The NCAA's Division I Council voted to approve a proposal on Wednesday that will make all transfers immediately eligible in the 2020-21 college basketball season. The measure will afford immediate eligibility for players who are currently ineligible after transferring.
These waivers will only be handed out to players who were sitting after transferring for the first time from a four-year institution, and only those who were enrolled full-time in the fall semester of 2020 would qualify. It will ostensibly serve as a blanket waiver to provide flexibility for players and teams in the midst of the pandemic.
Such a measure is different from the one-time transfer exemption still being considered for implementation next year, but the vote's approval could theoretically serve as a positive harbinger for how that exemption is voted on. As The Athletic reported earlier this week, the immediate eligibility motion was indeed expected to pass, and there is broad support for a one-time transfer exemption. Current NCAA rules state that players transferring must sit out a year.
Many players who transferred after last season and applied for an immediate eligibility waiver have already been granted relief, including Texas Tech's Mac McClung, Gonzaga's Andrew Nembhard and Kentucky's Olivier Sarr. Yet there remains a large swath of players who applied for waivers and had them denied, but will now be allowed to play for their teams because of the ruling.
