Bob Knight is not the only college men’s basketball coach concerned about an NCAA rule that limits schools to signing no more than five players in one year and eight over a two-year period.
Kansas University’s Roy Williams is also against the “8-and-5 rule,” which has put Texas Tech in a bind following Knight’s dismissal of three players and loss of another player who wants to transfer.
The Red Raiders will have just nine scholarship players next year provided Knight signs a full allotment of five this April-May.
The NCAA allows a maximum of 13 men’s basketball scholarships.
“I would very much be in favor of it being changed,” Williams said. “I think it’s a bad, bad rule.”
It’s a rule that was implemented at last year’s NCAA Board of Directors meeting without input from basketball coaches.
“They (NCAA) had a working group of people who talked about changes they wanted in basketball. That group was made up of ADs, presidents appointed by the board of directors or management council,” said Williams, whose mentor former North Carolina coach Dean Smith was on the committee. “This so-called group of experts never brought that issue up. Then some guy brings it up, somebody says ‘That’s a good idea,’ so we go and vote it in.”
The reason for the rule?
“I can’t give you a great reason for it. Some people say it’s to stop basketball coaches from running people off,” Williams said. “I think that’s almost funny even listening to it. I’ve never known a coach to run anybody off. We’ve never even come close to doing that.
“That is the most overrated thing I’ve heard in college athletics, the idea of running people off. In my 13 years at Kansas I have not run anybody off. Jerry Green (former Tennessee coach), Steve Robinson (Florida State), Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt), Matt Doherty (North Carolina), Mark Turgeon (Wichita State) … they have never run somebody off. There is a perception coaches run people off to get scholarships. I don’t believe that.”
The 8-and-5 scholarship rule will keep KU under the 13-man scholarship limit. KU returns six scholarship players next season (Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Boschee, Jeff Carey, Bryant Nash) and will bring in four scholarship players (Aaron Miles, Michael Lee, Keith Langford, Wayne Simien).
That’s 10 scholarship players. Williams if he so desires can sign one more player this spring. If he does, he’ll have two scholarships to give next recruiting year, considering Jeff Hawkins of KC Sumner has been promised a scholarship after red-shirting the 2001-02 campaign.
So Williams will have at the most 11 scholarship players in uniform next season. Because of the 8 and 5 rule, he won’t have more than 12 the following season, considering he loses Boschee and Carey and would only be able to sign two in addition to Hawkins.
“We’ll go three straight years without 13 scholarship players,” Williams said. “It’s a tough situation if you lose a guy (like transfers Marlon London, John Crider) or a guy goes to the NBA or somebody leaves for very good reasons.
“It’s much tougher for a coach coming in a new position. Barry Collier at Nebraska is going to have some major (numbers) problems over the next couple years. It just didn’t get enough discussion with the basketball issues group. It was instituted very quickly without discussion,” Williams lamented.
“I’m very fortunate here with Bob Frederick (AD) and chancellor (Robert) Hemenway. They do ask opinions and do listen and do understand what they are voting on. A lot of people out there don’t understand what they are voting on sometimes.”
Williams said the 8-and-5 issue is not on the books at any upcoming rules meetings, meaning it likely will remain in effect at least another season.
There is no 8-and-5 rule for women’s basketball.
“This rule doesn’t exist in girls’ basketball, which means the girls are a hell of a lot smarter than whoever put it in place for the guys,” Tech’s Knight said Tuesday.
KU signee Langford is rapidly recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
“Keith only used crutches for two days,” said Langford’s mother, Charlene Taylor.
The 6-foot-5 native of Crowley, Texas, had surgery on March 27 to repair torn medial meniscus in his knee.
“He was instructed to do leg lifts the first afternoon by the surgeon to keep the thigh muscles strong. He was lifting, doing push-ups and sit-ups the next morning,” she added.
“He began running the stadium stairs yesterday and played a couple of games of pick-up ball at the high school. His rehab is ahead of schedule. It looks like the two-week time frame was on the money.”
