The college basketball landscape seems to change at every opportunity.
The NCAA has gone from over-regulating the most trivial things to easing up on a lot of enforcement, especially when it comes to roster construction.
According to a reporter for The Athletic, the NCAA approved a blanket waiver Thursday that allows coaches to take in as many official visitors as they wish.
The waiver will go into effect July 31, 2024, and will apply to both men's and women's basketball.
It's a shame this change wasn't implemented sooner. Because it's no mistake that newly hired Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coach Mark Pope had to make some concessions when creating his official visiting list in an attempt to build a roster from the ground up. Because there isn't. .
Now, national hoops coaches won't have to prioritize visits and will be able to bring as many freshmen to campus as they see fit. You no longer have to decide whether it's worth “wasting” a visit to a prospect who is very unlikely to ultimately commit to your program.
It's unclear how this will affect a top program like Kentucky, but the move isn't all that surprising given the NCAA's policy of taking a no-holds-barred stance when it comes to the transfer portal.
It has to be the best time in the history of its existence to be an NCAA athlete, right?
I often think of past athletes who seemed to be tricked into changing favorable circumstances in college sports, such as allowing unlimited visitors on campus.
Children from all over the country will be courted on our beautiful campus in even greater numbers than now. I don't blame players for making as many visits as necessary to make the best informed decision for themselves.