Why Alex Oriakhi Shouldn’t be Allowed to Visit Kentucky or Missouri
By Matt Hamm
Alex Oriakhi is transferring from the University of Connecticut due to the fact that they will be ineligible for the NCAA Tournament next season, his senior year. He will be eligible to play immediately without sitting out a season which is typically required by NCAA rules. His eligibility was recently confirmed when the NCAAs rulings were held up after UCONN appealed the ban.
Oriakhi was the only player on Jim Calhoun’s roster to ask for a transfer which was offered to every single player on the roster. Oriakhi has done numerous interviews and both he and his father have spoken about his decision to transfer and his subsequent recruitment. In all those interviews, has Oriakhi, his father, the University of Connecticut or anyone with knowledge of the situation given any indication that his transfer had anything to do with academics. Never, not once, before the post season ban for next season was handed down by the NCAA, Oriakhi was not thinking of transferring. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, a transfer solely based on basketball.
Why does this matter and how does it affect the Kentucky Wildcats and Missouri Tigers pursuit of the senior center? Simple, if one of those teams does in fact land his commitment, it requires a big fat lie. Transfer rules in the SEC prohibit all one year transfers to be for academic reasons only. Meaning, Oriakhi and the University would have to pretend like he chose that school for academic reasons which would be a pile of crap. He would need to change his major to something not offered at Connecticut to make it work. Basically, the young man would have to sit down with some guidance counselor and sift through majors and find a path for him that he couldn’t take at UCONN. That’s not just making a mockery of the term student athlete, Kentucky does that every single season, this is spitting it’s face and saying, we don’t care about your rules, we’ll just find a loophole.
I voiced my opinion around the Fansided Network offices recently, a colleague made a decent point. If the NCAA were to rule this type of transfer out it could end up hurting a kid down the line that legitimately wants to transfer for actual academic reasons. Crap! I thought, I already started this column and he makes a terrific point. And then I applied logic, everything doesn’t need to be black and white. Simply insert an asterisk into the rule stating that all “academic” transfers would need both the SEC and NCAA approvals before the player can enroll in the University. Stipulate that the player declare if he is looking to transfer for academic or basketball reasons. Require players to submit the academic reasons and what major they are interested in switching to that their current school doesn’t offer. Require all this before he can field recruiting calls, take visits or have contact with other Universities. Players could still have the opportunity to be recruited and look at different schools. By requiring the information up front the creative meeting with the guidance counselor is eliminated. If it’s an academic decision, the player can still be recruited by schools that fit the academic criteria. Right now, if Kentucky or Missouri lands Alex Oriakhi, we have no idea what kind of “academic” path John Calipari is going to send him on.
The biggest problem I have with this whole situation is how open both SEC schools have been about their pursuit of Oriakhi. These guys know the rules, they understand it’s going to take some “creativity” to get Oriakhi in uniform for them. But apparently they don’t care and that disgusts me. I’ve had many corny people tell me it has to rain in order for me to appreciate sun shine. Well I guess we need guys like Calipari in order for me to fully appreciate guys like Dean Smith and Roy Williams. On the other hand, part of me is rooting for Kentucky to hit a grand slam this off season. Something in me keeps saying Cal will get busted soon. Landing Oriakhi can’t make the NCAA happy, they know everything I’ve said here, I’m sure they’ve already thought about it (if not they need to hire me for the compliance department). Maybe an off season of landing Oriakhi, Shabazz Muhammad who the NCAA has already warned schools about and another couple high profile, last minute commits will get them caught. After a national championship season and the entire roster just about headed pro, the pressure is on Cal to reload. Hopefully he leaves some evidence behind this time. Unless of course, Oriakhi falls in love with Chapel Hill.
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