No one knows if they have school credits or even HS equivilant shit
If when De Ridder is approved will just be huge bonus if he ends up at Virginia
2 Likes
I imagine they (and the other schools pursuing - Iowa had been on him a good while) have some idea of his academic situation and how it would translate to eligibility. Schools spending all this time and resources on a foreign player are not going into recruiting blindly.
3 Likes
Sure but teams are also signing guys who never set foot on Grounds so who knows
Wild west territory
4 Likes
I feel like HGN indicated the issue might be related to the fact that De Ridder has been a well paid pro, probably better paid than some of the other examples.
The amount players have earned matters, something about the $70K figure. But then they can shift things around, count income as covering costs of living education etc, so it’s all very gray. And that’s if the NCAA doesn’t just say screw it, we want nothing to do with turning players down right now because legally we’d probably lose anyway. That’s really what we’re hoping here.
20 Likes
Thanks HGN. That makes a lot of sense.
3 Likes
Have to imagine hes earned a hell of a lot more than $70k
4 Likes
I would think most of these guys coming over as ‘pros’ have.
Some of these Euro guys make less than you think (maybe not De Ridder, but others): How college basketball’s wave of European imports rose from a recruiting sea change - The Athletic
The reason is obvious: Money. College basketball’s top talents will earn seven-figure salaries next season, and most of the European players who are rushing over the Atlantic to cash in will be leaving behind five-figure salaries.
“They can make in one season what they can make in half of their career by going to college,” said Avi Even, the former sports director for Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. who recently became the director of basketball operations for the overseas basketball agency Octagon Europe. “So there’s no reason for them to stay here.”
For some of the younger guys, they are on academy contracts that really don’t pay much at all.
Article doesn’t get much into the “how are they figuring out eligibility” side of things, but has a little bit of anonymous tea from a NCAA employee:
“People know now I think even more so than they did obviously two or three or five years ago, if you can produce documentation that only shows that an athlete only received actual necessary expenses, that’s basically all you need,” said a former NCAA employee, given anonymity so he could speak with candor on how the process really works. “If there’s no other conflicting materials or anyone that can go on the record that has any type of real evidence to show that the club did anything improper, then it’s just a matter of time getting through the system that that kid is eligible.”
Matt Painter is advocating for simply cutting the Gordian Knot:
Purdue coach Matt Painter, who has served on the NCAA’s oversight committee and the National Association of Basketball Coaches board, sees an easy solution to the eligibility side. He has recommended to the NCAA that anyone college-aged should be eligible.
“Even if they’ve been a pro and they’ve signed, who cares now?” Painter said. “They’re all pros. Everybody’s getting paid in name, image and likeness. So what’s the difference in having a contract overseas?”
9 Likes
Thijs had very high living expenses because he lived in the Guggenheim Bilbao to study art. This should also give him advanced credit and allow to him focus on independent study at UVa.
Get friggin creative Coach Odom! What do we pay these guys for…
10 Likes
I’m forced to agree with Matt Painter. Just make it 18-24 year olds who haven’t signed with the NBA.
9 Likes
What about 18-24 year olds who never played in college before, signed with the NBA for a year or 2, but didn’t stick? Those guys could really use some more career training (at athletics or something else).
2 Likes
It’s absurd that the NCAA wants to exclude a guy for having earned, in his career, a paltry 5% of what he’ll earn in a single year over here. $70k is nothing relative to NCAA earnings. What’s the underlying principle being served by that stance? Only virgins allowed at our wild orgy?
3 Likes
Seems like they could afford the tuition.
Trying to avoid the churn that would emerge from colleges becoming AAA clubs for the NBA.
I feel like De Ridder is a test case. If he’s cleared, there will be a mini flood of 20 to 22 year old established Euro pros.
3 Likes
Am I wrong to think the NBA would prefer a lot of these guys with potential to play a year or two in college as opposed to pro in Europe or do they not really care? Not that the NBA would pressure the NCAA…..
3 Likes
Should this occur as it probably will, it’s going to make coaching at the college level even less desirable. You’re now having to scout a whole new group of players every year and start managing more foreign players on your roster with whatever cultural and language barriers they bring. But even more, it will be an odd mix to throw these multi-year pros into a college environment. Seems like a big mess/headache from a management perspective for coaches.
8 Likes
Non ironically Ryan Odom seems to be perfectly in place for this if it really happens this way.
I also dont think it will
11 Likes
Coaching at power 5 level seems a good gig to me. Flying over the pond for work - pleasure visits an added benefit. 
3 Likes