OT: NCAA College hoops to eliminate the 5/8 rule?

[kingnebwsu]

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebas.../story/7267609

Council proposes scholarship reward for academic performance


April 19, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports



INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA Division I Management Council voted unanimously Monday to repeal a rule on scholarship limits in basketball and replace it with one that rewards teams for overall academic performance.
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The current rule allows schools to offer five scholarships in one year or eight in two years, but it penalizes schools -- no matter how well they've done historically -- by not allowing them to replace scholarship players who become academically ineligible, NCAA president Myles Brand said.

One of the proposals the Management Council will present to the NCAA Board of Directors later this month would set a team threshold for triggering a penalty, such as the loss of a scholarship.

The exact numbers would be determined later.

"If you have a very high performing academic team that graduated almost everyone, that team's not going to be affected," Brand said after the first of two days of meetings. "But if it turns out they haven't had a good graduation rate -- and we haven't set that number yet -- then that school will be affected.

"So there is some reward -- some incentive, if you like. It gives you a little leeway."

The proposals must be approved by the Board of Directors before they can be put into effect. If approved, they would track graduation rates and academic progress of athletes and apply increasingly harsher penalties for the worst offenders.

Christine Plonsky, the council chairwoman and women's athletic director at Texas, said the 5-8 rule, which would be eliminated immediately upon approval by the Board of Directors, has outlived its usefulness.

"The Management Council really feels the incentives-disincentives, the continuing eligibility and the ratcheting up of academic standards does call attention to the issues with regard to low graduation rates and low performance in some programs across the country," she said.

Brand said penalties would be applied based on data gathered beginning this coming academic year.

Among other proposals to be considered by the Board of Directors are those to prohibit foreign basketball tours within 30 days of the start of fall practice and to study possible changes in media and promotional materials that might be used in recruiting. Another would set up a committee to evaluate the academic reforms once the data is collected.

"We need to know semester by semester, quarter by quarter, how our athletes are progressing," Plonsky said.

Brand said he is "highly optimistic" the board will approve the proposals at its April 29 meeting.

The Management Council will meet again Tuesday to consider recommendations by a separate task force on recruiting, which last week proposed colleges be required to develop written policies on alcohol and unsupervised entertainment, along with clear standards for determining who should be held accountable for compliance.

The task force was formed in February by Brand in the wake of several highly publicized recruiting scandals. Final recommendations will be considered in July and are expected to be sent to the Board of Directors in time to enact new rules before the 2004-05 recruiting season.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved

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This is great news for my Wright State Raiders, as we have maxed out our five schollies for this year and we still have 2-3 more to give out. Interesting to see how this will play out if an age limit is also imposed on the NBA...

[scooper]

"But if it turns out they haven't had a good graduation rate -- and we haven't set that number yet -- then that school will be affected

awwwww. Poor poor Bearcats.

[Bosco]

I think its necessary in the current college game. With players leaving early it can be difficult for top level teams to reload due to the restrictions and reduces their ability to maintain a program. In 2001 Arizona had Jefferson, Wright, and Arenas leave early, plus Woods left as a senior. They had used 5 scholarships the year before and could only replace the 4 places with 3. Had Jason Gardner kept his name in the draft that year they would have had to try and replace 5 players with 3.