I’ve never been a big proponent of conspiracy theories. Mostly because, after about 30 years in this business, I know how much people want to sling dirt, especially if it is off the record.
Still, if the NCAA wanted to purposely create chaos in college sports, to the point Congress would feel compelled to do something through legislation, you’d be hard-pressed to find a situation more bungled than the 5-in-5 eligibility model as it relates to college basketball.
In case you missed it, on Friday, the Tennessee Supreme Court denied a review of a temporary injunction, which withholds a fifth year of eligibility for players like Washington who graduated high school in the Class of 2022 and theoretically would be eligible to compete this season, under the tenets of the 5-in-5 eligibility system that the NCAA adopted in late June, roughly a month after many universities held their graduating ceremonies and concluded their academic years.
Washington, who had committed to Tennessee, is a native of Indiana, and thus has the option to pursue a similar waiver to compete in his home state. Others attached to the Washington case in Tennessee, such as Johnson City native B.J. Edwards and Kingsport native Jack Browder, are less fortunate. The Tennessee Supreme Court denial seemingly closes the door on their ability to suit up for a college program for the 2026-27 season, which is slated to tip off in about 2 ½ weeks.
Never mind that rulings in other states have allowed players who graduated high school in the class of 2022 to find new homes for the coming season. Gonzaga. In Ohio, for example, an executive order by the governor allowed Filip Borovicanin to start for Xavier in last week’s exhibition against Tennessee. A ruling in a California court has players like former Florida point guard Xaivian Lee slated to suit up for Gonzaga, while another possible addition to the Zags backcourt, Dayton expatriate Javon Bennett, is eligible for now but at the mercies of the Ohio Supreme Court, which issued a deadline of 5 p.m., Monday for supplemental briefs.
Does any of this get you excited for the college hoops season? Legal briefs and appeals and courtroom maneuverings? Where players attached to a case in one state are cleared for a fifth year but other athletes in another case in another state are denied?
What I go back to … the NCAA could have avoided all of this. The governing body, with whatever authority it has remaining after being de-fanged and de-clawed in state court rulings, could have waited until, say, September to release the new 5-in-5 eligibility model. There are also inherent flaws in the new eligibility system. A guy like ETSU basketball player Jordan McCollum, who’s going to miss the entire coming campaign with a torn ACL, just loses a whole year: no medical redshirt, or redshirts of any kind. But by waiting until September, when classes already had begun, athletes from the Class of 2022 would have already moved on to whatever was next. Instead, by issuing the new guidelines in late June, the NCAA – seemingly on purpose – created a summer of chaos that now has extended until the fall.
Now, as the college basketball season prepares to tip off, we still don’t know who’s eligible and who isn’t.
What a mess.
Meanwhile …
The proposed expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams doesn’t seem to be desired by anyone. Not the media. Not fans. Not coaches or players. It’s a participation trophy, an offering branch carved from wilted wood to induce donors to keep shelling out money to a flawed system. Doubling the number of playoff participants won’t do anything to dial down the pressure on coaches and athletic directors, either. Just get ready for the “well, they went out in the first round of the playoffs” discourse, coming soon.
Results this week didn’t do the expansion proponents any favors, because this remains one of the most unpredictable campaigns ever in the sport with the best regular season – a regular season that threatens to diminish with 24 playoff teams,
Five of the top seven in The Associated Press’ rankings lost on the same day for the first time in the history of the AP Top 25 poll, which dates back to 1996.
Auburn’s unlikely comeback win at Georgia made for the first time since 1990 that the No. 1 team in the country lost in consecutive weeks against unranked opponents. And, according to ESPN, it was the first time in the history of the AP Top 25 that those back-to-back losses by the top-ranked team to unranked foes happened on the final play of the game.
Alabama, Georgia, and Texas lost on the same day. That hadn’t happened for three decades.
And we now live in a weird reality where Kentucky currently is tied with Georgia for the Southeastern Conference lead. It also creates all sorts of drama surrounding the Tennessee-Kentucky game in November.
These weekends matter because regular-season results matter. You lose that once you shift to a playoff system where 9-3 and 8-4 and, surely not, 7-5 (?) teams could crack the bracket.
Speaking of the Vols …
If you were lukewarm about George MacIntyre as QB1 for Tennessee, guess what? You’re stuck with him. Even if or when Faizon Brandon is fully healthy, if you yank MacIntyre now, you’re pulling the guy who beat Alabama in Knoxville by multiple scores.
This Vols team reminds me of the 2002 Baltimore Ravens team that won the Super Bowl. That Baltimore squad found success with tough defense and a stout running game. The starting QB? Trent Dilfer.
Tennessee doesn’t need a Lamar Jackson type at QB to succeed. It just needs someone who won’t make catastrophic mistakes.
Next Level Local
Michigan turned to true freshman Tommy Carr for the home stretch of its 21-18 win over Penn State on Saturday. Carr is the grandson of former Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr. who was in attendance at Ann Arbor and the subject of multiple reaction shots. The elder Carr spent the first 10 years of his life in Hawkins County here in East Tennessee.
Does that count as a Next Level Locals tie-in? I think so.