When it comes to contemporary collegiate basketball, Kahlil Whitney is a real cautionary story.
The young man was a McDonald’s All-American with five stars. When he came to Kentucky in 2019, he was incredibly talented. However, the strain finally caught up with him, and he had a serious mental health issue that he has since been very forward and honest about. In January 2020, he packed up and departed the program to start his professional career.
Both Whitney and then-head coach John Calipari realized that this would be his way of committing to the professional path, thus there was no animosity between them. That was always his end in sight.
He is now prepared to make his historic return to collegiate basketball, but that hope soon evaporated.
Yes, exactly. Whitney will try to rejoin the college ranks, just like James Nnaji and Charles Bediako did before him. His narrative is one that I believe will be told much more in the years to come.
Whitney has been on a tour after going pro
Whitney bounced around the professional basketball scene in an attempt to find his footing and launch his career after being undrafted in the 2020 NBA Draft.
He played for the Windy City Bulls, Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and Greensboro Swarm in the NBA G League. He played professionally in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Croatia, New Zealand, and most recently with the Suke Lions in the China Basketball League for the past few years after his NBA career didn’t work out.
However, Whitney felt it was his chance to see if he could return after witnessing Charles Bediako try to return to Alabama and James Nnaji return to play for Baylor. The following is what he posted on X.Officially, recruitment is open,” Whitney wrote on social media on Wednesday. “As NCAA regulations continue to change, I’m looking into every possibility. searching for a suitable program that is prepared to handle the reinstatement procedure. Let’s get to work.
Naturally, there will now be significant logistical and legal obstacles. He should not be permitted to return just because he intends to do so.
One thing is pretty clear, do not expect a reunion at Kentucky
Even if Whitney’s eligibility is miraculously restored, Kentucky won’t play a significant role this time around.
Players who have forfeited their eligibility to play collegiate sports have received a lot of criticism from Mark Pope. In response to a specific question regarding the Charles Bediako case, Pope stated that he believed the NCAA should vigorously utilize its authority to exclude teams that intentionally broke the rules from the tournament before Bediako was finally declared ineligible by a judge.
In my opinion, players with a lot of professional experience shouldn’t be allowed to return. In my opinion, it is frequently merely a means for these individuals to enter and profit from NIL. If NIL was prohibited, do you think anyone would return to school?
That might be the solution; if you return to school after playing professionally, you won’t have any NIL and won’t be able to get any money from the school other than a scholarship. Then, would they still wish to return?
College baseball has the best path forward
I would really like it to be set up like collegiate baseball: either commit for three years or enter the professional draft. The money should be placed in a blind trust that you cannot access until you are certain that you no longer wish to attend college, whether you play professionally in Europe or abroad. You might also choose the payback option, which requires you to repay every penny of your professional contract(s) in order to enroll in a school.
I doubt the NCAA will ever take this action. Whitney might win his fight and be able to return to playing collegiate basketball. On this eligibility question, however, a firm boundary must eventually be established.
We all urgently need to know where that line falls.
