NCAA rules changes Wednesday Aug 8 2018

Elite HS and college hoops players can have agents, and agent or no, NBA early entrants can return to school if undrafted.
NCAA rules changes

Note that the college rules are effective immediately, while the HS rules are said to hinge on the NBA eliminating the 1&Done rules.

Also of significance, recruits can now take up to 15 official visits, limited to one visit per school per year.

No definition of what “year” means in the article. Calendar? Academic? Any 12 month period?

And no note of the penalty for having more than 1 official visit to the same school in a “year”.

Need to know.

www.ncaa.org/about/flexibility-going-pro-and-getting-degree

Excerpt regarding the 15 visits--
Basketball student-athletes can make more frequent campus visits paid for by colleges (referred to as official visits), which can begin as soon as Aug. 1 the summer before their junior year in high school. They can take:

Five visits between Aug. 1 and the end of their junior year of high school.
Five visits between the end of their junior year and Oct. 15 after high school graduation.
Five visits between Oct. 15 after high school graduation and the remainder of their college eligibility.
A student-athlete can visit a school only once per year. Unofficial visits — those made at his or her own expense — cannot begin before Aug. 1 of the student’s sophomore year of high school.

Schools now can pay for 28 official visits for recruits (34 for national service academies) over a rolling, two-year period.

These rules are effective Aug. 15, 2018.

Not as great a boon as it seemed for the student-athlete, as the last 5 visits are essentially visits to be made if the student becomes one of the 40% who transfer programs during their college career.

And reading the text on Early Entrants, the agent exception seems to only apply for those invited to the NBA Combine. That's only what, 60-90 invites each year? And how many young men chose to test the waters this past year? Hmmm...

Lots more info, check it out!

www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24324859/nca...basketball-officials

NCAA clearly not playing well with others yet.

Don’t be fooled by smoke and mirror rules changes, this was a power grab

He makes a compelling case. I have not seen the language about accepting outside investigations and results at face value, i.e., no longer requiring separate investigation by the NCAA. I’ll have to do more research. Plus for KU in such a case is KU has been called a “victim” in the FBI investigations. That furthers support for Silvio, who the FBI make no individual claims against, being in the clear.

My original link above sent the reader to just one part of the NCAA rules changes announced yesterday.

From that page you can use the links in the upper rh corner to navigate to the other portions of the changes, to include the home page. Note that I personally find it easier to navigate from the previously posted link.

HawkErrant wrote: Don’t be fooled by smoke and mirror rules changes, this was a power grab

He makes a compelling case. I have not seen the language about accepting outside investigations and results at face value, i.e., no longer requiring separate investigation by the NCAA. I’ll have to do more research. Plus for KU in such a case is KU has been called a “victim” in the FBI investigations. That furthers support for Silvio, who the FBI make no individual claims against, being in the clear.

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT

Having now read the language of the NCAA changes relating to using outside investigation results, and adding in to that the other changes that will allow elite HS recruits to have agents in the future, I am more than ever in the camp that, ceteris paribus, the NCAA will not be looking to punish Silvio for the alleged indiscretions of his guardian.

FACTS

1. The new NCAA rules means the NCAA would almost certainly use the FBI investigation and its outcomes instead of separately investigating Silvio.

2. The new NCAA rules will eventually allow "elite" HS recruits to have agents, and presently it is his guardian's "agent" status -- created by allegedly taking A$ from first Under Armor and then adidas -- creating the issue for Silvio.

3. The FBI investigation information we have to date essentially declares KU a victim. New rule changes would argue accepting that assessment.

4. I have seen/heard nothing of the investigation making any claims that Silvio or his family had any knowledge of the alleged transactions, let alone received any $.

5. So to date the only NCAA issue tied to Silvio would be did the actions of his "agent" influence his decision to attend KU?

ANALYSIS

With the NCAA now on record declaring it wants to be able for elite HS seniors to have agents without jeopardizing their eligibility, the optics of going after Silvio would be horrible. And I would argue that even before the changes, the optics would be horrible -- and Justice malserved -- because as I have argued in the past all the information to date indicates Silvio chose to go to KU despite any efforts by his guardian to persuade him to go to Maryland. The FBI investigation indicates the guardian got $ from Under Armor to persuade a current but unnamed KU player - whom everyone agrees would be Silvio - to play for Turgeon at Maryland, and when Silvio chose KU, the guardian went to the adidas rep for $ so the guardian could pay back UA.

BOTTOM LINE

As I have argued in the past, if Silvio had gone to Maryland the NCAA would have a stronger case of an "agent" influencing a recruit.

Instead what the NCAA has is an FBI investigation with a fact timeline indicating that Silvio made his own decision on where to go IN SPITE OF any alleged efforts by his guardian to direct him to Maryland or anywhere else.

There is no evidence of money to Silvio or his family, only allegedly to the guardian whom the NCAA would consider an agent.
There is strong evidence supporting Silvio's declaration that his decision to attend KU was NOT influenced by that guardian/agent.

Given those facts -- and assuming no other information is discovered/uncovered that would materially alter those facts -- the NCAA has no case against Silvio.

Advantage: KU and Silvio De Sousa.