[Rosiak's Blog] Erik Williams will transfer

[MerrittsMustache]

For some people, yes. For others, no. Some players simply want to play basketball, and would gladly play 30+ minutes on a mid major instead of 10 on a major. And I'm not going to tell them they're wrong.

Taking a step "down" worked out well for Karon Bradley. He got more PT and a trip to the Sweet 16. Transferring to a smaller school doesn't necessarily mean he'd be scrapping to make the NIT (as mu_hilltopper put it).

[Nukem2]

Taking a step "down" worked out well for Karon Bradley. He got more PT and a trip to the Sweet 16. Transferring to a smaller school doesn't necessarily mean he'd be scrapping to make the NIT (as mu_hilltopper put it).

Karon's transfer was not so much a step down as huge step closer to home.  He transferred mostly for that reason as he would have had plenty of minutes had he stayed.  BTW, he was a classy young guy.

[MUMac]

When you need a release, a team can put restrictions on it. I doubt that Bo would of taken Maymon, so it is not likely that restriction would of even been put on him.

My understanding it was more of a favor to UW and Bo to have that added.

[GGGG]

Guys...an NLI is a one year binding contract on both parties.  After one year, Williams may go anywhere he wants except for the BE per conference rule.

[bilsu]

I still think you need a school to release you from the scholarship, so you can accept another one. There really is no reason for a school not to, except to make sure you leave in good academic standing.

[Pakuni]

I still think you need a school to release you from the scholarship, so you can accept another one. There really is no reason for a school not to, except to make sure you leave in good academic standing.

You're mostly correct.
The current school has to issue a permission-to-contact letter to any school wishing to recruit the transferring player. Without that letter, another school is not allowed to contact the player (or his representatives) or give him a scholarship for one full academic year.
So, let's say Erik wants to go to UW. Marquette can't prevent that. But MU can prevent UW from contacting Erik or his parents, and can prevent UW from giving him a scholarship until the 2012-13 year. So, if Erik is willing to pay his own way to go to UW, MU couldn't stop that. But they sure could make it difficult.

Here's the rulebook and applicable section:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/TGONLINE2010.pdf

Generally, if you are enrolled as a full-time student at an NCAA or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) four-year school and you want to transfer to a different NCAA school to play, your current school's athletics director must give written permission-to-contact to the new coach or member of the athletics staff before you or your parents can talk with one of them. That is called having a permission-to-contact letter. You may write to any NCAA school saying that you are interested in transferring, but the new coach must not discuss transfer opportunities with you unless he or she has received written permission-to-contact from your current school. If your current school does not give you written permission-to-contact, another school cannot contact you and encourage you to transfer. This does not preclude you from transferring; however, if the new school is in Division I or II, you cannot receive an athletics scholarship until you have attended the new school for one academic year. Also, if your current school officials deny your request to permit another institution to contact you about transferring, they must tell you in writing that you have a right to appeal the decision. In that instance, a panel of individuals from your current school who are not involved in athletics will conduct a hearing to decide the issue..