NCAA is looking at BYU basketball players’ eligibility

BYU basketball player Egor Demin, a five-star recruit and a potential NBA lottery pick, is being investigated by the NCAA for a potential eligibility violation.

The eligibility of fellow international prospect Mihailo Boskovic is also being looked at by college basketball’s governing body.

The university confirmed it is working with the NCAA, but declined to provide any other specifics.

“BYU’s compliance office is working with the NCAA as they would with any other student-athletes,” a spokesperson said.

The issue centers on the players’ amateur status, a source told The Salt Lake Tribune. The source is not being named because they did not have permission to speak publicly on the matter.

Demin, a 19-year-old from Russia, signed a multi-year contract with Real Madrid when he was 15. Boskovic, a 6-foot-10 forward from Serbia, had most recently been part of a professional organization in Bosnia.

NCAA rules allow athletes to sign such contracts — so long as the compensation is not more than the “actual and necessary expenses” for their participation.

Cougar head coach Kevin Young declined to comment when asked about the eligibility concerns at a donor lunch on Wednesday.

“I actually can’t speak to it,” he said. “Our compliance guys are in lockstep with everything that is going on. That is another thing I just leave it to the people that know what to do much more than I do.”

NCAA rules around compensation have shifted in the name, image and likeness (NIL) era, allowing some athletes to pocket substantial amounts of money.

But the “actual and necessary expenses” clause remains in place.

Players cannot sign contracts with professional teams for compensation beyond expenses for travel and room and board. If an athlete is paid more than that, it can be deemed a professional contract.

“It’s a long-standing regulation,” said Richard Evrard, a collegiate sports and compliance attorney in Kansas City. “The idea there is that you’re not getting paid for your skill, ability and reputation in a sport.”

In the NCAA’s rulebook, there is a key difference between NIL compensation and being paid as a professional.

With NIL payments, an athlete is technically getting paid independently for their likeness off the court — and can maintain amateur status. Even if that NIL amount exceeds an athlete’s necessary expenses, it does not hurt their eligibility.

That’s what allows corporations like Nike to enter into six- and seven-figure endorsement deals with some college athletes.

“Any athlete can receive money for their likeness, but it’s not for their skill or ability,” Evrard said. “You’re not getting money because you are playing for a particular team or you’re participating in a particular event.”

The NCAA views it differently if an athlete has been paid to play beyond the necessary expenses.

If a school and athlete can prove payments were just used to cover housing and food, that would resolve the eligibility issue.

The NCAA has been uneven in the penalties given to players who make more than “actual and necessary expenses.” In some cases, players have been deemed ineligible for an entire year. Other times, an athlete has been forced to sit out just a handful of games.

“There’s no real pattern there,” Evrard said.

In some cases, the NCAA has required an athlete to pay back the excess earnings to charity and lose one year of eligibility, while still being allowed to play a full season.

Part of the issue is the potential for many mitigating factors in any compliance case, Evrard said while speaking generally about the landscape.

Evrard noted the NCAA looks at knowledge and intent: If a player did not know they were signing a contract that could affect their NCAA eligibility at the time, the NCAA could consider that.

“If they didn’t have knowledge that their actions, or their signature, was going to ‘professionalize’ them. That’s another element that the committee takes into play,” he said.

While top prospects in the United States hone their skills in the amateur AAU circuit, Evrard said, a professional team might be the only option to play basketball at a high level in some countries.

“I think many countries have club situations where students have to go to a club in order to participate in their sport,” he said. “Every country is different, and so you have all these factors.”

There is the added element of the shifting state of college athletics. In a world where some high school athletes with NIL deals in high school are making at least six-figure sums, is it fair to let them play while penalizing a high school athlete for playing on a professional team overseas?

“The committee recognizes that the landscape in college athletics is changing,” Evrard said, “and so I think that’s a part of their consideration as well.”