What’s wrong with the new NCAA rules? Almost everything.

I would say, “Have you ever heard of anything so silly?” But the answer is, “Yes we have, because it’s the NCAA.”

Critics from coaches to former players to broadcasters to lawyers have come out en masse against the new set of convoluted NCAA rules that were thrust upon college basketball this week without running them by any kind of focus group.

Yes, some high school players will be able to jump right to the NBA, whenever the NBA Players Association gets around to changing the minimum age limit of 19. The NBAPA immediately responded that the earliest that will happen is 2022. Meanwhile, the NCAA says all the others will have to stay in college at least two years before turning pro. Huh?

Yes, certain players will be able to enter the NBA draft and return to school if undrafted, but only those players who qualified in some new top 100. The NCAA put that upon the NBA and USA Basketball, neither of which is in the business of ranking high school or college players.

But a player who enters the draft and waits until after the draft cannot return to his college if the coach has already given the player’s scholarship away and there are no more left to give. Coaches are already put in a bind by the current rule that players can enter the draft and return to school before the draft. So are they really going to wait until after the draft in June to try to fill the hole that was just created on their team?

In terms of enforcement, two outside committees will now investigate violations and recommend penalties, but the NCAA has to accept those recommendations. Just wait until a school is about to get slapped hard with a two — or three — year post-season ban and suspension of the head coach.

You think that school’s president, AD or conference commissioner is not going to put pressure on the NCAA to go easy or, next year, lobby to change that particular rule?

It is chaos in the making. Who is surprised that the NCAA wants to show how tough it is by asking some outside entity do the dirty work?

In the long run, few of these new rules will fly, so ultimately the Rice Commission will have to go back to the drawing board. Or disband and let someone else try.

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