Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari didn’t exactly mince words this week when talking about the state of college basketball.
Calipari went on a seven-minute postgame rant after Arkansas’ 103-74 win over James Madison, unloading frustration that’s been building across college sports. That frustration was reignited after Baylor announced the addition of former NBA draft pick James Nnaji to its roster mid-season.
Nnaji — a 7-foot center selected No. 31 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft — is the first drafted player to be cleared to play college basketball. The NCAA ruled him eligible because he had never played in an NBA game. A technicality, of course. And it underscores exactly what Calipari is railing against.
“Does anybody care what this is doing for 17- and 18-year-old American kids?” Calipari asked. “Do you know what this opportunity has done for them and their families? There aren’t going to be any high school kids.”
Calipari made it clear he doesn’t blame coaches for taking advantage of the loopholes.
“We don’t have any rules,” he said. “Why should you feel bad?”
That line tells you exactly where college basketball and football now stand.
Between NIL collectives operating like free-agent war chests, the transfer portal turning rosters into revolving doors, and now professional players — some nearly 30 years old — parachuting into college lineups in the middle of the season, the line between college and professional basketball has effectively disappeared.
“If you can get NBA players, G League players, guys that are 28 years old, guys from Europe,” Calipari said, “why would anybody else [recruit high school kids]?”
That’s the part that gets lost in the shiny ideas about player empowerment and athletes having control over their name, image and likeness. The intent behind NIL is noble, but massive collectives have sent the concept over a cliff. Sure, the system might work just fine for the elite, top-of-the-food-chain athletes — the ones with guaranteed playing time who are cashing massive NIL checks. But for the average college basketball or football player, it’s brutal.
And, if what just happened at Baylor continues, players who signed up to compete against peers their own age might suddenly find themselves replaced by grown professionals with years of experience. But the rules allow it, so it’s fine, right?
Calipari proposed several fixes he believes could stabilize the sport, starting with a hard line on the NBA Draft.
“If you put your name in the draft — I don’t care if you’re from Russia — and you stay in the draft, you can’t play college basketball,” he said. “If your name is in that draft, and you got drafted, you can’t play because that’s our rule.”
He also called for eliminating mid-season additions altogether.
“If you join a program at mid-season, you cannot play that season,” Calipari said. “Don’t tell me about lawsuits.”
NCAA president Charlie Baker responded to the controversy by emphasizing that players who sign NBA contracts remain ineligible, while acknowledging that “recent outlier decisions” have created confusion. Baker said he would work with Division I leaders “to protect college basketball.”
But Calipari isn’t interested in waiting on Congress, courts or press releases.
“How about we just do that stuff?” he said. “We can do it without having Congress and the Senate getting 60 votes.”
At some point, college basketball has to decide what it wants to be. Right now, it’s trying to live in two worlds. And it’s doing a terrible job of protecting the players who aren’t stars, celebrities or — in this case — fully formed professionals.
