Two Years of Fru?

[Jay Bee]

Agreed.  No need to speculate how ww think it will/should work.  Because, it rarely turns out how anyone believes it should.

I think it's actually extremely close and almost a #donedeal with details unlikely to move much if at all.

[SchnitzelBoy]

It would be awesome to have him for 2 years. 2027-28 roster:

Nigel (jr)
Adrien (jr)
Minessale (sr)
Royce (sr)
Fru (sr)

Damarius (sr)
MPIII (sr)
Egbuonu (soph)
Colton (soph)
Josh Clark (jr)
Ian (soph)
Nash (soph)

If all of those guys (or even the majority) were on that roster and get close to their projected ceilings, that's a squad that could make a DEEP run.

[Jay Bee]

It would be awesome to have him for 2 years. 2027-28 roster:

Nigel (jr)
Adrien (jr)
Minessale (sr)
Royce (sr)
Fru (sr)

Damarius (sr)
MPIII (sr)
Egbuonu (soph)
Colton (soph)
Josh Clark (jr)
Ian (soph)
Nash (soph)

If all of those guys (or even the majority) were on that roster and get close to their projected ceilings, that's a squad that could make a DEEP run.

Who's MPIII? If you mean MPII, why is he listed as a Sr?

[brewcity77]

Who's MPIII? If you mean MPII, why is he listed as a Sr?

MPIII is a player.

[BrewCity83]

The NCAA has a standard academic year that begins on August 1st every year. I can't imagine them allowing every institution to have a different schedule. Maybe they try to create specific schedules for each sport, but I think most likely they default to the standard academic year.

Agreed.  If every school was allowed a different academic calendar, players born near the cutoff could use up their eligibility at one school, then transfer to a school with a later date academic year.  I can't see this being the NCAA's intent.

[The Sultan]

My understanding of the proposed 5x5 rule is that a 5 year clock starts after you graduate from a US high school (not sure how prep school factors in here), start college, or turn 19, whichever comes first. The first two are easy to understand, but I wasn't sure about the last. If you turn 19 at the beginning of the season does your clock start that season or the next season? What if your birthday is during the offseason? When is the actual cut off?

If I'm reading the proposal correctly, the clock starts the academic year after a player turns 19. The NCAA academic year begins on August 1st every year. So my interpretation is that if you turned 19 on July 31, 2022 or earlier, your clock started during the 22-23 season. If you turned 19 on August 1, 2022 or later, your clock started during the 23-24 season.

Mr. Fru turned 19 on August 28, 2022. If my understanding is correct that means:
23-24: Fru's first year (in Germany)
24-25: Fru's second year (in Germany)
25-26: Fru's third year (at Louisville)
26-27: Fru's fourth year (in Blue and Gold)
27-28: Fru's fifth year (hopefully also in Blue and Gold)

Anyone have a different understanding if 5x5 passes as expected?

Would love having one of the oldest and most experienced big men in the country for a change.

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2026/5/22/media-center-division-i-cabinet-continues-discussions-of-age-based-collegiate-eligibility-model.aspx

So, in reading this, we may only get one year of Fru.

"If adopted, the age-based eligibility model would replace current eligibility rules in Division I, instead allowing student-athletes up to five years of competition within their chosen sport during a five-year window that begins the academic year following their high school graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first."

Did he graduate high school before he turned 19?  Does that matter for international students?

[Jay Bee]

We may get zero years.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2026/5/22/media-center-division-i-cabinet-continues-discussions-of-age-based-collegiate-eligibility-model.aspx

So, in reading this, we may only get one year of Fru.

"If adopted, the age-based eligibility model would replace current eligibility rules in Division I, instead allowing student-athletes up to five years of competition within their chosen sport during a five-year window that begins the academic year following their high school graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first."

Did he graduate high school before he turned 19?  Does that matter for international students?

My understanding is that Fru will go by his 19th birthday, not high school graduation.

Key will be the definition of "academic year" and "following".

I still hold that they will create one standard cut off for all schools and all sports. The NCAAs goal is to make this black and white, no need for waivers. That requires a universal standard. I think they will use the NCAA academic year which runs 8/1 to 7/31 every year.  The article seems to signal this is the case as they mention that if this is adopted, no waivers will be available starting 8/1.

"Following" to me means "the year after" meaning if you turned 19 during the 22-23 academic year (as Fru did) your clock started during the 23-24 academic year. Maybe the NCAA uses some other weird defintion.

I think the intent for choosing 19 is to accommodate for international and prep school players.  While we traditionally think of college frsehmen as 18 year olds who turn 19 during their first year,  it's not uncommon for college freshman from overseas and prep schools to be 19 years olds who turn 20 during their first year.

I still believe that if this is adopted, Fru will have 2 more years.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Double post