The NCAA men's basketball oversight committee proposed a new rule Wednesday that could lead to a lot of underclassmen going back to school with no consequences to their draft stock. Committee chair Dan Guerrero, who is also the UCLA athletic director, told ESPN that if the proposal is implemented it would be in place for the 2016 draft.
Under the proposal underclassmen would be allowed to attend the Chicago pre-draft combine in May, get evaluated by team personnel and given a true reading on their draft status. The players would then be able to decide if they wanted to stay in the draft or return to school. They couldn't sign with an agent, though. This was all a coordinated effort by the NCAA, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and the NBA.
The current draft rules don't allow a player to return to college once he officially declares for the NBA draft, which a lot of kids do after the NCAA Tournament in early April. The NBA would still have an early-entry deadline of late April and an official withdrawal date of 10 days before the draft, as per the collective bargaining agreement. But the NCAA would then have its own withdrawal date moved up from the week after the Final Four to sometime in mid to late May, after the pre-draft combine.
"This is a positive development for student-athletes exploring their professional dreams,'' said Dan Gavitt, NCAA Vice President of men's basketball. "This would give prospects and their families more appropriate time and unbiased info from the NBA to make important decisions. And it would probably lead some to go back to school."
This legislation is being billed as a positive for player development and player's rights. It might have helped a few prospects this year like Kansas' Kelly Oubre and Cliff Alexander or even Duke's Tyus Jones. It would also help NBA teams with their evaluations and could help them narrow down workouts for groups and individuals as well as give them longer to look at these kids play ball in college.
