Ncaa Baseball Tv Schedule

Now that the NCAA's "working group" on basketball issues is done working over the game, it seems only fair to congratulate the committee members for getting one right.

Their idea to tie scholarship levels to graduation rates is splendid. Programs graduating 75 percent of their players will receive one more than the current limit of 13. Those graduating 33 percent or less will get one fewer.

Other than the grad rates themselves, which are dubious statistics even if players who leave a program in good academic standing will not count against a school, there are no obvious negatives here. This is more incentive than punishment, which is all but unprecedented in the NCAA rulebook.

If it seems that conceiving just one solid piece of legislation was not a sound use of the thousands of dollars it cost to run this committee, are because it wasn't. Most of the suggestions are dangerous enough that the game would be better off had the committee never met.

One of the postulates governing NCAA legislation is that for every rule passed, there is an opposite and often more powerful impact the rules-makers never anticipated. These are but a few:

Proposal. Schools may award a maximum of four scholarships each year.

Intent. To prevent coaches from "running off" players.

Unintended consequence. The 2005 Final Four may resemble your local Gus Macker 3-on-3 tournament.

If a school graduates four players, loses one ahead of schedule to the NBA and another to a transfer to a lower-level program, this rule will allow only four of those six to be replaced. So even though the grad-rate bonus gets this school an extra scholarship, it still can have only 12 players on the roster. Lovely.

This is an effort to solve a problem that barely exists. This past spring proved--with starters leaving Providence, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tulane--more players transfer to suit their interests than are shoved out by coaching cads. Even when players aren't regulars, their decisions to transfer are most often cooperative efforts with their former programs.

Proposal. Shorten the summer evaluation period from 24 to 14 days in July, with 10 scouting days shifted to the spring--so long as prep and JC coaches supervise the tournaments.

Intent. To lessen the influence of club coaches and shoe companies in recruiting.

Unintended consequence. A lot of "sleepers" will continue to snooze.

Kids get overlooked all the time, even with the period nearly a month long. The powers who orchestrated these changes have no concept of parents' desperation to get their kids fairly evaluated so they'll have a chance at a Division I scholarship. This role was conceived with only the elite players in mind.

Kansas guard Jeff Boschee admits he never would have gotten a look from the Jayhawks were it not for the Nike All-American Camp.

Proposal. Teams may practice no sooner than 34 days before the first regular-season game, which may be scheduled no sooner than the Friday following Thanksgiving. Exempt tournaments could begin before the holiday.

Intent. To allow players time to get established academically.

Unintended consequence: The poor get poorer. Traditional powers such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina always have opportunities to play in tournaments such as the Preseason NIT because they're TV and gate attractions. This rule would most often give the prime-timers 10 days more practice than second-tier schools.

Proposal. Incoming freshmen need a 2.0 grade point average and 12 completed credits after one semester to be eligible for the second term.

Intent. To force players to immediately acclimate themselves to college academic life.

Unintended consequence. "Uh, is this Basket Weaving 101?"

Even the most prestigious academic schools in Division I will not point their incoming freshmen into rigorous classes if they have no margin for error. The tough stuff will wait until later.

RELATED ARTICLE: inside dish

CAMPUS RUMBLINGS AND LOCKER ROOM WHISPERS

Fresno's DeShawn Stevenson, a 6-5 shooting guard rated among the top 10 prospects in the nation, says the 20-year age limit for NBA players proposed by commissioner David Stern is virtually meaningless because most players are 19 when they leave high school. He has a point. Of the serious early-entry prospects on this year's draft list, only six would have been kept out by the age restriction-and four of those were just a few months shy of their 20th birthdays. Stevenson says players who wanted to beat the age limit could spend a year in prep school. ... There are coaches and others in the basketball business who were bothered that their sport was singled out for review by a "working group" to suggest rules reform. They claim racism was at the root of the committee's formation. Given that graduation rates for predominantly black college basketball are not substantially lower than for predominantly white college baseball, they have a case. ... Bill Self was one of five coaches Minnesota invited for an interview, but he declined after Tulsa--weary of losing capable coaches to jobs deemed more attractive-offered a raise. Gonzaga's Dan Monson accepted the Gophers' job. ... The NCAA's procedural foul-up that led to a lifting of postseason sanctions against Louisville has made it routine for schools to appeal their penalties. The latest example is Purdue, which was placed on probation for two years, ordered to forfeit 24 games and money earned from the 1996 NCAA Tournament and stuck with restrictions on scholarships and recruiting operations. ... New Fordham coach Bob Hill is planning to hire former Seton Hall assistant Mike Brown and has spoken with former UNLV assistant Greg "Shoes" Vetrone about a spot on his staff. ... Cincinnati picked up its third top 10 recruit in the past two years when 6-5 Jerome Harper of Columbia, S.C., committed.

Mike DeCourcy covers college basketball for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail him at decourcy@sportingnews.com.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

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