Still dubious - too many moving parts, and the flimsiness (never mind the flimflammery) of such machination unspools. Like: I don't know the vagaries of literally signing with a school the day before you step foot on the court for same, but a coach would have to plug in a walk-on to his roster for roughly the first half of the season (or two or three if they started going this route regularly with the NCAA's benediction), and then have the "moving parts" (incoming still-should-be-schoolboys) supplant them. And supplant team chemistry as well? You could argue that Coach K would be delighted to have such an "opportunity" at this very moment, but I would wager otherwise. Like: Instead of plugging in walk-ons, you could offer half-(year) scholarships, and withdraw them at will when the apposite signee shows up.The concept of 1-and-a-half-and-done doesn't have to involve the academic flim-flammery. This could grow if players decide they want to graduate early at their "regular" school and coaches will want to accommodate in order to get them. Coaches could start pushing it as well. An optimistic look at it is that it will be better for the player to get the additional time in college life...I don't think I'm that much of an optimist though.
And realistically, how does a babe-out-of-the-woods player learn his (or any legit coach's) system on the first January day he shows up? Yeah, you would probably get a steady diet of Ben Simmons and the four freelancers star system and a sub-.500 conference record in the end. I see only desperado Pearl and maybe another "show-causer" or two getting in line (Larry Brown?) for such gaming of the system.
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