Initial eligibility rules have become more sensible

Sporting News, The, Sept 28, 1998 by Mike DeCourcy

All work and no play. This was no cliche to Illinois point guard Cory Bradford. This was his freshman year. Bradford spent his first season with the Illini classified as a partial qualifier under NCAA academic requirements, which meant he could practice with his teammates, be fed at the training table and receive the same academic support services as others in the program. He could not, however, play in any games.

"I sat on the bench, cheered the guys on," Bradford says. "You could say I was one of those majorettes. I enjoyed cheering those guys because they needed the boost."

After a decade of intransigence, the NCAA at last has begun to inject some degree of reason into its initial eligibility rules.

Recently, it allowed partial qualifiers to get back A fourth season of eligibility by earning a degree in four years. The partial-qualifier rule was a new addition last year, instituted partly to placate Black Coaches Association members who protested that heightened eligibility standards disproportionately affected African-American athletes.

It seemed a reasonable compromise to the debate that has raged since the original Proposition 48 was passed in 1986 and began identifying some athletes as (presumably) academically deficient. Allowing players to be part of a team, coaches argue, keeps them involved in an activity that is an important part of their lives while enabling them to direct attention to improving as students.

The problem is, the partial-qualifier term is so narrowly defined it is nearly impossible to find an athlete who meets the standard.

There were several non-qualifiers last year, including Fresno State's Melvin Ely, Providence's Jamal Camah, Temple's Mark Karcher and Connecticut's Edmund Saunders. They paid their tuition, could only watch practice and could not accept coaching from the staffs at their schools.

But it's tough to find another high-major player who spent last year in the same circumstance as Bradford. He was a partial qualifier because he had the core academic requirements covered but not the standardized test score. Cincinnati's Aaron McGhee had the test score but not the core and was classified a non-qualifier.

"If they're going to lose the year of eligibility, which they do, not letting them practice is crazy," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins says. "The way it is now, these kids feel left out, ostracized. They'd be so much better with structure."

Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian says Ely made acceptable use of the time off, working on his body, game and studies. A year ago, though, Tarkanian saw a year of forced exclusion destroy gifted forward Winfred Walton, who returned disaffected and out of shape.

Bradford is grateful he was not excluded in that fashion. "This was an advantage. I'd go to practice, and we'd have study hall after practice. It's tough, but they stay on you day-in, day-out. You get all the help you can get, and you've got to take advantage of that."

With excellent athleticism and an underrated jump shot, Bradford spent the year as one of the nation's most imposing scout team players. He would pretend to be Mateen Cleaves one day, A.J. Guyton the next. Acting as those players allowed him to study the components of their excellence.

Although he'll run the offense for Illinois this season, Bradford did not arrive in Champaign with much point-guard training. He was a scorer for his high school team in the Memphis area and a defensive specialist for his amateur club team.

The year of practice enabled Bradford to make the position switch without the pressure of performing at the Big Ten level.

"I had a whole year to prepare for this. All that hard work paid off," Bradford (6-3, 200) says. "I got a lot quicker, a lot bigger. The guys let me know they're ready to go to war with me."

The Illini won a share of the Big Ten title without him, which was both rewarding and frustrating.

Guard Kevin Turner, the team's top player as a senior last season, always chose to be guarded by Bradford in drills because he felt it improved his own game to be challenged. But when it came time for the Illini players to be honored, "I didn't get a ring," Bradford says. "Which was OK, because I still felt a part of that (league) championship. The players made sure of that."

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