San Diego State is down to five guys at basketball practice this week, and judges across the country are handing out court injunctions like Halloween candy that temporarily grant fourth-year seniors from last season an extra year of eligibility.
Don’t connect the dots. SDSU coach Brian Dutcher, for now at least, isn’t in the market for another player.
There are two reasons. One is that SDSU’s revenue-sharing budget is fully allocated. Another is that, even if Dutcher found six figures of couch change, he wouldn’t want to risk upsetting team chemistry.
“There are a lot of guys all of a sudden on the market, and a lot of the schools that have unlimited resources can go out and find someone late,” Dutcher said. “I love my roster that I have here now, so unless I had an injury where I lost someone for the year, I don’t think I’d be looking to add another piece.”
The Aztecs did have a likely season-ending injury in May, when 6-foot-4 RIce transfer Nick Anderson suffered a torn ACL during a workout in his hometown of Houston. The Aztecs quickly added Isaiah Sy, a 6-7 wing from Oregon State, to fill his roster spot.
The reduced numbers at summer workouts are from a variety of factors.
Returning guard Elzie Harrington underwent offseason leg surgery but is expected to be ready by fall practice, especially if a doctor’s appointment this week goes well. Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry returned to workouts after a minor calf issue, momentarily giving them seven players, only for Tae Simmons (foot) and Latrell Davis (shoulder) to be sidelined.
Neither injury is considered serious.
And then there are the three European pros: Luka Skoric from Croatia, and David Torresani and Luca Vincini from Italy. Skoric and Torresani are on campus; Vincini has a visa appointment in Italy this week.
None, however, has been cleared by the NCAA, which in May issued a memo indicating it intends to enforce language about not granting eligibility to pros whose compensation exceeded “actual and necessary expenses.”
Many pros from lower-level leagues with modest salaries have been cleared. So have some from high-level leagues like Spain’s Liga ACB, although that is likely because savvy agents had their players sign “junior” contracts knowing they’d eventually want to play in college at some point without running afoul of NCAA compensation guidelines.
But players from top teams in other leagues remain in limbo.
“We’re doing our due diligence,” Dutcher said. “We’re sending in contracts, we’re sending in receipts, we’re updating their files daily. At some point, the NCAA, which has not ruled on a lot of guys in this situation, will start ruling on some of these guys and there will be clarity.
“Hopefully, because of the lateness that they added the new legislation, our guys will be on path to being cleared sometime soon.”
Even if the NCAA doesn’t grant eligibility to one or more of SDSU’s Europeans, diving into the market for fifth-year players is a tricky proposition.
Some of the injunctions from state court judges applying to specific players allow them to enter a revised transfer portal to change schools; the recent injunction from a federal judge in Colorado applies to all athletes but with more restrictions, including, it seems, the ability to return only to their last school.
In addition, the NCAA has said it intends to vigorously fight the federal case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which has a history of not granting preliminary injunctions that change the status quo as readily as others.
There’s also the possibility that the case could be heard in the next few months and the NCAA could win, immediately ending all eligibility for athletes under temporary injunctive relief.
“You could add a fifth-year guy and you get into the season and they overturn it, then what do you do?” Dutcher said. “Forfeit games? I don’t know. It’s interesting. In a world where nothing surprises me, nothing will surprise me either way.”
SDSU technically has another week of summer workouts before a break before the fall semester, but Dutcher said the plan is to end team sessions and just do individual work. There’s only so much you can do with five guys.
“We won’t do team stuff where we go at each other because the way we practice here is only one speed, and that’s game speed,” Dutcher said. “We’ve got done what I felt we needed to get done. I’ve seen what I’ve needed to see, and now we’ll start resting up for the fall.
“We’re a long way from the end of the season in March. I want to make sure we’re in good health. I don’t want to push them too hard, where we’re running the risk of getting a guy hurt for the season.”
Poaching lawsuit settled
The Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences announced Tuesday that they had settled their civil lawsuit over exit and poaching fees. Terms were not immediately available.
A May 19 discovery hearing was called off after the sides informed Judge Susan van Keulen in the U.S. District Court in San Jose that they had reached an agreement in principle to resolve the pending suits.
The sides had until June 2 to file a formal notice of settlement that would warrant dismissing the case.
The Pac-12 and Mountain West issued a joint statement Tuesday. “With these matters concluded,” it ended, “the conferences and institutions can move forward with serving their student-athletes, campuses, fans and communities.”