ESPNU Summer Sessions 2006

The good people at ESPN have already started doing their homework on the 2006-07 season. Their summer session is already in week 3, covering the ACC, Pac-10 Big 12, and MWC already (among others), with the Big East, Big Eleven and SEC coming soon. Enjoy the summer preview: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2516801

NCAA to Chuck Davis: Request denied

Unfortunately for Chuck Davis and Alabama fans, the NCAA denied Chuck Davis's request for an additional season because of his injuries last season.

The trend seems to be for the NCAA to grant a 6th year to bench players or players in small schools, but when it comes to All-Conference caliber talent the NCAA seems to be less generous. Perhaps they are worried this will give Alabama an unfair competitive advantage by using a 6th year all-conference caliber player...

NBA Summer Leagues: B-Roy Le Roi!

A number of talented college basketball players are making the transition to the pros with the NBA Summer Leagues. NBATV is planning to broadcast a total of 34 games in July (Vegas and Utah summer leagues).

Brandon Roy, under-appreciated by the east coast media during his college career, has been impressive, with whispers about him being the next D-Wade :)

As far as I know Ammo's team is not participating in the televised summer leagues, so no Ammo on NBATV in July - as far as I know.

5th year free agents?

An under-the-table rule by the NCAA is creating FREE AGENTS. Yes, free agents!

YocoHoops.com has a writeup on this, as well as Gregg Doyel at CBS sportsline.

YocoHoops.com highlights the story of Kevin Kruger, leaving ASU to play for daddy dearest at UNLV. And he will be eligible to play in 2006-07. No sitting out a year! The Arizona Republic has more details on the Kruger story. Remember, Kruger (the dad) was a close friend of Evans (former ASU coach), which one of the reasons why his son went to ASU. At the time Kruger (the dad) was an NBA coach. Now Kruger (the dad) is an NCAA coach, and Evans (the friend) is no longer at ASU. So Kruger (the son) wants to play for Kruger (the dad).

What exactly is a 5th year free agent? Here are the requirements:

You earn your undergraduate degree in four years

You have one year of eligibility remaining (eg medical redshirt, developmental redshirt, etc)

You qualify and enroll at a graduate program of another institution

and voila! You are ready to play! No sitting out. Transfer rules do not apply! You play your last year right away!

The name of this is Proposal 2005-54 and it went into effect April 27, 2006. As Gregg Doyel points out this is as bad as the uber-silly 8-5 rule who was struct down a couple of years ago when it comes to college basketball (and football).

The reasoning behind it makes sense for most NCAA sports except for the two "quasi-pro" sports: NCAA Football and NCAA Men's basketball. This is where things will get muddied as coaches will flock to all eligible "Free agents". It may happen in other sports, but in those situations, the student-athletes will make their decisions based on academics, not sports. But not in football and basketball, because a transfer to a bigger school means more exposure, which could lead to NFL and NBA contracts! Can't blame the student-athletes :-)

But remember, the requirement is that they complete their undergraduate degree in four years. A lot of student athletes don't even complete their undergraduate degree in five years. So not every redshirt will be eligible to become a "free agent". They have to graduate in four years to be eligible!. A positive side-effect would be additional motivation for student-athletes to graduate. A negative side-effect of the positive side-effect would be academic fraud in order to graduate in four years. Something about clouds and silver linings :-)



In conclusion it is a fair rule for most sports, but it will be abused in basketball and football. It once again points to the elephant in the room: Football and basketball are not the same as the other NCAA sports.

Coming soon: 2006-2007 Previews!

We are now at the halfway point, between the NCAA Final in early April and the beginning of the new season in early November.

But it's never too early to start looking into the 2006-2007 season.

Coming soon: I will start previews conference by conference. Initially the previews will cover who is coming in and who is going out from last season's roster. The first conference will be the Pac-10. As time goes by I may be adding some more. I won't promise too much as I may not get it done :-)

Relive some all-time great games this week

CSTV's Retrovision is showcasing some of the classic games of the last few years. The next game will be an early 80s game between Maryland and Notre Dame. Just yesterday they showed the 1996 cat-fight between Huggins and Lute Olsen (Cincinatti -vs- Arizona, in Phoenix)

As always, check local listings for more details and air dates :-)