Midnite Madness and College Basketball's Next Gray Area

James Nnaji made his debut as a basketball player for Baylor University on Saturday, January 3, during the Bears’ 69-63 Big 12 Conference loss to TCU in a sold-out Schollmaier Arena, on the Horned Frogs’ campus in Fort Worth, Texas.

Normally, such an occasion wouldn’t be that big of a deal, even if Nnaji is a seven-foot, 250-pound, 21-year-old freshman from Nigeria. After all, there are a lot of tall players and international players on college basketball teams in the United States.

But there aren’t many former National Basketball Association (NBA) draftees playing college basketball. In fact, there’s only one – Nnaji.

Baylor Bears Test the Idea

And that’s where the controversy lies, and where Baylor head basketball coach Scott Drew and college basketball have gone terribly wrong, as the crazy world of college athletics continues to spin out of control.

Nnaji, at age 18, was selected 31st by the Detroit Pistons in the 2023 NBA Draft. The Pistons traded his rights to the Charlotte Hornets, who traded his rights to the New York Knicks. Nnaji never signed an NBA contract or played in an NBA game, but he played in the NBA Summer League games for the Hornets in 2023 and for the Knicks in 2025. Nnaji also has played in the past for professional basketball teams in Europe.

Dec 29, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; Baylor Bears center James Nnaji (46) during warmups before the game against the Arlington Baptist Patriots at Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The NBA G League Already Exists

Elsewhere in the Big 12, Brigham Young University (BYU) head basketball coach Kevin Young recently added former NBA G League player Abdullah Ahmed to his roster. Ahmed, who was not an NBA draftee, played in the G League through the New York Knicks’ organization.

The NBA G League is the NBA's official minor league, serving as a development system for players, coaches, and staff, and providing an affordable path to the NBA for aspiring players. It features 31 teams, most of which are directly affiliated with NBA franchises, allowing players to be "called up" to the NBA or be sent down ("assigned") for development or rehabilitation, with many players gaining experience in the G League before making an NBA roster.

Our 2025 NBA G League Winter Showcase Champs 🏆🏆

The No. 2 @slcstars shined BRIGHT to top the Raptors 905 and bring home their second Winter Showcase Championship ⭐⭐⭐ pic.twitter.com/UlG13gwZ62
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) December 23, 2025

Traditionally, basketball players have lost any remaining college eligibility if they made themselves available for the NBA Draft and didn’t withdraw their name prior to an NCAA withdrawal deadline.

However, even though he had been selected in the NBA Draft, the NCAA declared Nnaji eligible to play collegiate basketball. The NCAA reportedly made this head-scratching decision because, in the past, the organization had granted collegiate eligibility to other international players who had played professionally in Europe but had not been selected in the NBA Draft. The NCAA evidently believed such situations had established a precedent. Therefore, it would have been difficult for the association to win in court if it had ruled Nnaji ineligible, even though he had been an NBA draftee, unlike the others.

Coaches Across College Basketball are Openly Critical

Nnaji is the first person to reverse course and play college basketball after being selected in the NBA
Draft. Nnaji being ruled eligible for four years of college basketball and the announcement on Christmas Eve of his signing with Baylor appropriately led to widespread criticism from college basketball coaches and fans. “I thought it was actually a joke when I saw it,” said UConn head basketball coach Dan Hurley. “I just assumed that when you stay in the draft, or you get drafted, that you would forgo your college eligibility.”

That viewpoint was echoed by Arkansas head basketball coach John Calipari, who said if a player puts his name in the NBA Draft, stays in the draft, and gets drafted, he should lose his college eligibility.

Michigan State head basketball coach Tom Izzo pointed the finger at the NCAA and the coaches. "Now we're taking guys that were drafted in the NBA and everything?" questioned Izzo. “If that's what we're going to, shame on the NCAA. Shame on the coaches, too. But shame on the NCAA, because coaches are gonna do what they gotta do, I guess. But the NCAA is the one. Those people on those committees that are making those decisions to allow something so ridiculous and not think of the kid. I just don't agree with it. I’d like to poll 360 coaches and see how many agreed with this ruling in favor of Baylor. What we've done in the NCAA has been an absolute travesty to me," Izzo said. "We're just worried about getting sued, and we're not gonna fight anybody. And I think leadership means you fight and you make decisions that are sometimes unpopular."

St. John’s University head basketball coach Rick Pitino posted his reaction on social media: “So let me get this straight, we can now recruit G league players? Is the NBA next?”

Nnaji’s impact on the TCU-Baylor game was minimal. He only scored five points and had four rebounds in the 16 minutes he played. Meanwhile, TCU fans made it a point to boo him every time he entered the game, left the game, touched the ball, or missed a shot.

After his Horned Frogs had beaten Baylor in Fort Worth for the first time since February 29, 2020, TCU head basketball coach Jamie Dixon was philosophical and blunt in his assessment of the situation involving Nnaji and the state of college basketball.

Nov 28, 2025; San Diego, CA, USA; Texas Christian University Horned Frogs head coach Jamie Dixon reacts against the Wisconsin Badgers during the second half at Jenny Craig Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images | Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images

“Call it what it is,” Dixon said. “We (college basketball) have professional basketball with no cap, no draft, no rules, no interpretation. It’s not in writing. You can be as good as you want to be. You’ve seen that in football. You’ve seen it in basketball. Put the resources into it. I wish we had rules and they were clarified before the year, but as I said the other day, we've gone from the NCAA with all these rules, and now we have money involved, we're a professional league, and we have no rules. Usually, you get money involved and become professional, you get more rules. And we have no caps, we have no contracts, we have no rules. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying this is what it is. And every school operates on different rules, different interpretations."

Legal Doesn't Mean Healthy for the Sport

Drew, who has been Baylor’s head basketball coach for 23 years, said his guiding principle on the matter was to do what was best for Baylor. “My job is the coach of our program, and we needed to add a player at semester break because we've had two season-ending injuries to two of our biggest players and had a third player out,” explained Drew. “If you're coaching a team, aren't you going to add the best player you can add that fits your program? That's what we did. I’m not going to point the finger at the NCAA. We all want to do what’s best for the greater good, and hopefully we can get to that at some point.”

Just because something may be "legal" doesn't make it right, moral, or ethical. Also, integrity requires choosing conscience over mere legal compliance, even when actions are permissible but harmful or self-serving. It's a call to a higher standard, recognizing that laws are a minimum baseline, while true ethical conduct involves considering the impact on others, personal values, and societal well-being beyond what's technically allowed.

Ultimately, it’s up to Drew and his colleagues to reverse course and maintain college basketball’s integrity, rather than let it further turn into a greedy free-for-all, when one day we might be witnessing the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James petitioning for the right to fulfill his college basketball eligibility.

Baylor Bears Test the Idea

The NBA G League Already Exists

Coaches Across College Basketball are Openly Critical

Legal Doesn't Mean Healthy for the Sport

Suggested Stories