NCAA deserves to be under fire for chaos of its own making in college basketball

Jay Bilas is one of the premier media names when it comes to college basketball coverage. In fact, in the pantheon of college basketball personalities, Bilas may be at the top of the totem pole. 

Perhaps only Dick Vitale is more well-known in the general sports zeitgeist.

That means that what he says about the NCAA carries a lot of weight, and that’s especially true when he’s criticizing the NCAA. That’s exactly what Bilas did on a recent episode of “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN. 

The longtime college basketball analyst went on the ESPN talk show and blasted the NCAA for the way it has handled eligibility cases this season.

“I think we’ve got an issue where the NCAA doesn’t have eligibility rules that are based on any principle. There’s no age limit in college sports. I’m not saying there should be but people are complaining about that. And we have similarly situated players that are treated differently,” Bilas said (h/t On3). 

“You have international players that never matriculated to college but played pro basketball and made a lot of money, and they’re (ruled) eligible. And you’ve got players, international in nature, that didn’t go to college but went through the draft, and the NCAA deems them eligible.”