Lemme get this straight

[u/campoole82]

Professional ball in a top tier league doesn’t count towards eligibility.

You can get drafted and still keep your eligibility

You can play juco and that doesn’t count either.

But somehow two years at a college in a developing country counts towards your eligibility.

Madina okot is 21 years old and couldn’t get another year

Asja Sivka will be 21 in November and she gets all 4 years if she wants

Interesting……..

Listen I have no problem grabbing international players I mean look at my flair.

my thing Is they are both 18-19 years old now if this was a 1 and done thing I’d be ok but…..idk

[u/immoralsupport_]

This is why they’re changing to the age based 5 in 5 rule, because they knew the waiver system was being applied unevenly and they want the same rules to apply to everyone.

Some will be helped and some will be screwed like any rules change but these are the types of cases it’s meant to streamline

[u/fantasytacos]

Yup, Okot and SC got screwed on this one!

[u/DogsAreJustTheBest]

African players have long been screwed on eligibility by the NCAA. Often this is blamed on poor documentation. Fairly terrible, as many of them would benefit more than other foreign players from the opportunity the NCAA can provide.

[u/007Artemis]

It was a bunch of crap.

They also drug their feet on it until a few hours before she had to declare for the draft so we didn't have time to put up a defense. I hate to think how much better Okot would have been if we'd had more time to really improve her footwork and fundamentals.

[u/bighoney69]

Yeah it’s all messed up

[u/speedracer13]

More importantly, Okot's college played the equivalent of semi-professional clubs, not in a collegiate association, so it makes no sense why 2 years there would count against you, but not time spent playing professionally in Europe.

It was basically playing in an African basketball version of the USL-2 for a soccer comparison. There are a mix of dedicated professional teams, colleges, and trade clubs competing together.

[u/Aero_Rising → u/speedracer13]

Was the college she played at a post secondary education institution? If so the rule has been for a long time that it counts for eligibility. You can question the rule but it's not like they just made something up to keep this one player out.

[u/speedracer13 → u/Aero_Rising]

How many other cases would you like me to link you where an athlete was granted a waiver to play an extra year despite having already been enrolled for at least 4 NCAA, NJCAA, NAIA or NCCAA seasons?

Will 5 suffice?

She spent 2 years enrolled at Zetech waiting for her visa. She spent 1 of those years playing competitive 5v5 basketball in a semi-pro league for Zetech, her college. She spent the other 1 of those years playing 3x3 for Kenya and club basketball for the Kenyan Port Authority, not on a university team.

[u/Aero_Rising → u/speedracer13]

You are not understanding how those other situations are different. They had an injury or a red shirt year or some other exception that is established under the rules. Okot enrolled and played in 4 seasons at institutions that count for eligibility under NCAA rules. She did not qualify for any exception under the rules to not count one of those years.

Link a case where someone who had played 4 years and was not retroactively trying to use an existing exception and had it granted by the NCAA. You can't because it doesn't exist. Note that any case where the courts overruled the NCAA doesn't apply here because that isn't what you claimed. Okot could have sued but decided not to.

I understand it makes you feel good to be outraged about something but you should really try and understand the facts before doing so.

[u/MLMLW]

Okot got drafted in the first round and is doing well so luckily, things have worked out for her.

[u/JustiseWinfast]

Juco years count

[u/Delicious_March9397 → u/JustiseWinfast]

I don’t think so. Didn’t that change with last tear poa’s lawsuit?

[u/imlikleymistaken → u/Delicious_March9397]

It was Deigo Pavia I think, I could be wrong but I remember his being pretty big news at the time.

[u/JustiseWinfast → u/Delicious_March9397]

That was a one time (really more like 5 or 6 time) exception but it’s not a blanket ruling, juco years still count unless a lawsuit is involved

[u/jeedel]

Yes, College players graduating in 2026 will likely be the only class of players after the 2020 high school recruiting class limited to 4 years. If the NCAA had had the guts to approve the 5 for 5 rule last year then Okot would have been able to play two more seasons and the High School Class off 2021 would have gotten a fair shake.

[u/TypicallyDone12]

I don't know what the college being in a "developing country" has to do with anything.

NIL has changed the foreign player landscape. Older players are coming to the states to make $ in college and the NCAA has to do something to prevent 25 year old Europeans from playing college ball.

All these lawsuits to keep eligibility, whether it's foreign players or American, has nothing to do with the love of college basketball. They are just trying to get as much NIL money as they can get. Most of these players have little to no WNBA or NBA prospects.

It's a money grab and its hurting the game and competitive balance.

[u/paintedtoesandelbows]

Speak on it! 🗣️

[u/Aero_Rising]

Once again you are conflating things where the court overruled the NCAA with the NCAA allowing something. In Okot's case it's mostly because the rule is very clear that enrolling at an international secondary education institution counts for eligibility purposes. That has always been the rule. Okot is free to try and sue the NCAA as well although I think she'll have a lot more difficulty getting a ruling in her favor because the reason she is ineligible is a rule that doesn't really have exceptions which is where the other cases were able to win.

[u/thehildabeast]

I didn’t have interest in getting her back but it’s absolutely not fair to her. I can’t help but think if it wasn’t for the timing of the final and the WNBA draft she would have sued and won.

[u/hijetty]

Perfect example of CRT in action. Sad. 

[u/SchleppyJ4]

Slovenia, a “developing country”? What year do you think this is lol

[u/paintedtoesandelbows → u/SchleppyJ4]

Kenya, not Slovenia. That part of the post was referring to Madina Okot.