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It’s been widely assumed that the NCAA will eventually vote to allow college athletes to have a one-time transfer and not have to sit out a season. The vote is expected to happen in June, and the hope has been it would apply to the 2020-21 academic year.
However, Jon Rothstein reports that it’s likely to be for the 2021-22 year instead.
Sources: If the NCAA votes in June to allow a one-time transfer rule with immediate eligibility, it is likely to begin during the 21-22 season.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 5, 2020
This is bad news for the Kentucky Wildcats, who could lose five players to the NBA Draft along with Johnny Juzang transferring and Nate Sestina graduating. UK was likely going to at least explore the transfer market to help fill out next year’s roster, but it sounds like they’ll have to stick to graduate transfers for the time being.
It’s unclear why it’s now likely that this won’t go into effect until 2021, but it’s likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has turned college sports upside down. It’s probably wise for such a major rule change to go into effect when there’s a normal offseason, if such a thing will even happen next year.
As for UK, John Calipari has a lot of work to do in order to fill out his roster for next season, and it may have just gotten even more challenging to do so.