John Calipari, Dan Hurley among latest college coaches to rip NCAA over James Nnaji addition: ‘We don’t have any rules’

Baylor’s addition of James Nnaji continues to make waves within college basketball. Despite being drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 2023 NBA Draft, Nnaji was ruled eligible by the NCAA and the 21-year-old Nnaji could suit up as early as Saturday for the Bears.

Since that development, a number of college basketball coaches have offered opinions on Nnaji joining Baylor. With the exception of Michigan State coach Tom Izzo — who was critical of Baylor coach Scott Drew — most of those high-profile coaches who have spoken about the situation have ripped or questioned the NCAA for allowing Nnaji to play for Baylor.

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Following his team’s 103-74 win over James Madison on Monday, Arkansas coach John Calipari became the latest big-name coach to tear into the NCAA for its decision. When asked about the Nnaji situation, Calipari gave an impassioned speech about how it opens up the NCAA to plenty of challenges down the road.

Calipari’s answer included him switching between his own words and the arguments he expected the NCAA to make to justify its decision.

“I don’t blame coaches. I’ve got friends that are playing with 27-year-olds and they feel bad. I said, ‘Don’t feel bad. We don’t have any rules. Why should you feel bad?’

“The rules be (sic) the rules. So if you put your name in the draft, I don’t care if you’re from Russia and you stay in the draft, you can’t play college basketball. ‘Well, that’s only for American kids.’ What? If your name is in that draft and you got drafted, you can’t play college … because that’s our rule. ‘Yeah, but that’s only for American kids.’ OK.

“Now, here’s the next lawsuit. ‘Well, we don’t have a say over European players.’ You do if they are playing in college basketball. So that means you don’t have a say over high school kids. So whatever a high school kid does before he comes here, don’t you do one thing because there’s a suit. Because what you’re saying is, ‘If he’s in Europe, we don’t have the same rules.’ What?

“If he puts his…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/article/john-calipari-dan-hurley-among-latest-college-coaches-to-rip-ncaa-over-james-nnaji-addition-we-dont-have-any-rules-162656028.html

Author : Chris Cwik

Publish date : 2025-12-30 16:26:00

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