NCAA's best choice would have been to let Odom stay

Sporting News, The, June 28, 1999 by Mike DeCourcy

The NCAA wants players who want to be in the NCAA. But does the NCAA want Lamar Odom? We'll never know. Rhode Island officials spent four days deciding whether they had enough of a case to appeal to the NCAA for a waiver of its eligibility roles for Odom, who indicated he would like to return for his junior season despite declaring for the draft and hiring an agent. In the end, Rhode Island bailed out.

"They didn't really feel there was enough of a case," school spokesman Mike Ballweg says.

Odom, who averaged 17.6 points and 9.4 rebounds for Rhode Island last year, is not exactly the Trajan Langdon-style model of what colleges want their basketball players to be. But he showed he wanted to be a part of the college game.

He sat a season to gain eligibility, even though he could have been a first-round NBA draft choice out of high school.

On the verge of being the No. 1 or No. 2 overall choice following his sophomore season, Odom skipped a league physical exam and a workout/interview with the Charlotte Hornets, owners of the third pick. Shortly thereafter, he fired his agent and asked Rhode Island to file an appeal for his eligibility.

Had Rhode Island appealed to the NCAA, it would have claimed outside pressures pushed Odom toward the NBA. Members of the NCAA administration would have had no choice but to believe that.

To send a message that it truly wants underclassmen to be more judicious about turning professional, the NCAA would have had little choice but to take back Lamar Odom.

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Mike DeCourcy covers college basketball for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail him at decourcy@sportingnews.com.