Reports this week indicated that the Big Ten was exploring the possibility of making freshmen ineligible for football and men’s basketball to help prove academic standards and graduation rates.
This idea is incredibly far away from ever happening -- and if this ever were to happen, it would be across multiple levels of college basketball -- some other conference head coaches are using the latest Big Ten freshmen eligibility rumors as negative recruiting against the conference.
Ohio State head coach Thad Matta addressed the concerns he is dealing with from recruits and their parents during a a press conference on Saturday
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Obviously, Matta has a lot of issues with these rumors and they’ve taken up a lot of time in his recruiting efforts. I don’t think the freshmen eligibility issue will actually come to any action anytime soon, as the coaches of both football and basketball would be very opposed to not being able to use freshmen. Players want to have a chance to play right away, so it’s going to really hurt in recruiting if it ever passes.
(H/t: Steve Helwagen, 24/7 Sports)