The Morning Stake | 2020.02.21

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Could a One-Time Waiver Rule Be “the Death of College Basketball”?. Via WatchStadium

I mean, who would you rather have? A freshman point guard or a proven floor leader who makes big shots on a team that has already won 24 games this season. I’ll take Crutcher over North Carolina’s Cole Anthony, regarded by most as the top freshman point guard in the nation, any day.

It’s a no-brainer.

Houston’s Caleb Mills is a redshirt freshman who is leading Kelvin Sampson’s group in scoring, a team that is a lock to make the NCAA Tournament. None of the big boys came after him out of high school.

Now they will.

“Ultimately, it’s what some will do, if not most,” one blue blood assistant coach told me. “And even if I don’t, the others will.”

Sure, there will be some that will remain loyal to those who recruited them out of high school when no one else did. Maybe Crutcher, who wasn’t really recruited by his hometown Memphis Tigers and initially committed to Chattanooga prior to a coaching change, will stick with Grant and the Flyers. Alston and Mills could do the same with Rice and Sampson.

But it won’t be easy to resist the lure of playing in the ACC, the Big Ten or one of the other power leagues — especially without having to sit out a year.

I understand that this is fair for the players – to be able to transfer and not have to sit a full season – and most of them, past and present, are in support.

Multiple hurdles remain before NCAA can relax transfer rules for revenue sports. Via CBS Sports

Imagine a disgruntled five-star freshman dissatisfied with his dorm accommodations leaving after a season for a softer bed. Imagine two of the biggest dates on the college football calendar becoming the end of spring practice and end of fall camp. That’s when a potential glut of quarterbacks (or wide receivers or running backs or defensive backs) would hit the market after losing position battles.

Basically, imagine the transfer portal times 10.

It’s all on the table. It’s also a potential mess. The Big Ten originally proposed one-time transfer legislation last fall. On Monday, the ACC publicly supported the concept. Momentum seems to be pushing the issue toward adoption. The three remaining Power Five conferences (Big 12, SEC, Pac-12) were expected to discuss the proposal at their respective spring meetings.

“That’s going to happen, man,” a former member of the NCAA Council, who did not want to be identified, said. “I’ve been hearing murmurs. It seems unstoppable now.”

If the adjusted rule passes, all players in all sports will be allowed to transfer once in their careers as undergraduates without sitting out. It came time to admit the athletes in those five aforementioned “revenue” sports were being treated unfairly. If academic achievement was the rationale for making them sit out, that rationale was hypocritical.

Texas Tech Volleyball

Texas Tech Soccer

Texas Tech Track and Field

Texas Tech Tennis

Texas Tech Softball

Lady Raider Basketball

Texas Tech Baseball

Round Rock Classic. I’ll have the open thread go up at noon, but it’s three games this weekend against three different teams, Tennessee tonight, Stanford tomorrow, and Houston on Sunday.

Texas Tech Basketball

Cinematic Highlights.

Texas Tech Football

Spring Game. The official site, released the spring schedule, with spring practice set to start on March 3rd, with 15 practices, a Fan Fest set for April 4th, and the Spring Game on April 10th. April 10th is Good Friday so I don’t know how doable that is, and the 6th is the prior Saturday, with both the Fan Fest and the Spring Game open to the public, I’m guessing the Fan Fest is event they want most fans to attend.

Also new is that there does not appear to be a game at The Star in Frisco, which was where I went to watch spring football.

March 3 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #1)
March 5 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #2)
March 7 – 9:30 a.m. (Practice #3)
March 10 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #4)
March 12 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #5)
March 24 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #6)
March 26 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #7)
March 27 – TBD (Practice #8)
March 28 – 11:15 a.m. (Practice #9)
March 31 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #10)
April 2 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #11)
April 4 – 11 a.m. (Practice #12 / Fan Fest)
April 7 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #13)
April 9 – 3:30 p.m. (Practice #14)
April 10 – 6 p.m. (Texas Tech Spring Game)

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