Ruling on extra year eligibility.

[Birdfan2018]

I think the NCAA needs to re-think its ruling on giving the extra year of eligibility to every player due to Covid-19. Here is my reasoning. I am going to use Illinois State and Loyola as my example as to why.

Illinois State has 11 players on scholarship due to Senior Keith Fisher opting out due to Covid-19, and Sy Chapman either being asked to leave or leaving by his own choice.
If neither return, their scholarships will be given to two 2021 recruits, bringing Illinois State’s total back to 13 scholarship players for the 2021-22 season (of the current 11 players on scholarship, none are seniors).

Loyola has six Seniors on their current roster who are on scholarship. Krutwig, Baughman, Clemons, Hall, Uguak, and Williamson. If all six of their scholarships have been filled for the 2021-22 season, and all six of the Loyola Seniors chose to return for the 2021-22 basketball season, Loyola would have 19 scholarship players on their 2021-22 roster. Illinois State would have 13 scholarship players on their 2021-22 roster. This would make for a very uneven playing field. I cannot see the NCAA (or the MVC) allowing for these unfair conditions.

What I would like to see the NCAA do is to just treat any player that opted out this season due to Covid-19 as a medical redshirt year. And any player who played this season would not receive the additional year of eligibility.

[Snaggletooth]

The NCAA won't reverse course. I do think this will work it self out. There are several factors:

1. Playing time - people are not going to want to be on a extended roster where playing time will be even bigger struggle.

2. Scholarship $ - schools are all ready struggling with finances, they are not going to want to be giving extra scholarships.

3. Seniors and pro-ball - I expect you will see the ones who have an opportunity to make $$$ in playing some level of pro-ball will move on and get their next phase of life going.

[BEARZ77]

Also keep in mind, it's not entirely a "choose to return" option. The school has to extend the opportunity. I'm sure there will be some frank discussions behind closed doors with some players regarding what's best for the team with incoming recruits and needs to be filled.

[Birdfan2018]

Also keep in mind, it's not entirely a "choose to return" option. The school has to extend the opportunity. I'm sure there will be some frank discussions behind closed doors with some players regarding what's best for the team with incoming recruits and needs to be filled.

The NCAA presented these options to the players. I think it would open a bad can of worms if the school stepped in and chose which players they wanted to offer this free option to, and which ones they didn’t. It should not be about using COVID-19 to make your team better by letter your better players stay and play a fifth year. It should be all your players or none. And I believe the NCAA should step up and make that clear.

[DUBulldog]

The extra year of eligibility is going to really limit scholarship opportunities for players in the class of 2022.

I'll use Drake as an example, but this same scenario applies to every team in the country.

Right now, Drake has 13 scholarship players, 12 if you don't count Noah Thomas, who opted out of the season. They signed 2 in the fall. Sturtz will probably get Thomas' scholarship. They still have one to give in the spring. Assuming they give that one, they're back up to 13 scholarship players, even if none of the seniors return next year.

Because of the rule giving everybody an extra season of eligibility, all of Drake's juniors will be juniors again next season....the only seniors will be any of the current seniors who decide to come back. So, regardless of how many of the current seniors come back, Drake will have 13 non-senior players on next season's team (assuming everybody comes back). No scholarships to give for class of 2022 unless players leave. The same is true for every team in the country.

It's going to lead to an incredible amount of player turnover over the next few years throughout the NCAA

[BEARZ77]

Also keep in mind, it's not entirely a "choose to return" option. The school has to extend the opportunity. I'm sure there will be some frank discussions behind closed doors with some players regarding what's best for the team with incoming recruits and needs to be filled.

The NCAA presented these options to the players. I think it would open a bad can of worms if the school stepped in and chose which players they wanted to offer this free option to, and which ones they didn’t. It should not be about using COVID-19 to make your team better by letter your better players stay and play a fifth year. It should be all your players or none. And I believe the NCAA should step up and make that clear.

I don't see that at all; #1 It's not a "FREE" option, the University that has to foot the bill for extra players, some simply can't do it. #2 It's really not any different than not extending a scholarship to a junior or senior who no longer fits your program. The extra year of eligibility is for the player; with transfer rules they can pursue it anywhere that will accept them. It might be with their same team, or it might be as a transfer. But they get the year if they want it and have a buyer. No real down side for the player if they want to pursue it.

But you can't expect that a team with a large senior class has to either take them all on and pay for 5-6 additional scholys, or put their recruiting on hold for a year. That's not fair by any means. It's tough situation and probably impacts recruits in 2021 and 2022 more than current players, as they all get an option to play if they want it. It's just not a guarantee where, just like normal recruiting.

[Birdfan2018]

Also keep in mind, it's not entirely a "choose to return" option. The school has to extend the opportunity. I'm sure there will be some frank discussions behind closed doors with some players regarding what's best for the team with incoming recruits and needs to be filled.

The NCAA presented these options to the players. I think it would open a bad can of worms if the school stepped in and chose which players they wanted to offer this free option to, and which ones they didn’t. It should not be about using COVID-19 to make your team better by letter your better players stay and play a fifth year. It should be all your players or none. And I believe the NCAA should step up and make that clear.

I don't see that at all; #1 It's not a "FREE" option, the University that has to foot the bill for extra players, some simply can't do it. #2 It's really not any different than not extending a scholarship to a junior or senior who no longer fits your program. The extra year of eligibility is for the player; with transfer rules they can pursue it anywhere that will accept them. It might be with their same team, or it might be as a transfer. But they get the year if they want it and have a buyer. No real down side for the player if they want to pursue it.

But you can't expect that a team with a large senior class has to either take them all on and pay for 5-6 additional scholys, or put their recruiting on hold for a year. That's not fair by any means. It's tough situation and probably impacts recruits in 2021 and 2022 more than current players, as they all get an option to play if they want it. It's just not a guarantee where, just like normal recruiting.

So regardless of how many seniors return, they will count toward the 13 scholarships?

[BEARZ77]

No they don't count towards the 13, but you still have the cost. So if I have 5 seniors and have signed all 5 of those scholys to incoming , and all 5 seniors come back, i now have 18 scholys I pay for as a University. Now some will argue the cost of a scholy is funny money, but you still have all the associated costs of those 5 additional players, which these days include cost of living payments.

But now also if I have to take all 5 of those seniors, maybe a juco recruit or even a frosh who signed earlier and who thought they had an opportunity to play immediately, looks at it and says I have less chance to play now and seeks to get out of their commitment. I've now lost a 2-4 year guy for just 1 year of that senior. And remember as best I can tell this plays out for the next 4 years, as every player gets that extra year, not just this years seniors. You have better chance to plan over those years, but you're still stuck with either increased costs or losing out on recruits if you have to keep every player an extra year.

[tribecalledquest]

The NCAA won't reverse course. I do think this will work it self out. There are several factors:

1. Playing time - people are not going to want to be on a extended roster where playing time will be even bigger struggle.

2. Scholarship $ - schools are all ready struggling with finances, they are not going to want to be giving extra scholarships.

3. Seniors and pro-ball - I expect you will see the ones who have an opportunity to make $$$ in playing some level of pro-ball will move on and get their next phase of life going.

Yeah. This will work itself out. Most good players aren't sticking around for an extra year. The ones who want to stay may not be asked back. If you take a guy using the extra year from another program it counts against your 13.

[glm38]

The NCAA won't reverse course. I do think this will work it self out. There are several factors:

1. Playing time - people are not going to want to be on a extended roster where playing time will be even bigger struggle.

2. Scholarship $ - schools are all ready struggling with finances, they are not going to want to be giving extra scholarships.

3. Seniors and pro-ball - I expect you will see the ones who have an opportunity to make $$$ in playing some level of pro-ball will move on and get their next phase of life going.

Yeah. This will work itself out. Most good players aren't sticking around for an extra year. The ones who want to stay may not be asked back. If you take a guy using the extra year from another program it counts against your 13.

"Most good players aren't sticking around for an extra year"? I think a number of them are. Haven't several of Drake's seniors said they are coming back? And I know for a fact Gaige Prim is coming back. Lots of good players from just that small group.