Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mid-Major fans and fans across the country.
As if fans thought the offseason was the slow period for college basketball.
The final hours of July saw utter chaos unleashed. Courts in Tennessee and Colorado ruled that players from the high school class of 2022 and who have already completed four years of college eligibility would be eligible for a fifth season in 2026-27.
Cue The
Joker in The Dark Knight.
“And here we go.”
The NCAA implemented the “5 for 5” eligibility rule in June, which in theory would begin with the athletes still in college who had not exhausted their eligibility.
These court rulings have thrown rosters for the upcoming season into flux.
So, we ask: Should players who have already completed four years be able to play next season? Yes or no?
Let’s begin with the “yes” argument.
“[The players] will suffer irreparable harm without [being deemed eligible],” said U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Denver, who ruled in the Colorado case.
Agreed that the timing for the high school class of 2022 would suck if they can’t take advantage of the extra year of eligibility that all of their younger teammates from this past season will be able to partake. Especially now with NIL, players have the chance to earn some real money playing the sport they love while also enjoying college life.
Speaking like someone who loved his time in college, who wouldn’t want an extra year of college?
On the legal side, let’s just rip the Band-Aid off right now. Make the whole class eligible now so we won’t have players popping up on rosters midseason when they get granted extra eligibility. Looking at you Charles Bediako and James Nnaji.
If the timing is awkward to have an entire class of players added to the landscape of college basketball in the middle of the summer, imagine how crazy it would be if this happened in mid-January. I don’t even want to think about that scenario.
So, it’s better to have a chance to make roster changes months before the season than right in the middle of it.
But is this ruling good?
Now for the “no” camp.
Rosters were set for the 2026-27 season. Coaches were beginning to establish rotations at summer workouts. Players were getting comfortable with their teammates. Everything was moving with a sense of continuity as we are less than three months away from the beginning of the regular season.
Now, who knows?
Summer workouts are basically done, and when fall practices begin there could be new teammates being integrated. How is that OK?
“The five-year [rule], letting them back in would have been OK in April, if that’s what we were doing before you recruit other kids,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said on the Aug. 4 episode of Inside College Basketball Now Podcast with Jon Rothstein. “Now, we wait until August, and we do something like that? There will be kids leaving campus next week thinking that they got their team together, and they’re going to come back in two weeks from their little mini break before school starts and might have two new teammates. And shazam, some of them might be at the position they’re at.”
The men’s transfer portal has seen more than 50 players enter starting on July 31, according to 247Sports. There are 17 women’s grad transfers from mid-major programs unattached in the portal, according to The IX Sports.
“The stupidity and the way we’ve handled things is ridiculous,” Izzo said. “We gave advice as coaches, but we know that that doesn’t fare well. The advice was if we’re going to make a decision and give them the fifth year, let’s do it in April, and then you wouldn’t recruit guys. Now, I’ve recruited guys for those positions. I can’t bring another guy in, but a lot of them will.”
The timing is the major issue here. We are on the cusp of the 2026-27 school year beginning. College basketball rosters should not be in flux.
Anyway, let us know what you think. Vote in the poll.
