College basketball coaches must wait to see if key players return

Wednesday is decision day for Oregon’s Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey, and they are far from alone among those facing a new extended deadline meant to help players make the best decision for their professional futures.

The NCAA moved back its deadline by more than a month to 10 days following the combine to allow players who haven’t signed with an agent extra time to decide whether to return to school or stay in the NBA Draft.

Which means the clock has about run out on Brooks and Dorsey, and their coach, Dana Altman, will soon know if key pieces of his roster will be back on the team.

“It’s a great rule for the players,” said Altman, whose Ducks play UNLV on Dec. 17 in Portland, Oregon. “It gives them an opportunity to check things out, so overall it’s a good rule. It makes it a little tough to plan, but it’s better for our players, so that’s what we ought to do.”

Altman was in Las Vegas for Coaches vs. Cancer, a three-day series of fundraisers to benefit the American Cancer Society that ended Tuesday. The draft issue has affected many attendees, including one of the event’s hosts, new UNLV coach Marvin Menzies.

UNLV lost five players to early entry, but only Patrick McCaw and Stephen Zimmerman Jr. are projected to be taken in the June 23 NBA Draft. Three other Rebels left for various reasons, and they might have to begin their careers in international leagues.

Those players left before Menzies arrived to coach the program, and he had the difficult job of rebuilding a roster that also lost two players to transfers.

“I like the way that they moved it back and gave guys some more time,” Menzies said. “We’ve had a couple of guys that have put their names in this past season, so I thought it worked well for them. They had a chance to get some different workouts in and get a feel without having the pressure to make a decision too quickly. Once you give guys more information to process and accept where they’re at, obviously better choices are made.”

Former UNLV and current Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger has a player expected to be taken high in the draft, but the Sooners’ Buddy Hield was a senior and wasn’t coming back anyway. Hield, who came back to school after being projected as a second-round pick last year, could go as high as third overall to the Boston Celtics.

He clearly made the correct decision to return to school, but it’s not always so clear-cut for players.

“Like any rule, it will probably continue to be tweaked and try to get a good balance between what’s good for the prospect No. 1 and then what’s good for the programs,” Kruger said.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said the new deadline was a step in the right direction, and he doesn’t advocate moving it up to when the NBA releases its list of combine invitees.

“No, God, no,” Williams said. “Why would they do that? The combine’s going to give (players) a chance to go play in front of (NBA executives and scouts), and they need that information. That’s a much better deal now.”

Kansas State coach Bruce Weber would like to see the NCAA modify its scholarship rules in light of the extended deadline.

“I understand (the deadline is) good for the players, but it’s really tough on programs, the coaches,” Weber said. “Do you go find somebody to replace him? What do you do when they come back and you don’t have a scholarship? There are so many things with that that makes it tough. I’m all for players’ rights and helping them, but I think if we continue this, give us an extra scholarship.

“If a young man wants to come back, let him be on scholarship and continue his career there without putting a punishment to the program, to the other players on the team.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65