The tricky thing about appealing an unspecified punishment is that it’s hard to tell who wins without some specifics.
It has been nearly three weeks since it was reported TCU guard Damion Baugh had appealed an NCAA suspension for using a non-certified agent while an early entrant to the NBA Draft last spring. It is 26 days – oh, nope, Jon Rothstein just updated – 25 days until the college basketball season begins.
It is that much more difficult for an athlete to prepare, to go through the grind of regular conditioning sessions and preseason practice, while lacking awareness of when the preseason might, for him, be ending. For everyone else with the Horned Frogs, it’s Nov. 7 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. For Baugh, who knows?
Here’s the thing about “unspecified”. It is unspecified to us. It may not be to TCU and Baugh. The NCAA never shares such information. The school has chosen not to make anything public, but the fact there’s an appeal is an indication this is not a gentle punishment.
A 6-3 guard from Nashville, Baugh has played three college seasons to date, the first two at Memphis and last year with the Horned Frogs. He averaged 10.6 points and 4.5 assists for the TCU team that went 21-13 and pushed No. 1 overall seed Arizona into overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He is an indispensable part of a team with significant potential and ambition, as backcourt partner to All-America candidate Mike Miles. Baugh scored 17 points in the key Big 12 Tournament victory over rival Texas and 14 in the first-round NCAA win over Seton Hall.
There is no doubt he made an error when navigating the early entry process, and no apparent reason to dispute he was in violation of NCAA rules. The rule says it’s now OK to have an agent and still return to college basketball, but that agent in question must be have gone through the NCAA certification process.
MORE: Q&A with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren
How severe, though, ought to be judged in large part by what transpired between the agent and the athlete. And in Baugh’s case, the evidence suggests it’s about as severe as parking adjacent to a fire hydrant. That’s a lousy thing to do, and it warrants a ticket every time. But so long as no fire occurs at the time, the $100 or so in fines the offender might pay seems sufficient.
In athletic eligibility terms, in the sport of basketball, a suspension of a few games ought to be sufficient to clear Baugh’s case. Two games? Three tops? That is what makes sense, and if that were what Baugh is facing now, it is hard to imagine he’d be putting himself through an appeal.
The NCAA’s agent certification process actually is in place as an aid to athletes pondering their position in the NBA Draft. It was developed after recommendation in the 2018 Rice Commission report. Organization president Mark Emmert appointed a body chaired by former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to examine issues in the sport in the wake of the scandal caused by the FBI investigation of the basketball talent game, which included the arrest of four Division I assistant coaches. Allowing athletes to navigate the early entry process with the aid of agency representation was one of the few workable, positive suggestions the group delivered.
It was not an immediate smash hit with agents, who already must be certified by the National Basketball Players Association and FIBA in order to do their jobs effectively. There were fewer than two dozen agents in the program its first year, but that figure more than doubled by last year to 50. The number of applications to date indicates there should be many more involved in advance of the 2023 draft. All but one of the six most powerful agencies now have representatives certified.
The process most certainly is not a financial bonanza for the NCAA. Agents must pay $750 initially to complete the process and $250 annually to renew. That is not big money.
The goal in developing the plan, rather, is to assure that each individual taking on the challenges of early entry gains access to the best possible information by which to make a decision. Those athletes desiring to retain the option of returning to college almost never are lottery-level draft picks, or even likely first-rounders. NCAA rules still prohibit undrafted players from returning to college basketball; ideally, there will be as few instances as possible of players surprised by such awful news on draft night.
MORE: Trayce Jackson-Davis ready to cement his legacy at Indiana
However, when a player bungles the process and chooses an uncertified agent, perhaps by initially assuming he must close the door behind him regardless of how he is viewed by the league, there’s every reason that concern about the athlete and his future should remain.
Baugh initially misjudged his options. He technically had an agreement in place for fewer than 10 days and made no trips on the agent’s dime for travel or training. The violation was self-reported by TCU. It’s not as though the program was “busted” or trying to obfuscate.
If it were to be established there had been extra benefits, there is a prescribed penalty based on the amount received. That does not appear to be the case here, though, and yet Baugh must wait, anxiously, to discover how much of this season will include him.
The NBA’s early entry process is not easy for young athletes. Even those who are most coveted by NBA teams can face extraordinary pressure, from agencies wanting to sign them and even from family members wanting to be a part of every decision. For the marginal prospect, that can be compounded because of the uncertainty of what might await. Maybe the player could so impress teams in workouts he can find himself on the fringe of first-round selection; maybe he’ll not be chosen at all regardless of any hard work and time invested.
Baugh’s family has been supportive of his return to TCU. Now, though, he must hear from the NCAA on what penalty he must pay. Given the reasons the agent certification program was developed, given the nature of his case, Baugh’s punishment should be the basketball equivalent of getting no ice cream after dinner.
Hits: 0
