseball after his high school career. He has done quite well and appears to be a real role model.
I have never understood why people think it's wrong that players be allowed to leave after their freshmen year. I heard people say, "they're too young and don't know how to handle money and they'll wind up broke". Guess what, I know a lot of people that have gone to college and graduated, made good money, and still filed bankruptcy. Maybe they don't want them to leave because they enjoy watching them play basketball. Or maybe they don't want them to leave because they weren't good enough to have that opportunity.
I think they don't want them to leave because they're a part of the NCAA cash cow.
The NCAA has changed the freshman eligibility rule several times. The most recent change was done in an effort to create more parity in college basketball, and it has worked, as well as adjusting the amount of scholarships schools can give. The NCAA is going to make the same amount of money if freshmen are eligible or not. People are not going to stop watching games or the NCAA tournament if freshmen aren't eligible.
If the Power conferences feel such a new rule would hurt them more because they wouldn't get the one-and-done players, it could restart their plans to pull out of the NCAA. That would hurt the NCAA tremendously. I also wouldn't be surprised if the NBA changed their rule back to where 18-year old kids could be drafted, since they won't be going to college anyway.
The NCAA will soon be a thing of past or drastically changed. If the NCAA or schools from the Big 5 power conferences, eliminate freshmen eligibility for basketball players, there would be hundreds of lawsuits filed. Whey pick on basketball players "only"? It would have to be a new rule for all sports. And while they're at it, why not include it for band, cheerleaders, speech and debate. The academic reasons or adjustment to college life hold no water.
The bottom line is this. It has nothing to do with graduation rates. It has nothing to do with what is in the best interest of the student athlete. It has everything to do with a rule the NBA has and the amount of money schools make from their athletes in revenue producing sports.
In a good year, there may be 7-10 freshmen basketball players in the country, that get drafted into the NBA. Those players typically come from 7-10 different schools. There are over 350 schools in D-I and probably at least 350 freshmen players a year. In my opinion, I just don't see how you penalize 350 freshmen, because 7-10 want to leave college to begin their careers. What happens if the NCAA or NBA changes the rule to they must complete their sophomore or junior years before going pro. Do they change the rule to say they have to be juniors or seniors before they can play? Sounds to me that some schools are more concerned about their ability to not get the one and done players, than the interests of the majority of players. If they do change the rules, it won't last long. What happens when players go to NAIA schools and then to the NBA after one season. Or the emergence of new so called AAU teams or independent colleges that are similar to the infamous "high school basketball factories", also known sometimes as prep schools?
If they want to totally blow up the good thing they currently have, go ahead and do it. Bill Veeck use to say "rules tell us what we can do, not what we can't".
If they want to totally blow up the good thing they currently have, go ahead and do it. Bill Veeck use to say "rules tell us what we can do, not what we can't".
bradleyfan124
Active member
From a selfish point of view I enjoyed it when they had freshman basketball teams. They played them before the varsity games with about a 10 to 15 games schedule. Sometimes I enjoyed the freshman games more than the varsity
Freshmen eligibility- a history
Freshmen eligibility- a history
For the record-the NCAA instituted freshmen eligibility in football and basketball in 1972(frosh were declared eligible in 'minor sports' beginning in 1968.
There have been no changes to the overall freshmen eligibility rules since 1972-although the number of scholarships allowed in a given sport has been reduced over time(eg. football was 105 back in 1972 and is now 85)
What has changed overtime since then was the academic qualifications for frosh athletes-beginning first with 'prop 48'-certain athletes didn't meet academic requirements and were allowed into a college but could not play as frosh. This was followed by a NCAA minimum requirement(grades/test score) which, though altered through the years, is still used today.
There have been different agreements between the NBA and the NCAA as to when athletes could declare for the draft = currently after 1 year(at one point it was after the junior year) & at times (see Moses Malone/Kevin Garnett among others) a player use to be able to go straight to the pros from HS.
IMO this is a totally different issue than Frosh eligibility on the varsity
Over the years (prior to 1972), freshmen have from time to time been eligible for varsity competition:
As early as the early 1900s, the Western Conference(Big Ten) adopted a '3 season rule' where frosh did not play varsity....other conferences adopted this rule later(mainly because if they didn't the Western conference refused to play them). Army did not adopt the rule(using player that had actually already graduated from other colleges!). Notre Dame adopted the '3 season rule' in 1914....I am sorry-I do not know when Bradley adopted the '3 season' rule
Other years where frosh were declared eligible for varsity competition:
1918 due to manpower issues created by WWI
1942 through 1946 WWII manpower issues
1951 Korean War
Freshmen were declared eligible in 1972- at the same time that the NCAA began to enforce scholarship limits on football and basketball-and it has been that way ever since.
(prior to this newly imposed scholarship limit, each conference had their own limitation of grant in aids-
An aside: I too remember fondly the Freshmen Basketball teams at Bradley(the first game of the season was always a Frosh-Varsity encounter)
I attended many in my youth. These games ended in 1972 when frosh were made eligible for the varsity(albeit Bradley then had a Junior Varsity BB team for a few years to replace the old freshmen teams)
EDIT: for the record, I personally cannot see the NCAA enforcing a restriction on college basketball regarding frosh eligibility without also enforcing said ban on football(it would leave the NCAA open to too easy a court challenge to have singled out BB only for the frosh ban).....and there is no chance in hell that the football powers will go along with eliminating frosh eligibility IMO!
Freshmen eligibility- a history
For the record-the NCAA instituted freshmen eligibility in football and basketball in 1972(frosh were declared eligible in 'minor sports' beginning in 1968.
There have been no changes to the overall freshmen eligibility rules since 1972-although the number of scholarships allowed in a given sport has been reduced over time(eg. football was 105 back in 1972 and is now 85)
What has changed overtime since then was the academic qualifications for frosh athletes-beginning first with 'prop 48'-certain athletes didn't meet academic requirements and were allowed into a college but could not play as frosh. This was followed by a NCAA minimum requirement(grades/test score) which, though altered through the years, is still used today.
There have been different agreements between the NBA and the NCAA as to when athletes could declare for the draft = currently after 1 year(at one point it was after the junior year) & at times (see Moses Malone/Kevin Garnett among others) a player use to be able to go straight to the pros from HS.
IMO this is a totally different issue than Frosh eligibility on the varsity
Over the years (prior to 1972), freshmen have from time to time been eligible for varsity competition:
As early as the early 1900s, the Western Conference(Big Ten) adopted a '3 season rule' where frosh did not play varsity....other conferences adopted this rule later(mainly because if they didn't the Western conference refused to play them). Army did not adopt the rule(using player that had actually already graduated from other colleges!). Notre Dame adopted the '3 season rule' in 1914....I am sorry-I do not know when Bradley adopted the '3 season' rule
Other years where frosh were declared eligible for varsity competition:
1918 due to manpower issues created by WWI
1942 through 1946 WWII manpower issues
1951 Korean War
Freshmen were declared eligible in 1972- at the same time that the NCAA began to enforce scholarship limits on football and basketball-and it has been that way ever since.
(prior to this newly imposed scholarship limit, each conference had their own limitation of grant in aids-
An aside: I too remember fondly the Freshmen Basketball teams at Bradley(the first game of the season was always a Frosh-Varsity encounter)
I attended many in my youth. These games ended in 1972 when frosh were made eligible for the varsity(albeit Bradley then had a Junior Varsity BB team for a few years to replace the old freshmen teams)
EDIT: for the record, I personally cannot see the NCAA enforcing a restriction on college basketball regarding frosh eligibility without also enforcing said ban on football(it would leave the NCAA open to too easy a court challenge to have singled out BB only for the frosh ban).....and there is no chance in hell that the football powers will go along with eliminating frosh eligibility IMO!
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kind of like the IHSA moving to a 4 class system in HS Basketball --- to me it took away alot of luster