Jim Boeheim says freshman ineligibility 'will never happen'
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said freshman ineligibility "makes absolutely no sense" and "will never happen," Joe Rodgers of Sporting News reports.
Last week, the University of Maryland's student newspaper, The Diamondback, reported that the Big Ten was considering making freshman ineligible in football and men's basketball so they could better adjust to higher academic standards.
Boeheim won his only national championship in 2003 with freshman Carmelo Anthony leading the way. Anthony averaged 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four and being the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft.
• Report: Big Ten considering ineligibility for freshman
Boeheim dismissed the idea of freshman ineligibility, saying it would deter top players from ever enrolling in school.
"He would have not come to college," Boeheim said, referring to Anthony. "Any of the really good freshmen would not come to college. It's something that will never happen and I don't know why people are talking about it. It makes absolutely no sense."
True freshmen first began to compete in all sports in 1972.
• Mississippi State AD suggests giving players 5 years of eligibility
Maryland's athletic council met last week to discuss a document that the conference is circulating called "A Year of Readiness.”
"If they do well because they spend more time, get more academic advising ... their freshman year, they're going to graduate," Maryland president Wallace Loh told the newspaper. "And I think it's worth spending an extra year of financial support to ensure that they graduate."
The document said that football and men’s basketball are the only sports with graduation rates less than 75 percent across the NCAA, prompting officials to discuss making athletes ineligible as a way to adjust to college life.
• Florida's Finney-Smith, Michael Frazier to miss Missouri game
- Paul Palladino and Scooby Axson
