How will Kansas be impacted if Paul Mbiya is ruled ineligible by hypocritical NCAA

The NCAA can never seem to get out of its own way. After decades of burying its head in the sand when it came to players being compensated fairly, the NCAA has been ineffectual in regaining some of its power lost in rulings surrounding Name, Image, and Likeness.

Now, due to the hypocritical NCAA, the Kansas basketball team could lose a significant player as the college athletics ineffectual governing body tries to block international players with pro experience from continuing to participate in college sports, especially in basketball.

As usual, the NCAA is 10 steps behind the real world. As recently as last season, several players with experience playing in major international pro leagues were granted eligibility to play in the US at the college level by the NCAA. Now that organization wants to halt that flow of players.

Kevin Sweeney, with SI.com, does a fantastic job of explaining the details of the new rule and how it could affect international players already on college rosters. The NCAA is reacting to an issue that arose last season when players who had been drafted by NBA teams tried to return to the college ranks.

Could Paul Mbiya be ruled ineligible, and how will that affect the Kansas roster?

Mbiya and Kohl Rosario are the only players to return from last year's roster. Mbiya went against his agent's wishes and chose not to enter his name in the transfer portal, deciding to stay at KU. Now, his future at Kansas is in jeopardy.

From 2022 through 2025, Mbiya played a total of 45 games in three different leagues in Europe. This included four games in the Betclic Elite pro league. According to Sweeney, even the top-tier European leagues pay around $60,000 a year as a minimum after taxes. Here is where the NCAA hypocrisy kicks in. Mbiya is most certainly making more playing at Kansas than he ever did in Europe.

While guardrails do need to be installed to protect the game from professionals entering the collegiate game, it should be focused on the higher levels. Players drafted by the NBA shouldn't be able to return to college. There is a fine line, but the NCAA has already allowed several of the international players with pro experience to play for schools in the US.

If Kansas were to lose Mbiya due to this poorly timed and even more poorly thought-out rule, it would have a negative impact on the Jayhawks. Mbiya is in line for more minutes this season as Christian Reeves' backup, with an eye on starting the year after.

Presently, KU has nice depth in the interior, but losing Mbiya could be devastating. Freshman Davion Adkins would be the next man up, and he would have to split his time filling in for both Reeves and big forward Keanu Dawes. KU also has freshman center Grant Mordini on the roster, but he is a developmental player at this point in his young career.

Not only would it remove a significant player from the KU rotation who absolutely wants to be a Jayhawk, but it would also severely damage the development of Mbiya, who is not ready for the NBA at this time. He needs at least two more seasons to hone his game.

Derek Johnson, of the Locked on Jayhawks podcast, does a solid job of listing things that might come out of this ruling. It is worth the watch.

The NCAA needs to tidy up their rule. They need to grandfather in any players they've already granted eligibility. It would damage programs and players alike if these players weren't allowed to finish off their collegiate careers. It would not be fair or right.

If the NCAA wishes to tighten its eligibility rules moving forward, then fine. But this idea, while it is a move in the right direction, also shows that the NCAA still considers college athletes to be amateurs, and they clearly are not. The NCAA needs to set a timeline for these rules to slide into place without altering the eligibility of any players already on rosters.

Mbiya and Kansas will be watching to see how all of this plays out in the upcoming weeks and months.

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