Commission Recommends Sweeping Reforms For College Basketball

An independent commission says sweeping changes are necessary for college basketball to survive.

The NCAA’s Commission on College Basketball released nearly 60 pages of recommended reforms Wednesday.

The NCAA established the commission after an FBI investigation into college basketball, which resulted in several people being charged in a bribery and kickback scheme.

The commission is recommending a long list of changes, including ending the “one-and-done” rule, which requires basketball players to be one year removed from high school before going to the NBA.

Bloomington South Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach J.R. Holmes says he’s in favor of the change, because it could level the playing field.

“I think it might be good to get those premiere, pre-madonna big time athletes, let them go on and make the college game more like it used to be,” Holmes says.

But, the change is one the NBA actually has the authority to make. Condoleezza Rice heads the commission and says if the league doesn’t do so, the commission will take other action.

“The commission will reconvene and consider other measures, including freshmen ineligibility and/or the lockup of scholarships for a specific period of time,” Rice says.

Other recommendations include enacting harsher penalties for programs and coaches who violate NCAA rules, as well as creating an independent panel to investigate misconduct cases.

“Today’s current state where an entire community knows of significant rule breaking and yet the governance body lacks the power and will to do so, to investigate,” Rice says. “This breeds cynicism and it breeds contempt.”

The NCAA’s Board of Governors will review the recommendations and determine how to move forward.