Did we have 13 scholarships for varsity? 13 for varsity + freshmen?
Was the freshmen team made up of 10 guys who thought, “Next year, I’ll be in the rotation on varsity”, but only 1-2 of those 10 actually made it (like associates to partners in law firms) or was it made up of 3 recruited guys and then a bunch of walk ons (like G league having one or two guys per team who are between the big club and G league and the rest are dudes who have no realistic shot at the NBA) and the whole focus of the team was developing those 3 guys?
The old memory might not be working as well as it should, but… I believe that there were 15 scholarships allowed, and it included all scholarship players whether on the varsity or frosh squad. At any rate, it was more than after the change. In many ways, freshman eligibility was instituted to lower costs. Depending on needs, a full rotation might be recruited: two guards, two forwards, & a center. Sometimes, just one or two players. There were open tryouts for the frosh team to fill the roster, and there were typically more than a few on the team. All the scholarship players moved on to the varsity after their first year. Sometimes, a few of the walk-ons made it, too. The first year scholarship players in ‘70 were Barry Parkhill, Jim Hobgood, & Larry Gerry, IIRC. In ‘71, it was more of complete roster: Bob McKeag, Bob McCurdy (who led the nation in scoring after transferring to UofR. After watching Gus Gerard, he saw the handwriting on the wall), Lanny Stahurski, & Al Drummond (the first African-American basketball scholarship recipient at UVa). I believe Steve Morris was originally a walk-on, but earned a scholarship later. FWIW, the ‘69 frosh team was also a nearly complete unit with Scott McCandlish, Frank DeWitt, Tim Rash, and Chip Miler. Wally Walker was a member of the first class who enjoyed freshman eligibility, and I cannot remember who else was in his class. I think it was just one other guard.
I’ve heard it joked before that the only team in the country that could compete with Wooden’s varsity teams at their peak was the UCLA freshman team.
And that crowds would show up to watch the freshman team more than the varsity 65-66 UCLA team (one of their relatively weaker ones in that run) because Lew Alcindor was on it.
Funny to draw a through line through the sport from that to like 2012 Kentucky lol
I remember going to U-Hall to see a freshman game (along with a few thousand other UVA fans) to see an N. C. State freshman player who was averaging 48 pts/game. You guessed it, David Thompson. Don’t think he hit the 40’s against us that game.
Was that the same year that Maryland’s freshmen team had Len Elmore, John Lucas and Tom McMillan on it? I remember seeing them play in UHall and we almost came back and won that game. Andrew Boninti had a couple of quick steals and buckets in the last minute.
I definitely recall Wooden saying that several of the starters on the ‘71 team would lose their positions if the frosh were eligible. Those first year players included Bill Walton, Jamal Wilkes, & Greg Lee.
The ‘71 Maryland frosh were Len Elmore, Tom McMillan, and Jap Trimble. John Lucas joined in ‘73, and played as a true frosh. He was also on the Maryland squad that lost to Virginia in the ‘76 ACCT. I can still remember the photo of him sitting on the bench, dejected, with a towel in his mouth as Bobby Stokes sank the free throws which insured Virginia’s win.
I call BS. This is total crap. This is a complete mis-reading of the situation and represents a logical fallacy on so many levels. Schools literally are making money off the back of players. Who else is generating that revenue? Market value is typically a good clue. Donors aren’t paying millions for a staffer. Let’s not be naive. On your other point: you could replace the current crop of NBA players, and the next crop of players would command the same money. NBA teams will chase whoever is the best player available, and fans will fall in love with whoever is best. Let’s do some proper analysis next time…
You are welcome to disagree, at length and passionately, with anyone on the board. However, if you want to be a part of this community, @HoozGotNext is literally the very last person on this board you should flame.
I’m not crazy about the 5 for 5 idea, but if it does away with waivers, and the arbitrary manner with which they were processed, then it won’t be a terrible thing. Allow exceptions only for religious missions and maternity leave, and that’s it.
I have never particularly liked the current rules (4 in 5 with a million different allowances for RS–rules varying by sport–and various hardship waivers)
I have never been a yuge fan of the voluntary, strategic redshirt, at least in hoops. I generally think it’s better if players play and are incentivized to play. (slight allowance for guys who need to get more physically mature, esp. bigs)
So in theory, a 5 in 5 rule has some elegant simplicity to it. ASSUMING the other side of is a minimization of the ad-hocness of waivers and RS rules etc.
But you can’t truly get rid of exceptions: religion, military, maternity being three that have already been discussed.
So my feelings of 5 in 5 are really tied to how much fuckery on the waivers they can truly get rid of. Get rid of most fuckery and 5 in 5 seems mildly better than the current system. But if we are still dealing with moderate levels of fuckery, then it will be worse than 4 in 5.
But then you deal with the transition:
I think this is the sort of thing they needed to pass and put in place in like August or September, for the following academic year.
Everyone who’s gone out knows they’re out. Everyone with eligibility remaining gets to know their future eligibility.
Teasing it during an open portal window and voting on it when we are in the thick of player movement season is very ill-timed.
Be very wary of predictions akin to: “but this chaos will benefit us!”
Are the football players who entered the draft and didn’t get drafted and didn’t sign a UDFA contract still eligible? What about the ones who did sign a contract but are cut in camp before school starts? What about the CFL or another foreign league? Or the XFL or whatever it’s called now? Or are the only eligible ones that ones who didn’t declare for any drafts at all?