I assume most schools require a high school diploma/GED? Maybe not?
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I think the NBA uses language like draft eligible a year after playerās high school class graduates or something like that to avoid ambiguity about guys who donāt graduate or graduate early. Iād expect the NCAA to craft language like that.
Does someone want to lay out the basis for any optimism that Ugo might get a waiver?
Relatedly, why did Malik get a waiver? Iāve always figured it had something to do with the death of his sister.
Reasons waivers have been granted, it seems to me (though thereās little transparency, so hard to know), are some sort of de minimis minutes exception, mental health issues, deaths in the family, move back to be closer to ill family members, or coaches basically admitting mistakes around rules or whatever.
Which one might fit Ugo?
Since I know nothing about any of the above categories for UGo (other than that heās above de minimis minutes), my best guess is the NCAA has back channeled some message basically like āno grandfathering but submit a plausible sounding waiver and weāll be nice).
Because otherwise, I think UGo talk seems a little silly
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It is sillyā¦ The only potentially plausible thing is his 16 games averaging seven minutes a game his freshman year when he hadnāt turned 18 yet, so maybe they say he wasnāt even an adult so that shouldnāt count against his eligibility???
Which is wrong since he was born 9/25/04 and was 18 before he played a game. But maybe because he started classes as a minor and the decision wasnāt a good one to enroll so young?
No idea why they think he can get another yearā¦ other than - hey heās a 5th year who will be only 22 the whole season vs all these other knuckleheads who keep playing when they are 25.
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Right, and this doesnāt even get into trickiness around timing with the draft, withdrawal deadline, convincing teams heās āall-inā etc.
Kinda tempted to put Ugo waiver in āurban legendā category unless someone knows moreā¦
And to be clear (sorry for a slight VIP kimono slipā¦) thereās been no real info on this disclosed in VIP eitherā¦
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i would question the manhood of some of you boys, but Iāll refrain. LOL.
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UNC has established that they consider the āathleticsā part of their school to be a lot more important than the āschoolā part of their school. I mean, they took a legal strategy defending mens hoops against the NCAA that put their overall accreditation in question. Which seems insane to me, but its what they did.
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More boys who are literally scared to speak their minds. Lol.
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Case clased. 
Does anyone know how they rate schools nowadays??? I get applications and acceptance rates, but how do they value what is a good school?
I read the US News report on schools and their criteria, but it seems they overweight starting salaries and placement above all else, with applications and acceptance rates a big input. Like how do they ārateā professors and is this not a major input?
If I were a badass professor-do I deserve NIL money now? Seems like a bad system to me.
Back in the day it was arbitrary and I liked the ambiguity of it.
P.S. I canāt wait until there is a big-time Top 25 Associate Professor that demands NIL money.
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I have had this conversation more than once with my friends who are university faculty.
The line for faculty is way smaller than even punters in this brave new world.
No. The criteria change all the time and are opaque, which is how USNWR keeps schools guessing. Oh, they publish a rough list - acceptance rate, faculty publications, research dollars, student to teacher ratio, etcā¦; but every major list is different, which is how they all stay in business. I honestly think they put a bunch of metrics in a hat and throw it down the stairs ā higher steps mean higher ratings.
But, shhh, that part is the āproprietaryā part.
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I do a bunch of weirdo March madness pools that are manually managed and this is going to make all of them a nightmare
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