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The Way I See It
THE NCAA has made noise lately cleansing its basketball image and exerting political clout against Jefferson Davis' Confederacy. College hoops in
for some big changesThe next thud you hear will be deregulation of amateurism.
Simply put, the NCAA is moving full-speed ahead toward making it possible for pro athletes to enter college and have some degree of eligibility to play ball.
That eligibility would be based upon how many years they played as pros.
A brand new recruiting avenue for basketball and some other collegiate sports would be opened if the NCAA approves deregulation in April 2001.
The University of Hawaii recently signed 20-year-old, 6-foot-10 center Haim Shimonovic out of an Israeli pro league. Shimonovic was able to sign only because he is an army player who is not allowed to take money for his games.
But under the scenario the NCAA is considering, Rainbow recruiters could venture into Europe in pursuit of any young, salaried pro with more seasoning than Shimonovic.
The lure of accepting a scholarship and abandoning a modest salary would be the chance to play Division I ball and develop into NBA draft material.
WE'RE talking foreign-born pros right now. But the issue of allowing American former college players who turned pro to return to college is also being examined.
The restrictions on such players would probably be more severe than those applied to American or foreign players who went pro right after high school and then entered college.
The fact that the NCAA is working toward resolving both questions is fascinating, and it could change the college game as we know it.
The underclassmen who've declared for this year's NBA draft would feel a lot more comfortable if they knew they could fall back on the collegiate careers they're abandoning.
A number of these guys aren't really ready to make the jump.
For high school seniors DeShawn Stevenson and Mario Austin, who have made the decision to opt for the draft, the chance to play college ball if they fail to stick with their NBA teams is salvation.
Players with pro experience would be highly coveted.
Shimonovic's brief experience playing against American and European pros in Israel makes him a potential impact player in the WAC.
Up to now, recruiting junior college players has been the only way to get American players with more maturity and experience than prep prospects.
BUT given the green light to go after pros in the states and abroad, coaches will find the JUCO route less attractive.
There's one problem in inviting the pros back to school. If the NCAA really wants to redirect attention to the role of education in student-athlete programs, deregulating amateurism isn't going to help.
Freshmen like Florida's Donnel Harvey and Cincinnati's DeMarr Johnson are leaving school for the draft because they'd rather not sit another three years in the classroom.
If they fail at the NBA level and decide to return to college it won't be because they've suddenly discovered the value of education.
It will be to have a better chance in a future draft, and that flies against the image the NCAA's recent basketball reform legislation seeks to create.
But the NBA's plan for a developmental league of as many as 12 teams threatens college ball. It will make college even less appealing to prep blue-chippers with little or no academic inclination.
With that looming, it's easy to see why the NCAA is looking into deregulating amateurism by next year.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.