'It's Embarrassing' - Tom Izzo Delivered An Incredible 4-Minute Rant About How Dumb The NCAA Is After Louisville Signed A Former G-League Player

Earlier this week it was announced that a former G-League player has signed with Louisville. I didn't think much about it because 1) who the fuck cares about Louisville and 2) I basically stopped caring about recruiting. I love the sport, I live and die with games, but with the transfer portal and all the changes I just don't care about recruiting as much. It's not as important to these high-majors as it once was. 

Then Tom Izzo spoke. Correction, Tom Izzo ranted 

It's a vintage Tom Izzo moment, but this time he took direct aim at the NCAA. 

[Source] - Kids aren't the problem, we're the problem," Izzo told reporters Tuesday. "This was sprung on us again yesterday where a guy can be in the G League for two or three years and then all of a sudden, he's eligible. Most of my people knew nothing about it. … I'm not real excited about the NCAA or whoever is making these decisions, without talking to us, just letting it go. They're afraid they're going to get sued."

He's slightly wrong that this was sprung on them, because the same ruling happened almost exactly a month ago when Santa Clara got Theirry Darlan. 

But he's right, none of this makes fucking sense. Everything is murky now with NIL, I'll admit that. But, there's gotta be rules in terms of who can play college basketball. No one is saying that if you made NIL in high school or prep school you can't play, but these guys who played pro sports and are somehow a 21-year old freshman can't happen. 

But G-League players? What the fuck man? It does get to the point where you ask if a guy doesn't get drafted in the NBA and still has eligibility, can he just come back? Why not change that rule, because Izzo is right. The NCAA is scared to get sued and lose another lawsuit. They are roughly 0-432 in the court system so far. 

Be mad at us, but I'm not going to be mad at the players. I'm going to be mad at the adults in the room and so don't blame the players anymore. Blame the adults that make the decisions, that allow some of these ridiculous things to happen.

This has always been the problem. The NCAA refuses to make decisions that are proactive. They wait until they get sued, until shit gets too far down the road and then they panic. They've lost all control over what college sports is supposed to be and it's their fault. They got money hungry with TV contracts, conference realignment and everything else within that. It's not NIL that's ruining it all, it's the NCAA never figuring out how to adapt and change when it was clear they needed to. We need to get back to just having it be simple. You get 4 years to play, 5 with a redshirt. Players can come from overseas, sure, they gotta be classified correctly. You get one free transfer, then you can transfer without sitting out again if your coach leaves/you graduate. Anything else, you sit out for a year. It's not that hard to come up with rules that everyone can agree on.