Panel to issue plan to reform college basketball
College basketball played an entire season amid a federal corruption investigation that magnified long-simmering troubles within the sport, from shady agent dealings to concerns over athletes who’d rather go straight to the pros.
Now it’s time to hear new ideas on how to fix the complex, wideranging problems.
On Wednesday morning, the commission headed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will present its proposed reforms to university presidents of the NCAA Board of Governors and the Division I Board of Directors at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis.
That starts what could be a complicated process in getting changes adopted and implemented for next season.
“I expect the proposals will be strong,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said. “They’ll certainly break with the status quo. That’s their charge and their mission. That’s what we need.
“I think it’s going to be a very good day for college sports.
That would be welcome, considering there has been no shortage of bad days in recent months.
The Commission on College Basketball formed in October , a few weeks after federal prosecutors announced they had charged 10 men — including assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, USC and Oklahoma State along with a top Adidas executive — in a fraud and bribery scandal.
The case involves hundreds of thousands of dollars in alleged bribes and kickbacks designed to influence recruits on choosing a school, agent or apparel company. ⏩ The NBA announced that 236 players have filed to be early-entry candidates in the June draft, including Stanford’s Reid Travis. Under NCAA rules, underclassmen who have entered the draft have until May 30 to withdraw if they have not hired an agent.
⏩ Iowa State has added Colorado State transfer Prentiss Nixon. He will sit out next season. The 6foot-2 guard averaged a team-high 16.2 points per game as a junior last season for the Rams.
⏩ The University of WisconsinMilwaukee men’s team is losing its three top scorers. Junior guards Brock Stull and Jeremiah Bell and sophomore forward Bryce Nze have received releases to transfer and play elsewhere after head coach Pat Baldwin’s first year.
ELSEWHERE Salah, Liverpool throttle Roma
Mohamed Salah produced two world-class finishes and set up goals for Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to lead host Liverpool to a 5-2 win over his former club, Roma, in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal.
Salah was spectacular as Liverpool scored all of its goals in a 33-minute interval at Anfield.
The Italian side came back from a 4-1 first-leg loss to Barcelona in the quarterfinals, and consolation goals in the final nine minutes from Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti have given it a similar deficit to overcome.
College baseball: No. 3 Stanford (31-5) extended its winning streak to eight gamewith a 4-1 decision over Pacific (15-24) at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal will host Cal in a three-game series beginning Thursday night.
⏩ Six Sacramento State pitchers combined to limit Cal (23-15) to two hits as the Hornets (22-17) beat the Bears 4-1 at Evans Diamond.
Football: New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who had hinted at retirement, announced in an Instagram post that he’ll return for his ninth NFL season.
Tennis: David Goffin saved a match point to defeat Marcel Granollers of Spain in three sets in the second round of the Barcelona Open. Goffin lost the first set and was down 5-1 in the second before recovering to reach the third round for the second consecutive year in Barcelona.
College football: North Carolina will add Ohio State junior running back Antonio Williams.