Amid eligibility battles, NCAA tourney selection committee member said something rather curious

The drama continues to build as college programs, including Syracuse, await word on whether class of 2022 athletes will be eligible for a fifth season amid legal battles playing out at the federal and state levels.

Both the 'Cuse basketball and football teams are hoping that a federal injunction issued at the end of July won't be reversed, so that transfer forward Amarri Monroe and wide receiver Justus Ross-Simmons will be able to suit up for those two programs, respectively, in their upcoming seasons.

On Monday, social media blew up just a tad after Field of 68 co-founder and longtime college basketball analyst/reporter Jeff Goodman posted a quote via his X page from an unnamed NCAA Tournament selection committee member.

Here's the quote: "The NCAA may not be able to threaten teams that use players deemed ineligible by the NCAA, but I can penalize them and so can other committee members if they want, whether it’s by seeding or even not including them in the field."

Um, okay.

Syracuse basketball is attempting to get back to the annual Big Dance for the first time since 2021.

I'm not a legal expert, but that seems like a rather dumb statement to make. When the NCAA approved its new 5-for-5 eligibility model in late June, the updated rule didn't afford class of 2022 athletes a fifth campaign of eligibility if they had already played four seasons in college.

Naturally, that has spurred a flood of lawsuits at both the federal and state levels. In late July, a federal judge in Colorado issued a preliminary class-wide injunction that gives 2022 athletes, including Monroe and Ross-Simmons, a fifth season of eligibility, should they want one and with certain parameters.

For this unnamed selection committee member to suggest that he or she might penalize teams, including possible exclusion from the Big Dance altogether, if they use players who are deemed ineligible by the NCAA, but have been deemed eligible by a federal and/or state court, is absolutely ridiculous.

Here's the full 12-member selection committee. Just as a reminder, for the 2027 March Madness, the field is expanding to 76 teams.

A few hours after Goodman's post on X, Martin Newton, the director of athletics at Samford and the chair of the NCAA Tournament selection committee for the 2026-27 season, issued this statement: "The men’s basketball committee’s charge is to set up the most competitively balanced tournament possible, selecting the best 44 at-large teams to join 32 automatic qualifiers and then seeding those 76 teams. It is not under the committee’s purview to pass judgment on players deemed eligible by an institution, conference, the NCAA, or other entity. A player’s or coach’s availability or unability shall be considered without prejudice. This is a consistent application to the selection, seeding and bracketing principles and procedures, which are reviewed and shared annually."

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