Jae'Lyn Withers, Junior College Players and 5 Years of Eligibility

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Like a lot of seniors, JWit has entered the portal - presumably to keep his options open in case the NCAA grants everybody a 5th year.

Apparently the NCAA has already extended the 5th year to players who spent time playing at the Junior College level. Initially a court case for one guy, now extended to all former JUCO players.

Which raises the question whether there are any former JUCO players we might be interested in who now have a 5th year?

​

“The NCAA Division I Board of Directors granted a waiver to permit student-athletes who attended and competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years to remain eligible and compete in 2025-26. If those student-athletes would have otherwise used their final season of competition during the 2024-25 academic year, and meet all other eligibility requirements (e.g., progress toward degree, five-year period of eligibility).”​

If I got any of that wrong, please correct me.

 

[Bubspub88]

So how the H can a coach build a roster if the NCAA cannot even say for certain when a player's eligibility expires?? They have moved from from inconsistent to incompetent to totally inept. Its final demise cannot get here soon enough.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

This makes a very difficult job even more difficult! It is no wonder all the Old-school teachers are jumping ship! The Portal and NIL already add extreme uncertainty to roster construction and remove the concept of continuity from the equation! This decision means no coach has any idea who he will be coaching from year to year!

What a shame. I agree 100% that the toothless NCAA needs to go.

 

[Geth]

So sick of this. A once beloved past time has become a buyable sellable commodity.

 

[DaveChapelle]

Like a lot of seniors, JWit has entered the portal - presumably to keep his options open in case the NCAA grants everybody a 5th year.

Apparently the NCAA has already extended the 5th year to players who spent time playing at the Junior College level. Initially a court case for one guy, now extended to all former JUCO players.

Which raises the question whether there are any former JUCO players we might be interested in who now have a 5th year?

​

“The NCAA Division I Board of Directors granted a waiver to permit student-athletes who attended and competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years to remain eligible and compete in 2025-26. If those student-athletes would have otherwise used their final season of competition during the 2024-25 academic year, and meet all other eligibility requirements (e.g., progress toward degree, five-year period of eligibility).”​

If I got any of that wrong, please correct me.

Withers has already played 5 years.

He wasn't a senior. He was in his 6th year of college. He redshirted his freshman year at Louisville, then played 3 years at Louisville, then played 2 years at UNC.

 

[DSouthr]

So, this explains why players that had used all their eligibility are showing up in the portal.

 

[gunslingerdick]

1 - Why are there eligibility requirements at all anymore? If a guy wants to play 10 years at Carolina, and Carolina wants him to and pays him to, why not just call him Mando and let him have it? What's the point of eligibility now? Which brings me to my next point...

2 - Why are we still requiring these guys to act like their going to school? Guys playing for the Lakers aren't required to act like they're going to school. This is obviously just a business at this point - minor league basketball. Give up the charade of sending these guys to class. It's a farce. And with all the transferring around, how do these guys even amass enough transferable credits to be making progress towards a degree?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Withers has already played 5 years.

He wasn't a senior. He was in his 6th year of college. He redshirted his freshman year at Louisville, then played 3 years at Louisville, then played 2 years at UNC.

We know this.

And yet, he entered the portal.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

1 - Why are there eligibility requirements at all anymore? If a guy wants to play 10 years at Carolina, and Carolina wants him to and pays him to, why not just call him Mando and let him have it? What's the point of eligibility now? Which brings me to my next point...

2 - Why are we still requiring these guys to act like their going to school? Guys playing for the Lakers aren't required to act like they're going to school. This is obviously just a business at this point - minor league basketball. Give up the charade of sending these guys to class. It's a farce. And with all the transferring around, how do these guys even amass enough transferable credits to be making progress towards a degree?

Pretty much.