The news of 21-year-old NBA G-League guard London Johnson committing to play at Louisville set off a bit of a firestorm around college basketball. With the news coinciding with media availabilities and
conference media days, plenty of coaches around the country have been asked about the concept of G-League players being eligible to play college basketball.
Among those coaches are two Big Ten stalwarts: Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Purdue’s Matt Painter.
Asked about the topic during a media availability a day after Johnson’s commitment, Izzo didn’t hold this thoughts back.
“This was sprung on us, again, yesterday, where a guy can be in the G-League for two or three years and all of a sudden he’s eligible,” Izzo said. “Most of my people knew nothing about it, I don’t think our commissioner, I mean, uh, I am not real excited about the NCAA or whoever is making these decisions without talking to us, just letting it go cause they’re afraid they’re gonna get sued.”
Listen to Izzo’s full comments below:
Painter was asked for his thoughts on the matter during a media availability ahead of Purdue’s exhibition matchup at Kentucky. When he first saw the news, he thought it was like something that NBA Centel, a popular parody of the NBA Central account, would post. Not real.
Then he saw another post, implied to be one about the recruitment of G-League center Abdullah Ahmed.
“You’re just kinda at a loss for words,” Painter said. “You don’t know what’s next, right? There’s, I don’t know, nothing surprises you anymore, I know that.”
Listen to Painter’s full comments below:
