05-10-2008, 02:26 PM
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: In the wake of Kentucky accepting a commitment from an eighth-grader, should the NCAA mandate a minimum age in which a college can accept a commitment?
Billy Gillispie received a commitment from an eighth-grader.
I'm not as upset with what the Wildcats have done as some others. I think it's patently ridiculous, but it's not against the rules. If Billy Gillispie is convinced Michael Avery will be good enough to play at Kentucky a whopping four years from now, more power to him.
The question becomes where does it stop. If Gillispie can secure an eighth-grader, you know someone is going to go after a seventh-grader. Are you comfortable with assistant coaches scouring the middle-school ranks? The ploy on some level even makes sense for mid-majors and low majors that often have to wait to sign players after the high majors have made their picks. Maybe they'd have a better chance if they were the first school to make an offer. If they stick to a commitment they offered to, say, a fifth-grader, won't the parents make sure their child honors his side?
I don't think a school should be allowed to take a commitment until two years before he's allowed to sign a National Letter of Intent. That means November of his sophomore year of high school. That's plenty early.
If the NCAA really wants to stop schools from offering scholarships to younger and younger players, it really need only do this: Tell every school that accepts a commitment from a player younger than 15 it must honor the commitment, offer the scholarship and keep the player on scholarship for at least two years. That would curtail this nonsense in a hurry.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/cont...CID=806274
Billy Gillispie received a commitment from an eighth-grader.
I'm not as upset with what the Wildcats have done as some others. I think it's patently ridiculous, but it's not against the rules. If Billy Gillispie is convinced Michael Avery will be good enough to play at Kentucky a whopping four years from now, more power to him.
The question becomes where does it stop. If Gillispie can secure an eighth-grader, you know someone is going to go after a seventh-grader. Are you comfortable with assistant coaches scouring the middle-school ranks? The ploy on some level even makes sense for mid-majors and low majors that often have to wait to sign players after the high majors have made their picks. Maybe they'd have a better chance if they were the first school to make an offer. If they stick to a commitment they offered to, say, a fifth-grader, won't the parents make sure their child honors his side?
I don't think a school should be allowed to take a commitment until two years before he's allowed to sign a National Letter of Intent. That means November of his sophomore year of high school. That's plenty early.
If the NCAA really wants to stop schools from offering scholarships to younger and younger players, it really need only do this: Tell every school that accepts a commitment from a player younger than 15 it must honor the commitment, offer the scholarship and keep the player on scholarship for at least two years. That would curtail this nonsense in a hurry.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/cont...CID=806274