In his first public remarks since the NCAA announced sweeping rules changes in a targeted attempt to clean up college basketball this week, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski expressed optimism in the direction of the reform but criticized the process the NCAA used to try to implement the changes.
"They're all well-intentioned," said Kryzewski via WRAL, "but they're not coordinated. I'm being somewhat critical of the coordination and the implementation, the process of getting there and the process of making it happen."
Krzyzewski joked about the extensive nature of the rule changes, saying he hoped he wouldn't be tested on the thick stack of papers that sat to his right at his Friday press conference. He then earnestly tried to explain how the new changes might impact his program. For Duke, he says, the impact is still yet to be determined because some rules -- such as who will identify "elite" players that are allowed to return to school if they go undrafted -- still have kinks to work out.
The example he provided was among the most poorly planned initiatives rolled out this week.
"No one wants to identify those elite players," said Krzyzewski of the problem with the new rule, alluding to the reported lack of communication between the NCAA and USA Basketball. "The thing about undrafted players coming back, that's OK, but we're talking maybe half a dozen. Maybe 10 at the most. And those kids wouldn't come back, probably, because if they went to the combine, they've kind of gone down that road."
Time will tell exactly how the new rules changes that impact the recruiting calendar, agent-athlete relationships, and the NBA Draft, will affect college basketball, but Krzyzewski feels it's the first of a multi-step process to improving the system on the whole.
"Overall, it's a step,'' Krzyzewski said. "Hopefully [there will be] a bunch of steps, and hopefully a number of them will lead to really good things."
