Yeah, it's not great for the school... but I do favor giving leeway to the player, and allowing them to explore their possibilities. Gaining additional information, making a better informed decision.
(I think what is needed is a tighter window for the players.)
I respect that the players want to hear an evaluation from outside of their college coaching staff, someone they feel isn't biased about having them back.
OTOH, I'm not sure what Ayala for example is expecting to hear.
Turgeon knows right now that Smart has left. He should be looking to fill that spot.
Beyond that, he's got to hold opportunities Morsell, Wiggins, and Ayala to return. That's a little tough, because it could burn you.
I think it's pretty safe to believe Ayala will be back. And with Morsell and Wiggins also both leaving the door open, I think the chances with both returning are also pretty good... but certainly they could leave too. Hell, Morsell could come back to College and decide he wants to be the man at a level below MD and show that he can score / shoot at a level to give him more NBA looks. I doubt that happens (seems more likely to me he would go pro somewhere, vs coming back to college and playing down a level - also more likely imo to transfer to another major program vs. transferring down) but it's possible.
Yeah I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t want this to become something else slanted for the schools, but I feel like it swings too much the other way. Like if you commit and take a scholarship you shouldn’t be able to just opt out so easy.
Let them do the combine and declare for the draft after if they really want, but don’t let them keep the option of going back at that point.
This transfer portal crap is getting really out of hand though. It’s essentially creating restricted free agency with giving the school the right to pull their scholarship and reuse it, but those are give out years ahead of time so you have to use this same broken system to replace someone leaving right now.
I dunno how to fix it exactly, but I do think they should be allowed to make and keep money from endorsements, or their likeness, but should have to honor the scholly commitment or they should open a developmental path where players can bypass college and play developmentally but they have to play a minimum year or two there before they can be called up or something. I dunno...just not a fan of the current structure and know change is needed somehow.