The NABC(National Association of Basketball Coaches) recommended some sweeping changes for college basketball!! The NCAA now has to approve them?? The big change is that players can PLAY for 5 years instead of 4. I guess with a red shirt year they could be around for 6 years?? Also the coaches want year round access to the players so they could coach them during the summer, fall, winter and spring. Getting to sound more like pro ball all the time!! :eek: It would also eliminate official visits to high school juniors in favor of increased phone calls. The big time coaches must not like going to all these kids homes and meeting the family!! That probably is a pain in the as$, when you could be on the golf course, especially when you are getting paid a million dollars, that is probably a little beneath them!! If a player chose to transfer during their 5 years, they would lose a year of eligibilty. This supposedly will keep a player at the same school for all 5 years. Why would it, if they transferred they would have the same number of years(4) to play they have now!! Plus they won't have to sit out a year like they do now. This looks like it would make it easier to tranfer from school to school!! Obviously like in any profession, these new rules probably benefit the coaches the most since they are the ones making the rules!!

My bet is that most of this won't get passed. Coaches do this on a regular basis-- make crazy recommendations.

Well, it looks like these new changes will probably happen!!! :eek: NCAA President Myles Brand said he is backing the changes the NABC want and they should pass easily. This will be the biggest change in college basketball history according to some coaches. I think this will have many ramifications, from players moving readily from school to school to an increased importance of JUCO's presuming they will now have three years of eligibility. A powerhouse team could have a long reign near the top if their players don't leave for the NBA. Those freshman recruits could also be very important, not that they haven't before, but for five years seems like a long time. The coaches also will probably get rid of bench players a lot quicker instead of letting them hang around for five years. Anyway there will be a lot of ramifications I haven't even thought of, but this is the biggest news in college basketball in many years!!! Also what about the other sports, will basketball be the only one to go to 5 years. I could see this as a good thing if freshman weren't eligible the first year and then had four years to play. Let them get use to college, studies, being students , not just basketball players. Is this just a longer farm system for the NBA or other pro leagues??

I don't think that having five years of eligibility vs. four will cause any players to choose college over the NBA. These days many of the top high school players are either skipping college all together or they plan to play one year and jump ship.

I do like the year round access thing. I've never understood why football allows spring practice with the coaches but basketball doesn't allow summer or early fall practice. Could you imagine the outcry if football coaches were only allowed to work their players (or watch them work) for a period starting three weeks before thier first game and ending with the last game?

Nevadanatural Wrote:I do like the year round access thing. I've never understood why football allows spring practice with the coaches but basketball doesn't allow summer or early fall practice. Could you imagine the outcry if football coaches were only allowed to work their players (or watch them work) for a period starting three weeks before thier first game and ending with the last game?

Good point. A limited window of practice time in the summer/early fall would make sense.

I think a week of practice during the last month of school, not interfering with finals, and a week the first month of school would be OK, but I'm not in favor of mandatory summer practices. Even though these students are on the basketball team, they are still students first---at least I hope!!! I know in Pro ball the teams have rookie camps, mini camps year round, playbook meetings and all kind of mandatory things but the key word here is PRO Ball, it's their job!! Our players are students----they should be treated somewhat like students!!