College Basketball’s Major Overhaul: What Does it Mean for Louisville basketball?

After years of scandal, and much debate over what should be done about the state of college basketball, the NCAA has finally taken some action. There are obviously a lot of layers to these decisions, and not all of them are popular. Which ones will have an impact on the Louisville basketball program?

Us Louisville basketball fans are far too familiar with scandal. Just when it seemed like the worst was over, (because what could be worse than losing a banner) we’re hit with another front page smear story. This isn’t about how the NCAA has made UofL their scapegoat, though I could go on forever about that.

This is about what is essentially a student-athlete black market being run right under everyone’s nose. Sadly, Louisville was the catalyst for what has turned into a nationwide investigation by none other than the FBI. “Pay for Play” is the simple way to put it – but you can be sure that the NCAA has done their best to complicate the situation even more.

Every new rule would be impossible to break down, so we’re gonna stick to three main ones that stood out as important for the Louisville program.

Relationships with Apparel Companies

Louisville signed a $160 million deal with Adidas in August of last year, just a month before everything got hairy. It’s no surprise the NCAA made it a rule to know where that money is going.

Now, coaches and staff members are required to report any income from companies like these exceeding $600 to their university president. This is certainly a big change seeing as some coaches have separate contracts with apparel companies worth millions of dollars.

What’s more interesting is the NCAA attempting relationships with these companies themselves – to keep better tabs on what they’re doing as far down as the high school and grassroots level. Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer had this to say:

"“The NCAA board of governors hopes to develop agreements that require apparel companies to make annual disclosures, report NCAA violations and obtain NCAA certification for its youth basketball events.”"

If companies like Adidas have to start reporting what they’re doing with their money and resources to the NCAA themselves, could it mean less lucrative deals for the schools associated with these companies? Will Louisville’s multi-million dollar deal be affected?

It’s too early to tell exactly, but it’s definitely something to watch.

Enforcement

This could get confusing, so I’m going to try and explain it in the simplest terms possible.

Basically, the NCAA has created two independent groups to decide on what they call “complex cases.” The Complex Case Unit is the first group, and their job is to see if further investigation is needed. The Independent College Sports Adjudication Panel is much more involved, so I’ll reference back to Schlabach’s explanation:

"“A second group, called the Independent College Sports Adjudication Panel, which will comprise 15 people with backgrounds in law, higher education and sports and with no affiliations to NCAA schools or conferences, will review the findings of the first group, oversee the hearing and decide penalties, if applicable.”"

Now, I see this going either great or terrible, with no middle ground. On the one hand, as a Louisville fan I kind of wish this group would have existed 2 years ago. Maybe having our case looked at by someone who has little to nothing personal to gain in the matter would have helped us. But maybe not.

On the other hand, someone not associated closely with the sport may be more critical. You just never know. To that point, I’ve largely kept my opinion out of this piece but here is where I must say… REALLY, NCAA?! REALLY?! “Tougher penalties” for rule breakers? Post season bans up to 5 years?

The reason this makes me (and I’m sure the rest of CardNation) quite angry, is because if the past few years are anything to go by, these cracking down hard rules won’t apply to everyone. See UNC, Michigan State, Kansas, etc. But I digress.

Who’s to say Louisville won’t suffer anymore penalties once FBI investigations conclude? We’d like to think the worst is over, but hope is a fleeting thing, as we well know. Now I’m going to take a deep breath and end this on a happy note.

NBA Draft Shakeup

I’m not gonna go on about how kids can go back to school if they go undrafted. There’s a little more to it of course, and I will say I think this is a good development. But that’s not where I’m going with this.

This is the last quote I’ll post from Schlabach’s entire article, but it very well may be my favorite:

"“If the NBA and National Basketball Players Association change their rules and make high school basketball players eligible for the draft at age 18, as expected, they’ll be allowed to sign with an NCAA-certified agent starting July 1 before their senior year of high school.”"

You know what that means? I know you know what that means. And after everything we’ve been through, we deserve a little fun at someone else’s expense.

The University just down the road LIVES off of elite 18 year olds making a pit stop for a year before heading to the league. Now, they can skip all the boring stuff and go straight to the money. After all the talk of how the one-and-done has “ruined” college basketball, many think this is a step in the right direction.

I’m certainly not going to argue. *insert evil laugh here*

What will those kitties do without their roster full of McDonald’s All-Americans every year there to “succeed and proceed”? Hey, maybe their fan base will stop getting preemptive championship tattoos. Probably not. I kid, I kid. Or do I? Our time is now, Coach Mack, let’s turn this state red.

Long story short, the NCAA took some “action” that could end up resulting in… no one really knows yet. Everything as far as how and who could be affected, at least in the long term, is all speculation at this point.

Until everyone has more time to analyze, explain, and take in all the changes to the system, expect a lot of confusion. For now, our Cardinals seem to be taking all the necessary steps to keep moving in a positive direction.