If you had any questions about how the NCAA is perceived nowadays, that has been put to rest. There can be no doubt that it is not a well-liked organization by any stretch, and with the big news that broke on Friday, that and evidence that it is in a defining period for its existence all became just a little clearer.
It started when the NCAA ruled Memphis big man James Wiseman ineligible for the season. I emphasize “started” there. Memphis then got a judge to stay that ruling and decided to play Wiseman against UIC, who they annihilated 92-46 in front of the home crowd in a Barclays Center Classic campus game. He had 17 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. One might wonder, why even play him in a game like that and take the chance?
Wiseman and Memphis are not going to take this laying down. They are going to fight the NCAA. And most people are going to root for them to emerge victorious, too.
In case anyone wondered, the NCAA was not done on the evening. A little before 8:30 p.m. on Friday night – while the game was being played – they posted the following statement on their official Twitter for NCAA news and updates:
NCAA statement on James Wiseman: pic.twitter.com/B4hClOQxMj
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) November 9, 2019
That got a lot of people talking. To many, it was a case of shots fired.
The NCAA is not exactly a favorite organization of many people nowadays. Many a public figure has voiced their displeasure with the NCAA, especially in recent times. The governing body is at a crucial point in its existence as it nears a day of reckoning for what it is and will be. With California passing its Fair Pay to Play Act recently and numerous other state legislatures pondering similar legislation, the NCAA is on the clock to do something about its current setup. The NCAA has long wanted to control the travel basketball scene at ages prior to college, but has far more often looked foolish in its attempts.
To be clear, the Fair Pay to Play Act being in effect now, or the NCAA having already done what they announced recently, would not have mattered here. Wiseman did not receive money for the use of his name, image or likeness, so that is irrelevant. Even the facile one-liner often delivered – “just pay them and this won’t happen” – doesn’t hold up, and it also trivializes the subject matter. It requires some more thoughtful analysis and insights than that.
You can understand why Wiseman is fighting this battle. He basically has nothing to lose as a sure one-and-done player; his draft stock will not change unless he gets hurt. (Side note: this story prompted some to observe that it might be better if he doesn’t play for exactly that reason, which while technically correct is also an unfortunate sign of the times since we’re in the no-play era.) He doesn’t have to worry about any sanctions since he won’t be in college.
But you are welcome to ask: why is Memphis fighting this battle? What about his teammates who would be impacted by this? Penny Hardaway could lose his job; he doesn’t need the pay, having made nine figures in career earnings in the NBA, but surely he didn’t take this job at his alma mater with hopes of not lasting long. The school is standing by him and Wiseman right now, but at what potential cost? In short, everyone else has much more at stake than Wiseman does. Future players at the school would likely be impacted after Wiseman is gone.
The public is behind the school on this, and it’s not hard to understand. Besides the aforementioned reasons the NCAA isn’t well-liked, there’s also the matter of Hardaway not being the Tigers’ head coach when this happened. Hardaway helped Wiseman’s family move from Nashville to Memphis in the summer of 2017, when Tubby Smith was the Tigers’ head coach. That was not a good fit, but no one knew Smith would be canned at the end of the following season. Who knew that Hardaway would become the head coach at his alma mater?
Although the school’s hire of Hardaway came to be a foregone conclusion in the eyes of many, in every way it was also seen as a risky move. He had no coaching experience past high school, and the track record of former star players as coaches is not one full of unqualified success stories. While he donated a million dollars to them about a decade earlier, it’s not as if he’s been donating big money to the program on a regular basis, so the NCAA deeming him a booster because of that has struck some as odd and self-serving.
The potential rewards of defying the NCAA are clear. Memphis has a team that could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament if their young stars grow up fast. Additionally, should they prevail, they will endear themselves to much of the public that is behind them. But the risks are not small at all, and Wiseman has fewer of those than anyone else involved.
What happens here is going to be a big deal any way you slice it, and it’s only just beginning.
