Thursday November 1, 2001

Connor Doyle

The uniforms are the same. The coaching staff is the same. Little about the UA men's basketball team - a squad that has been among the elite in college basketball for the past 15 years - has changed.

Except for the players, that is.

UA entered this season with only one starter from last year's team (junior point guard Jason Gardner). The rest went on to the NBA, three of them leaving before their eligibility expired. In the past, UA would have simply recruited a bevy of freshmen and junior college transfers and would stay among the top teams in the nation. But that's not the case this year.

Starting this season, the NCAA has instituted something called the "5-8 rule." It states that a team cannot give out more than five scholarships in one season and no more than eight over two seasons. At the time, the NCAA claimed the rule was aimed at stopping coaches from entering a program and clearing out a roster.

Whether the NCAA realized it or not - and the smart money is on the former - the rule also punishes teams that recruit the best players in the country. Schools like Arizona, Duke, Michigan State and Kentucky routinely have rosters filled with athletes likely to leave school early for the professional ranks. In the past, they would simply reload their roster with the top recruits and continue dominating.

But those days, likely, have come to an end.

Now, the Wildcats have nine scholarship players on their roster. Five of those players are true freshmen. Four of those freshmen are expected to play significant minutes. In the past, this was unheard of.

UA associate head coach Jim Rosborough spoke out against the rule when it was enacted, and he's still not happy about it.

"I think (the NCAA's) intent was okay, trying to stop coaches from running people off, but they also needed to have the asterisk that if people leave for the NBA, they need to get at least one or two of those scholarships back," Rosborough said. "I don't think we deserved all three of them back, but at least one. The rule affects top programs more because those are going to have the kids that go to the NBA more."

While Rosborough isn't willing to say that he thinks the NCAA was aiming this rule at teams that have players leaving early, he does think it's patently unfair that teams get punished for their success.

"We were penalized for doing our jobs too well. Three underclassmen thought they were ready for the NBA, which is probably a testament to our coaching staff, so we were penalized," Rosborough said. "Just like Duke would have been three years ago when they lost a lot of their younger players, but the rule didn't exist then. It's very frustrating; you do your job, yet you're penalized."

Now Rosborough is faced with a situation that's a total deviation from last season - trying to prepare a team for what some call the toughest schedule in the nation with scrimmages involving walk-ons and players who normally wouldn't be playing.

"One of the beauties of last year's team was depth. The competition was better in our scrimmages than some of the teams we played," Rosborough said. "Now, we can't even field 12 scholarship kids."

Rosborough said he's confident the team will still do well, but realizes the enormity of the task ahead.

"It's scary for all of us. Look who we're playing early," he said. "My gosh, it's a brutal schedule. I like this club, but this schedule would be difficult any under circumstances, with any team."

There are few prognosticators who think UA's going to have a good season. No talk of a Pac-10 Championship for the Wildcats, not to mention an NCAA Championship. But Rosborough and the rest of the coaching staff say this team has the ability to surprise a lot of people.

In spite of the NCAA.