Cal Basketball: Winter Athletes Reportedly Will Receive Additional Year of Eligibility
Cal's basketball team might have received a significant boost when the NCAA Division I Council on Wednesday voted to give winter athletes an additional year of eligibility, Jeff Goodman reported via Twitter.
That is significant for Cal's men's basketball program, which has one prominent senior starter (Grant Anticevich) and two grad transfers (Makale Foreman and Ryan Betley). The 2020-21 basketball season would have been their final season, but now they have the option of returning for 2021-22. Anticevich is the Bears' second-leading returning scorer, after averaging 8.3 points last season, and he was the Bears top rebounder, at 5.6 boards per game.
Nicole Auerbach of the Athletic also reported the ruling:
It also could affect junior guard Matt Bradley, who now has the option of playing two more college seasons after this season. Bradley could decide to enter the NBA draft before his college eligibility expires. He was ranked the 35th-best player in the country this season by Lindy's magazine.
This ruling will apply to players whether or not they participate in basketball this season, as some are likely to opt out of the 2020-21 season.
Cal and the Pac-12 have not released their 2020-21 schedules yet, but teams cannot begin play before Nov. 25. Cal reportedly will be involved in a multi-team event in which it will host Dixie State as one of its nonconference opponents.
Roster sizes weren't discussed, according to the Goodman tweet, but it is believed that the players who take advantage of the extra year of eligibility will not count against the 13-scholarship limit.
As a result, Cal coach Mark Fox will not have to modify his recruiting efforts for next year's recruiting class. He has already received a commitment from Bishop O'Dowd's Marsalis Roberson.
On the women's basketball side, the ruling will not be noticed immediately because none of the Bears' scholarship players is a senior. However, Jadyn Bush, a grad transfer from Harvard, could choose to return next season after playing for the Bears this year.
Previously, the NCAA ruled that fall sports athletes, including football players, would be granted an extra year of eligibility whether they participate in their sports this fall or not.
It is not exactly clear which other sports are considered winter sports, although men's and women's swimming, men's a women's indoor track and field, wrestling, bowling, fencing, gymnastics, ice hockey, rifle and skiing are the other sports that have winter championships and presumably will be included in the winter sports category.
Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.
