John Calipari critical of adding pro players to college game

Without new rules to stop teams from adding players with professional experience to their rosters, the value of American high school players will rapidly decrease, John Calipari said in a postgame rant about the state of the sport Monday night.

In a six-minute response about college basketball, days after Baylor announced the addition of former NBA draft pick James Nnaji to its roster, Calipari said the sport’s youngest talents will suffer if players who’ve played professionally — domestically or internationally — are allowed to compete.

“Does anybody care what this is doing for 17- and 18-year-old American kids? Do you know what this opportunity has done for them and their families? There aren’t going to be any high school kids,” Calipari said after Arkansas’ 103-74 win over James Madison. “Who other than dumb people like me are going to recruit high school kids? I get so much satisfaction out of coaching young kids and seeing them grow and make it — and their family and life changes — that I’m going to keep doing it. But why would anybody else, if you can get NBA players, G League players, guys that are 28 years old, guys from Europe? Do we really know their transcript? Do we have somebody over there? Do we really know their birth certificate or don’t we?

“We’ve got no rules.”

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Both Louisville (London Johnson) and Santa Clara (Thierry Darlan) recently signed players with G League experience to their rosters, but Nnaji — a 7-foot center who played professional overseas after he was drafted 31st in the 2023 NBA draft — is the first drafted player to get cleared to play by the NCAA.

While Scott Drew defended his decision to add Nnaji and said he’s “happy” he was allowed to play, UConn’s Dan Hurley, Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo were all critical of the rules that allowed it to happen.

“Now we’re taking guys that were drafted in the NBA,” Izzo said. “If that’s what we’re going to do, shame on the NCAA. Shame on the coaches, too. But shame on the NCAA. Because coaches are going to do what they’ve got to do, I guess.”

Calipari expounded on those sentiments Monday. He listed a set of proposed rules that he believes could stabilize the sport, including four years of eligibility in a five-year window for every athlete and the elimination of all midseason additions.

“This is an easy one. We can do this, NCAA,” he said. “Don’t tell me about lawsuits. If you join a program at midseason, you cannot play that season.”

Calipari said he would make an exception for students who weren’t academically eligible during the first semester but were in good standing to compete in the second semester. He did not, however, offer any exceptions for players who’ve entered the NBA draft, saying all players in that situation should be banned.

“Real simple. The rules be the rules, so if you put your name in the [NBA draft], I don’t care if you’re from Russia and you stay in the draft, you can’t play college basketball,” Calipari said. “‘Well, that’s only for American kids.’ What? If your name is in that draft and you got drafted, you can’t play because that’s our rule.”

NCAA president Charlie Baker posted a statement on social media Tuesday addressing the eligibility issue, saying in part, “The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract (including a two-way contract). As schools are increasingly recruiting individuals with international league experience, the NCAA is exercising discretion in applying the actual and necessary expenses bylaw to ensure that prospective student-athletes with experience in American basketball leagues are not at a disadvantage compared to their international counterparts.”

Baker added that he’d be working with “DI leaders in the weeks ahead to protect college basketball” after “recent outlier decisions” over eligibility.

It’s unclear what else the NCAA will allow in the near future with regard to players with professional experience as it seeks Congressional intervention to fix the landscape. But Calipari said the stakeholders within college basketball should act now to preserve its future.

“How about we just do that stuff?” he said. “We can do it without having Congress and the Senate getting 60 votes.”