College Basketball Needs Guardrails: Why a Players Union and Collective Bargaining Are Inevitable
- Matt Babcock
- 7 minutes ago
- 5 min read
College basketball keeps delivering surreal moments... until you realize this is the new reality.
Baylor recently signed James Nnaji, a 6’11” big man who was the 31st pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Nnaji is 21 years old, has played professionally overseas, and has appeared in the NBA Summer League. The New York Knicks still hold his NBA draft rights, and he was granted four years of college eligibility to play for head coach Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears.
All of that would’ve sounded impossible not long ago.
But it’s happening.
We can argue about whether this is good for college basketball, or the basketball ecosystem as a whole, whether it “feels” right, or whether the NCAA should’ve seen it coming. We can debate the optics and complain about the chaos created by NIL, the transfer portal, and now eligibility decisions that allow players like Nnaji to compete in college basketball. We can point fingers at schools, coaches, agents, collectives, the NCAA, whoever.
None of that changes the truth that’s staring us right in the face:
College basketball is now functioning like professional sports, without professional governance.
And at this point, there’s only one realistic way to restore any stability.
Who’s Protecting College Basketball?
The Nnaji case isn’t just a quirky eligibility story. It’s a flashing neon sign that the old definitions, the ones the NCAA used to lean on, no longer mean much. This isn’t an under-the-radar transfer. This isn’t a college kid cashing an NIL deal. He’s already been drafted into the NBA, has played professionally, and is still being treated as an eligible “incoming freshman” because he never attended college full-time.
If you’re wondering, “How is that possible?” you’re not alone.
In a voice note to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, UConn head coach Dan Hurley said he thought it was “a joke” when he first saw it, admitted he wasn’t aware of the “loopholes,” and then asked the most important question anyone has asked about this entire era: Who’s protecting college basketball?
And that’s what’s at the center of all of this, because it’s hard to operate in a world where the rules are unclear, enforcement is inconsistent, and outcomes feel like they’re being decided in real time.
The NCAA’s Problem Isn’t PR. It’s Power.
The NCAA can release statements. It can talk about “reasonable standards.” It can be said that each case is evaluated individually. It can push for congressional help.
But the reality is simple: the NCAA is no longer in a position to govern college sports the way it once did.
Legally, it’s boxed in. Every attempt to enforce restrictions invites litigation. Every restriction looks like a restraint of trade. And in an era when players are generating massive revenue and increasingly treated as employees in practice, even if not in name, the NCAA is stuck trying to preserve an old structure in a world that has moved on.
So what happens?
Schools and coaches do what they have to do. Players do what they have to do. Agents do what they do. Collectives do what they do.
Everyone acts in their own best interest because there is no enforceable governing framework compelling them not to.
That’s not even a moral statement. It’s just the natural result of a market with no real regulator.
Fran Fraschilla Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
Longtime coach and analyst Fran Fraschilla recently laid it out without any sugarcoating: academics and graduation rates “mean nothing” to most families of star athletes in this “new normal.” Agents “run college basketball.” Tampering is “out the window.” Coaches need “NBA guys” who understand the international and G League markets. Programs need NIL insurance and clawback strategies. And yes, he even said that coaches have to be willing to cut players who can’t play.
That’s pro sports talk.
Not “student-athlete” talk.
And it’s not because coaches suddenly changed. It’s because the environment changed. The incentives changed. The business changed.
This is professional basketball now, just without the pro rulebook.
Here’s the Fork in the Road
At some point, the conversation has to move past outrage and into solutions. Former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl put it as plainly as anyone can.
He wrote: “At this point, we have two options to save intercollegiate athletics. Congress gives the NCAA antitrust protections to make the old system work, which is unfair to student athletes, or we have collective bargaining. The longer we wait, the more it costs everyone.”
That’s it. That’s the whole conversation.
We can bitch and moan about leadership, but the “leadership” everyone wants can’t materialize without legal authority or a negotiated labor framework. The NCAA can’t just declare new rules and expect them to hold up. Not anymore.
Either the NCAA gets a special antitrust carve-out to reimpose the old restrictions, which is unlikely to happen, or we acknowledge what this is and build a modern system around it.
And in my view, there’s only one option that makes sense.
Unionize, Then Collectively Bargain
If college basketball is going to operate like pro sports, then it needs a pro-style structure.
That doesn’t mean college basketball loses what makes it special. It means it protects what makes it special by creating real guardrails.
Collective bargaining would bring order to the chaos:
Standardized rules for movement and eligibility
Clear contract structures
Defined timelines and dispute resolution
Injury protections, insurance language, and enforcement mechanisms
Agent standards and transparency
Real consequences for tampering
A commissioner-like governance model with actual authority
Most importantly, it creates a system in which players have representation, and schools have clarity.
Right now, everyone is improvising. And improvisation at this scale doesn’t produce stability; it produces lawsuits, loopholes, and escalation.
You can already see where this is headed: if a drafted NBA player can play in college basketball today, then tomorrow it’s another drafted player, another pro, another edge case, another precedent.
And it won’t slow down on its own. Markets don’t self-regulate when the incentives reward pushing the line.
Unless something changes, this is only the beginning.
A Pro Game With No Referee
Player empowerment is not the problem. NIL is not the problem. The transfer portal isn’t the problem.
The problem is that college basketball has entered a new professional era without the infrastructure required to sustain it.
That’s why you’re seeing things being pulled in different directions at the same time:
Coaches begging for guardrails.
Programs are building front offices to survive.
Collectives operating like payroll departments with little accountability.
Agents and third parties are driving decisions without standardized rules or oversight.
Tampering is becoming normal because enforcement is basically nonexistent.
The NCAA is trying to enforce what it can while getting dragged into court.
This list could be longer, but the point is simple: everyone is reacting. No one is governing.
Final Thoughts
James Nnaji signing with Baylor isn’t just a headline. It’s a signpost.
The NCAA is no longer capable, legally or structurally, of controlling where this is headed through traditional enforcement. And while it’s easy to complain about the lack of leadership, the hard truth is this:
Leadership requires authority.
Authority requires either legal protection or a negotiated system.
That’s why Bruce Pearl’s quote matters so much. It’s not a hot take. It’s the inevitable endpoint of the current reality.
College basketball doesn’t need another committee. It doesn’t need more vague “guidance.” It needs a framework.
And the only realistic path to that framework is for players to unionize, opening the door to collective bargaining.
Everything else is just noise.
