The new world of college athletics has brought a lot of change in a very short amount of time. Every five seconds, you’ve got players hitting the portal and trying to land as much money as possible. While there’s been a lot of debate on whether this has been good or bad for the collegiate landscape, we need to address a trend that has really gotten out of control: players declaring to hit the portal when they have no eligibility.
I mean, this is starting to get ridiculous. In the span of a few weeks, Syracuse basketball has seen a large majority of its roster from last season enter the transfer portal with hopes of getting another year of eligibility. Most notably, graduate student center Eddie Lampkin Jr, as well as Lucas Taylor, Jaquan Carlos, Naheem McLeod, and more. This has been common all across the NCAA in all sports, and it makes absolutely zero sense.
All of these players who are trying to squeeze out another year in college are simply doing it to do it. Some of the excuses that have been circulating, too, are just not valid. Eddie Lampkin’s reasoning for wanting to play another year is that he “barely” played his freshman season at TCU. Mind you, Lampkin played in TEN GAMES. Players are trying to spin things into how it is in football, where you get some leeway, but even so, why are we citing a season from BEFORE THE PANDEMIC to play college basketball for a sixth season? It’s honestly baffling…
Now the NCAA hasn’t granted any of these waivers yet, but it’s tiring to get these reports of players hitting the portal when it doesn’t matter. We’re finally hitting the end of the COVID years for players and guys staying in college until they’re pushing 30, but when the pay is so good to stick around, what’s incentivizing players to leave? The NCAA has a problem on its hands, and this seems like the start of something much more than players overstaying their welcome.
