College Basketball: Braxton Beverly decision sends bad message
The NCAA has ruled that freshman Braxton Beverly is ineligible for the 2017-18 season. In doing so they send a horrible message to incoming players.
This past Friday was an epic news dump from the NCAA. The morning was a news release saying that the North Carolina athletics wouldn’t be sanctioned for the academic fraud scandal that occurred over the past two decades.
While that news and the coverage over it filled the day, reports came out that NC State guard Beverly will not play this season due to him taking summer classes while previously at Ohio State.
This started when Beverly, ranked No. 317 by 247 Sports Composite originally committed to play for Thad Matta at Ohio State. Once Matta was fired, the three-star guard was released from his letter of intent on June 30, shortly after taking summer courses. One month later he chose to play for Kevin Keatts and the Wolf Pack of NC State.
The issue at hand is the short stint of classes with the Buckeyes. Per NCAA rules, once a student takes classes at one school then leaves for another, that becomes a transfer which means the player must sit out a year. This is obviously tough news for the freshman who released this statement:
Here is #NCState' Braxton Beverly on the NCAA denying him immediate eligibility & his hope for successful appeal.#wral pic.twitter.com/mZc3vWTjPv
— Marilyn Payne (@marilyn_payne) October 13, 2017
The reactions to this news being just hours from the North Carolina decision were similar:
Braxton Beverly gets punished by the @NCAA for actually going to class. UNC gets a pass for creating fake classes. What a joke.
— Anthony Wireman (@awireman) October 13, 2017
To recap: NCAA ruled Braxton Beverly ineligible for having gall to attend class but let UNC off scot-free for players taking paper courses.
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) October 13, 2017
These were just a couple of the universal reaction for the punishment of a player going to class. It just appears that the NCAA is just picking and choosing what rules to enforce and which ones are out of their jurisdiction. Now we could harp on the hypocrisy all day, but this decision has now set a precedent for what future freshmen may do.
Most freshmen when coming to campus elect to take summer classes before fall practices start. There are several benefits to doing this, from getting acclimated to college courses to adjusting to a new culture. It gives kids a head start into the next stage of their lives.
But now, if Beverly is unable to play this year, it could cause players to hesitate taking summer courses. A similar situation happened to five-star recruit Mitchell Robinson at Western Kentucky and rather than staying out for a year he’s skipping college although to go to the draft next year.
Now players may not want to take summer courses to keep potential options open for whatever reason. If this happens, kids will not be ready mentally to start the season, which will have a physical impact as well. The chain reaction will hurt the sport at large, all because of an obsolete rule.
Next: ACC predictions for 2017-18
It’s understandable why the rule is in place. However, in this particular situation, a young man really is being punished for going to class. When rules and regulations are deemed ineffective or out of date they’re fixed or removed altogether. It’s just the right thing to do. Unfortunately for Beverly and everyone else, it seems like the NCAA can’t do anything right.