Transfer and Eligibility Questions

[xusandy]

So I think there are now two proposals going forward: (1) Transfers can play immediately, and (2) All players on rosters this year will get an additional year of eligibility. Is that right?

If so, that means that all seniors, regardless of whether or not they transferred into their current school, would get another year of eligibility, right? And also, all grad transfers would get 2 years of eligibility at their new schools instead of one, right? And also, all other transfers currently sitting out would get an additional year of eligibility, right? That means a junior transferring with one year of eligibility left would now get 2 years of eligibility if he transfers and any Freshman or Sophomore transferring after this season would get one more year of eligibility than currently entitled to, right?

Something about this makes no sense at all to me! If both proposals pass, then there will be a huge logjam of talent for the next two years at the college level, especially at schools that regularly bring in grad transfers or JuCo transfers. If so, that will greatly reduce the number of scholarships available for Freshmen, and force some schools to decide between giving their scholarships to talented new transfers or to seniors and grad transfers whose eligibility would otherwise expire after this season. Schools like Kentucky won't be much affected because there's a huge turnover there to the pros every year, but schools like Xavier with 2 seniors (Scruggs and Carter), two grad transfers currently playing in their last year of eligibility (Griffin and Kunkel) and another transfer (Stanley) sitting out the required year, plus the beginnings of a pretty good class coming in, will have their entire roster planning program upended. And what about the teams that start 4 or 5 seniors? Can those rosters stay intact for another year? If any of this is true, then high school seniors are gonna get totally screwed out of the athletic scholarships they would otherwise get.

This all sounds very stupid to me, and I so I guess I just don't understand. Please help me (I've fallen and I can't get up!)

[X-rock]

This season counts towards eligibility requirements for no one, so the scenarios you refer to are correct. ALL seniors can come back. All grad transfers can come back again next. There will be some level of logjam, but I think there are some variables. For one, a lot of guys are going to be done with the college experience 4, 5,6 years into it and may not be interested in coming back. For example, I don't really see Scruggs wanting to come back again. Perhaps he will, but I think he had one foot out the door after his junior year, I don't think he's going to do it again. Will Nate Johnson or Bryan Griffin want to come back? Perhaps. The other variable is I think the school has to be willing to extend the scholarship to them again and it is my understanding they are not required to do so.

The one thing I don't know is whether or not they will allow for extra scholarships for the next couple of years. I mean, the lack of an eligibility hit applies to everyone...regardless of class. That means freshman who play this year, still have 4 more years of eligibility too. This could affect rosters for the next 4 years. It will be interesting to see what percentage of kids take advantage of it.

[XUFan09]

Seniors who return for an extra year don't count toward the 13-scholarship limit. It creates a logjam of playing time, but scholarships can still be handed out as normal. It's definitely going to be weird.

[xusandy]

Ok, thanks for the replies, but is this situation really as stupid as I think it is?? Is it really true that EVERY team can return their ENTIRE starting lineup next year, assuming that's what they want to do?

If so, I pity those high school seniors who are on the edge of a D-1 scholarship. LOADED teams (eg. - X now appears to go 11 deep, and there are a bunch of other loaded teams whose rotation includes a lot of very competent guys who are NOT going to the NBA after this season) will really face tough questions re how many freshmen to give scholarships to. Even if Scruggs and maybe a couple of others at X decide it's time to move on, there will still be a lower limit on the number of scholarships available, and some very good high school seniors who might otherwise want to sign up, will decide otherwise -- given the high probability of very limited playing time with so many studs coming back.

Maybe I'm just being worried over nothing here, but I see this as a huge game changer in college bball. What do you all think the impact will be --on team recruiting strategies, on freshmen coming up, or on decent players who can get a college free ride for another year? For one, I think this is stupid stupid stupid stupid! Please convince me otherwise.