CHICAGO — UCLA coach Mick Cronin is in the middle of a monologue 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.
“If you’re 6-foot-4 and (Booker) has a good year, he’s going to get 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 surrounding a possible NCAA pivot to giving players five seasons of eligibility in a five-season period — known as 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 come into effect is unknown.
Some college basketball coaches believe it could be put into effect as soon as this month, in part to get football staff and players in line before the single transfer portal in early January, but other senior executives have pushed back against that aggressive timeline.
Changes to NCAA rules are notorious for taking forever to get off the mat through a mountain of red tape — but countless Big Ten coaches reiterated that if it were to happen for the 2025-2026 season, it would have to be implemented… right now.
“The nice thing is you hear something different every week,” said Fred Hoiberg of Nebraska. “Last we heard, it probably won’t happen this year, but it could happen in the future.”
If Hoiberg’s information is correct, many seniors, including Purdue’s Braden Smith, will be the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Yearwill not have the option to return for a fifth season. Of course, Smith would love nothing more than to become an undoubted NBA Draft pick next summer, but if that doesn’t come together, a fifth year of college basketball would provide a lucrative, high-profile backup plan.
It’s not just Smith in the senior-laden Big Ten. New UCLA point guard Donovan Dent – another preseason All-American selection – would be exhausted by March (or April, if things go as planned for the Bruins) of next year, but if the status quo changes there will be huge ripple effects on drafting, recruiting and specifically on incoming freshmen.
“My feeling is it won’t happen this year unless it happens soon,” said Niko Medved of Minnesota. “My feeling is that it has to be done before the football season ends for this class. If you try to do it retroactively later, it could cause problems. I don’t know, but I have a feeling it won’t be until next year at the earliest. How do you plan for that? It’s unknown. Whether we like it or not, if that happens, you’re probably going to have to think more and more about how many high school players to sign.”
And for now there are more questions than answers.
“I think it would change things dramatically,” said Buzz Williams of Maryland. “I think this is the first season since COVID that we don’t have any COVID-eligible players, right? And so, if the rule were to happen and it was voted on today, I think every coach would want to know, ‘Does that apply to the team that I have?’ Because that would determine who I should or shouldn’t recruit.”
2025-2026 Big Ten Preseason Basketball Media Survey: Purdue, Michigan State Overrated; Indiana underrated
Cameron Salerno
Advantages and disadvantages of the 5-in-5 model
The premise of five years to play five seasons without redshirts, fewer waivers and eligibility lawsuits is extremely attractive to some. The free COVID year helped former mid-market products like Chaz Lanier or Dalton Knecht fully elevate their profiles from deep sleepers to household names and future stars NBA draft selections. Older players can lead to an even better product on the floor.
Plus, having a hard and fast rule is a little more appealing than the ever-changing roller coaster of eligibility exemptions.
“That’s one of the things that would be the same for all of us,” Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said. “Some of these other things don’t even belong to us. I know it’s really important to me that we keep this game with some integrity, and I have a little bit of a problem with that. Rules that are the same for everyone? I’m cool with it.”
But redshirting in college basketball is nothing like it college footballwhere one can stay below the four-match threshold and save a year for later.
“You get two scrimmages to find out if you’re going to redshirt someone and then he or she can’t play anymore,” Iowa coach Ben McCollum said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Under the new proposal, redshirting as we know it would not exist. That’s something that Purdue’s Matt Painter is a bit wary of, as very few programs use the redshirt strategy as well as the Boilermakers. Trey Kaufman-Renn has transformed into an All-American prospect after coming out in 2021-2022.
“I’m not a huge fan of it, but I’d also like to stay in the room for anyone pushing it to hear what they have to say about why it’s the best thing for college basketball,” Purdue’s Matt Painter said. “If you go ‘5 for 5’ and that guy can play, but he doesn’t play his freshman year, then we’re opening the can of worms to leave. And I don’t like to give them more opportunities to leave.
“I want to give them more opportunities to stay and grow and develop as a group because that’s why we’re in a really good position now. It doesn’t mean we win our league. It doesn’t mean we go to a Final Four, but we’re in a really good position because our three best players have all stayed together and grown together and had success together. It doesn’t mean we don’t have other good players on our team because we do, but that’s our core. I just don’t like Rules that keep you from growing a team together instead of, you know, trading baseball cards.”
‘It’s not going to change Cooper Flagg’
Thanks to changes in NCAA rules that allow players to monetize their name, image and likeness, the way college basketball coaching staffs recruit freshmen has changed significantly in recent years, but a “5 on 5” change could shake things up with a whole additional group of 23-year-old veterans understandably in high demand and eating up the available spots.
“It won’t change Cooper Flagg,” Medved says with a chuckle. “Cooper Flagg would have been the No. 1 pick in the draft whether he went to Duke or Delaware State. But for many of these guys, the decisions they make earlier in their careers will have a huge impact on playing at the next level.
“So it’s not just for us, it’s for them too. Where can I grow? Where can I develop? Where do I get a chance to show what I can do? Where do I play through the ups and downs? And so I think it’s going to be a big change for us, but also for a lot of these prospects and the people around them and the decisions they make in high school.”
Ultimately, the writing is on the wall. Some high school students will be pushed out and forced to take an alternate route (think junior college, Division II or low-major Division I, like Delaware State). The elite teams will likely have a mix of the top freshmen and a handful of fifth-year veterans. When will we be there? And how do you distribute the resources to prepare for this? That’s the multi-million dollar question.
“I mean, I like coaching older guys, so it would be fun,” Michigan’s Dusty May said. “I’m just afraid it will be 6 for 6 and 7 for 7. What’s the right boundary for not being on a college campus? I don’t know.”
And neither does anyone else.
#NCAA #rule #granting #players #year #eligibility #approved #time #current #seniors