As Big 12 play opens, college basketball faces existential questions with some midseason additions

PROVO — Michigan State legend Tom Izzo called it "ridiculous" and "embarrassing," and Purdue's Matt Painter was "at a loss for words."

When the first wave of former NBA and G League prospects began to hit college basketball, the cries from around the sport were loud and nearly instantaneous.

As a handful of programs began to add former professionals and prospects to their roster, including Baylor adding the former No. 31 overall pick in the NBA draft in Nigerian post James Nnaji and BYU signing Egyptian international and former G League center Abdullah "Bidoo" Ahmed at the semester break, the higher levels of college basketball coaches decried the move.

Some, like Arkansas' John Calipari, wanted a hard-line stance on eligibility of such players.

"The rules be the rules," the former Kentucky coach said. "If you put your name in the draft, I don't care if you're from Russia and you stay in the draft, you can't play college basketball."

As No. 10 BYU men's basketball prepares to open Big 12 play Saturday against Kansas State (11:30 a.m. MST, CBS), BYU coach Kevin Young was doing so with a roster that included a brand-new addition in Ahmed.

The 6-foot-10 center from Cairo, Egypt, who spent the past two seasons with the Westchester Knicks signed in November, enrolled in school in late December, and came off the bench to pull down five rebounds with a blocked shot in nine minutes of a 109-81 win over Eastern Washington in the Cougars' nonconference finale.

Ahmed was exactly what the Cougars needed: primarily depth in the post, a big body who could rebound, and a defensive game that was more developed than he was on offense — which probably played a role in Ahmed never signing an NBA contract, or even a two-way deal.

If he had, he probably wouldn't have been ruled eligible. If he had played even one minute in the NBA, even Young admits he probably wouldn't have tried to sign him.

But Young has seen plenty of NBA prospects when he was an assistant coach with the now-defunct Utah Flash in 2007, head coach of the Iowa Energy from 2011 through 2013, and again with the Delaware 87ers in the 76ers' organization from 2014-16 before he became the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA.

All of them started with big dreams. For many of them, those dreams never materialized. Not very close, in some cases.

"Some of those guys flamed out and never made it," Young told reporters this week. "Their lives look a lot different than they could have if they had stayed in school and gotten more ready to play in the NBA."

Young said he respects the college basketball coaching stars and legends who seem opposed to letting former G League players try to gain a second chance at basketball and — in the age of name, image and likeness — a financial advantage while earning an education. But he's not all-in with the thinking that such players are bad for a system, or that they disadvantage high school players, either.

Quite the contrary, at least potentially.

"I think in a lot of ways, we're going back toward younger players having to pay their dues," he said. "If those players take it as an opportunity to come in, make pretty good compensation, put their time in, get better, and be more physically ready, then you have a much better recipe for guys to get that second contract in the NBA. And if you want to talk about life-changing, that's life-changing for a kid."

The NCAA has clarified that no player who has signed an NBA contract or spent time at the highest level of basketball in the United States will be ruled eligible to compete in college. There's still a line between the professional model and college's interpretation of amateurism, and that lines appears to be — at the very least — signing earning an NBA salary.

But the gray area remains with the G League players, who are more like the European pros who maintain their amateur status with contracts that barely cover living expenses and have been playing in college for years.

"In the big picture, I think everyone is trying tho figure out what are the rules and how can we play within those rules," Young said. "That's what Baylor did, and kudos to them for figuring it out. You've got to do it, or you're going to be playing catch-up."

Related topics