Another NBA draftee is trying to return to college basketball, and we've had enough

We're beginning to forget what "college basketball" actually means. This has been especially clear as LSU head coach Will Wade is seemingly going on a whirlwind tour of recruiting overage, professional basketball players from all across the basketball career timeline, including NBA players, G-Leaguers, and Euroleague standouts.

Most recently was RJ Luis, a three-year star with the St. John's Red Storm and former Big East Player of the Year under coach Rick Pitino before forgoing his final year of eligibility to declare for the NBA Draft. Since then, he's bounced from Utah to Boston and fallen into the depths of the G-League. It's only natural to look back and wonder what could have been if he had just stayed for his senior year at St. John's.

But here's the sticking point: Luis' college career is over. Done. Much like Alabama's Charles Bediako, you can't pull a George Costanza and return to college like nothing ever happened -- like you didn't walk out on college hoops for a chance at the pros.

It's aggrivating, it's embarrassing, and it's making a complete mockery of the game of college basketball. Wade and LSU aren't intent to salvage the health of a league still struggling to find stasis after the earth-shattering innovations to NIL income and the transfer portal; they want to destroy college basketball for all it's worth, or at least go down swinging.

It has folks like Jeff Goodman unflinchingly stating that he wishes Will Wade had never come back to college basketball.

"I like Will. I've known Will since he was an assistant at Harvard," Goodman released in the wake of recent LSU recruiting news. "But man, you suck for college basketball right now. Seriously. You're making it into a mockery. Look in the mirror and understand that it's not just about you -- this is about more than just you. This is about the sport of college basketball. Have some pride, have some dignity."

Years ago, Wade was blocked from coaching college basketball after a wiretap revealed that he had been paying players directly to attend LSU under-the-table in direct violation of the NCAA's amateurism rules. Times have changed since then, but now with another chance at the school he was fired from so long ago, he's making more moves that have basketball fans and analysts questioning if bringing him back was a huge mistake.

"This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. First of all, you got a second chance here after being run out of the sport. [...] Now it's the same [expletive] all over again."

(Language warning for the following clip)

This is all fixed, in theory, by the pending "5 in 5" rule, where a player's college eligibility is dictated by the player's age/academic status, rather than simply wanting to try out college basketball out of FOMO.

I don't want to sound hypocritical here, as BYU was rightfully under criticism for signing Abdullah Ahmed from the G-League's Westchester Knicks. The rules need to be stricter. More clearly written out. But giving an international player a chance at college hoops is one thing. Giving professionals and grown men free rein against teenagers and NBA hopefuls is another altogether. Wade and LSU have taken it to the extreme.

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