5-for-5 eligibility rule makes sense, but won't help Syracuse basketball this offseason

It's looking like the Syracuse Orange and its peers around the country will see another major change in the rules surrounding college sports, and this time, we're talking about the so-called 5-for-5 eligibility rule.

However, as Syracuse basketball and other college hoops programs construct their 2026-27 rosters, the potentially new NCAA regulation won't likely provide them with any benefits, so to speak, for the upcoming campaign.

On Monday, per a press release, the NCAA's Division I board of directors announced that it has directed the Division I cabinet to "advance an age-based eligibility concept that, if adopted in its current form, would permit student-athletes up to five years of eligibility beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school, whichever happens earlier. Under that model, Division I student-athletes would no longer be limited to only four seasons of competition within their five-year eligibility window."

Known as the 5-for-5 eligibility rule, this proposed change makes complete sense. Let college athletes play up to five seasons in five years. It's a uniform change, and it provides consistency to both college athletes, and their schools' administrators and coaches (while likely eliminating the need for redshirts and waivers).

It's a brave new world for Syracuse and its peers in college athletics.

The collegiate sports landscape is significantly different these days, fueled by revenue-sharing, third-party NIL deals, the transfer portal's explosion, roster limits and other measures that came as a result of the multi-billion-dollar House antitrust settlement that was approved, and went into effect, last summer.

It's absurd that some athletes have been in college for six, seven or even eight years, although I get that injuries are unfortunate and frequently happen. Still, putting a rule in place that provides for five seasons of eligibility in five years is the way to go.

One key component in Monday's announcement is that the existing rule, which entails four seasons of competition in five years of eligibility, will apply to players who competed in the 2025-26 sports stanza. By extension, the proposed rule change, if enacted, is "not expected to retroactively apply to student-athletes whose eligibility is or will be completed by the spring of 2026."

Therefore, if Syracuse basketball coaches, for example, were hoping to bring in a player or two who would have received another season of competition under this proposed new rule, that isn't going to happen. The Division I cabinet is planning to meet again in May, according to Monday's press release.

Here's another tidbit from Monday's release. The NCAA's Division I board has introduced a proposal related to when schools are accused of tampering in the transfer portal. Under the proposed rule change, if enacted, schools that are suspected of tampering with athletes prior to them entering the portal "would need to demonstrate the violation did not occur to avoid penalties."

I don't get this at all. How do you prove that? Schools would be, in essence, guilty until they prove their innocence, rather than the other way around.

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