CHICAGO — UCLA coach Mick Cronin is in the middle of a soliloquy Thursday at Big Ten Media Days describing his new big man, Michigan State transfer Xavier Booker, when he does something he’s really adept at: steering the conversation.
“When you’re 6-foot-11, if (Booker) has a good year, he’ll be drafted,” Cronin says matter-of-factly. “Whether it’s this year, next year … or his fifth year.”
Those last four words loom large. Major uncertainty swirling around a potential pivot by the NCAA to allow players five seasons of eligibility in a five-season span — dubbed the “5 in 5” model — has forced some of college basketball’s shakers-and-movers into a bit of an uneasy holding pattern.
The change seems inevitable, but the timing of when a new policy would take effect is unknown.
Some college basketball coaches believe it could be enacted as soon as this month, partially to get football staffs and players on the same page ahead of the lone transfer portal window in early January, but other high-major executives have pushed back against that aggressive timeline.
NCAA rule changes notoriously take forever to get off the mat through a mountain of red tape — but numerous Big Ten coaches reiterated that if it was going to happen for the 2025-26 season, it would have to be enacted … right about now.
“The thing about it is you hear something different every week,” Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg said. “The last we heard, it’s probably not going to happen this year, but it may happen in the future.”
If Hoiberg’s intel is accurate, many seniors, including Purdue’s Braden Smith, the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, won’t have the option to return for a fifth season. Of course, Smith would love nothing more than to become a no-doubt, NBA Draft pick next summer, but if that did not coalesce, a fifth year of college basketball would provide a lucrative, high-profile backup plan.
It’s not…
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