Marcio Santos at the heart of the problem: The big change that may affect Maccabi Tel Aviv
A Maccabi Tel Aviv player has not yet received approval to play in US colleges and still holds a contract with the yellow team. The NCAA has called for the urgent passage of a new eligibility constitution in Congress, which may permanently prevent such transfers. Will this affect Israeli players?
College sports in the United States entered a major upheaval last night that may directly affect Israeli players and the way international athletes reach college basketball. The court allowed any athlete who began their studies in 2022 and played 4 years in college to return for a fifth year, contrary to the position of the NCAA.
Following the ruling by Judge Charlotte Sweeney, the president of the NCAA called for the approval of a new constitution, or charter, of eligibility for college sports, which has already been discussed in the US Congress and has the backing of both the Republican and Democratic parties. If it passes, it means that any player who received money for participating in a basketball game will not be able to play in colleges.
EuroLeague or colleges
But even this season there are major problems with players from overseas, mainly with those who played in Europe. While the transfers of Yoav Vitlam, Oren Sahar, Ili Dolinsky, and David Moses may go smoothly, for many players this is not the case—like Marcio Santos, who committed to LSU.
A new directive from the heads of the college league is currently preventing players who played in the EuroLeague and received a significant salary from registering and being part of the teams. Mika Morininen, who studied in the United States and was last season at Partizan Belgrade, has already joined John Calipari's strong Arkansas University, but has not yet registered and therefore cannot play with the team in exhibition games.
Someone who seems to have managed so far is Kevin Ellis, a player for Milan and St. John's University. He is registered on the team's roster and journalists are predicting the season around him, knowing that he arrived for one year only. According to the agreement, he is expected to return to Milan immediately upon the conclusion of the college season to help the team in the decisive stages.
"A lot of teams are preparing for the fact that the players they brought from Europe will not be eligible to play in colleges," said one of the coaches in the "Big 10," the conference where Omer Mayer plays with Purdue, in a conversation with ESPN: "We removed 4-5 candidates from Europe just because they played at high levels. The universities will have to adapt to the new situation."
Young over adults
ESPN reports that the trend of recruiting European players may change very soon due to the new laws. A general manager from one of the universities that play in the strong conferences told the American site: "The recruitment of Europeans will be at age 17 or 18 instead of 21 or 22. Why would someone earn 250 thousand dollars a season in Europe when they can make 3 million here at age 18-19?"
Santos still has a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv for two more years, while a release notice for Oren Sahar is expected to be issued in the near future. If the new eligibility rules pass, which are already gaining support in the four major conferences, the door for Santos and many players to colleges may be hermetically sealed.
Regarding the Israeli player, the new eligibility rules state that playing during military service does not postpone eligibility as it has until now, but there is no clarity regarding mandatory service like in Israel. If the charter passes in Congress and enters into force, it should not harm Israeli players, as their payment is for military service. In any case, at the moment, they are not supposed to be harmed.
