Legendary NCAA head coach John Calipari slammed the NCAA for allowing players who have been drafted to return to college basketball, saying that once a player’s name has appeared on an NBA draft board, they should not be eligible to play college basketball under any circumstances.
One of the more controversial transfers happened in the NCAA recently, as 21-year-old 2023 NBA second-round draft pick James Nnaji enrolled at Baylor and received four years of eligibility with permission to play immediately.
The decision sent shockwaves through the college basketball world, as it is virtually unprecedented for a player who has spent multiple years playing professional basketball and has already been drafted into the NBA to return to college competition.
Legendary NCAA coach John Calipari, the former longtime head coach at Kentucky and now leading the University of Arkansas, strongly criticized the NCAA for allowing the move.
Calipari argued that any player who enters the NBA Draft should be permanently ineligible for college basketball, regardless of circumstances.
"Look, I don't blame coaches," he said during a press conference on Monday. "I've got friends that are playing with 27-year-olds and they feel bad. I said, 'Don't feel bad. We don't have any rules. Why should you feel bad?'
“The rules bees the rules,” Calipari stated. “If you put your name in the draft, I don’t care if you’re from Russia—you can’t play college basketball. If your name was in that draft and you got drafted, you can’t come back and play college basketball.”
Calipari then went on a nearly seven-minute rant about the current state of college athletics, criticizing it heavily and making his stance clear.
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