NCAA allows for unlimited official visits in college basketball

Men’s and women’s basketball oversight committees recommended the rule change due to concerns over “roster depletion”

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

The NCAA has taken even more restrictions off player movement after it approved a blanket waiver that allows schools to host an unlimited number of official visits in men’s and women’s basketball, according to an NCAA memo obtained by The Athletic on Thursday.

Previously, schools were limited in the number of official visits they could host. Student-athletes, however, have been able to go on an unlimited amount of official visits since July 1 of last year. Recruits are still limited to one official visit per school unless there is a head coaching change after their visit.

Due to concerns over roster depletion, the men’s and women’s basketball oversight committees recommended that schools should also be allowed to host as many recruits on official visits as they feel are necessary to maintain their basketball roster year over year. Given that student-athletes are now allowed an unlimited amount of transfers and can be granted immediate eligibility upon changing schools, some programs have to build their rosters from nearly the ground up in the offseason. That along with NIL opportunities has paved the way for an unprecedented amount of player movement via the transfer portal.

In April, the NCAA Division I Council adopted a rule that allows schools to identify and facilitate deals between student-athletes and third parties. That change came months after NCAA President Charlie Baker proposed a reform aimed at moving NIL activity under the umbrella of schools instead of third-party collectives. While Baker’s vision didn’t quite come to fruition, the NCAA’s latest change to NIL hit on most of the key elements.