NCAA grants athletes in spring sports an extra year, but not athletes in winter sports
"Council members declined to extend eligibility for student-athletes in sports where all or much of their regular seasons were completed."
With that sentence, Maggie Nichols, Kristian Doolittle, and a host of other Sooner senior athletes saw their collegiate careers officially come to a close.
On Monday evening, the NCAA released their decision regarding modifications of student-athlete eligibility for winter and spring sports. The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered college sports all but dormant since early March, and with the spring season barely underway, the council voted to "allow schools to self-apply a one-year extension of eligibility for spring-sport student-athletes, effectively extending each student’s five-year 'clock' by a year."
Doolittle is the only senior on the Sooner basketball team. Other seniors that will see their careers come to a premature end include women's gymnasts Nichols, Jade Degouveia and Bre Showers, as well as men's gymnasts Grant Kell and Collyn Kellogg.
Outside of basketball and gymnastics, the only other Sooner sport affected by the NCAA's decision is wrestling. Christian Moody and Mason Naifeh are Oklahoma's only senior wrestlers.
There are no seniors on Sherri Coale's Sooner women's basketball team.
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