Is college basketball cooked?
Tom Izzo has been outspoken about the sport he loves moving in the wrong direction before, but his response to the recent news of a former NBA draft pick returning to college basketball with immediate eligibility shows just how angry he really is.
The recent news of James Nnaji, the No. 31 pick pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, committing to Baylor and joining the team immediately had him furious about the sport.
Izzo went full scorched-earth on the NCAA regarding this decision on Saturday.
Tom Izzo was asked about James Nnaji enrolling at Baylor. Nnaji, 21, was selected 31st in the 2023 NBA Draft but he never signed an NBA contract, choosing instead to play professionally in Europe, before appearing with the Knicks in the 2025 Summer League. Here's Izzo's answer: pic.twitter.com/yPWHLyy6Sw
— Spartans Illustrated (@Spartans_Illo) December 27, 2025
Izzo hit us with a “shame on the NCAA” quote. That’s exactly where we should all be after the recent events of all of these pros returning to college to become immediately eligible. The sport is becoming a joke, and even NBA players are making light of it, saying that they’re going to come back to college.
When you hear a Hall of Fame coach who has given everything he has to the sport say that he’s ashamed of it, you have to realize it’s in a really bad spot.
Tom Izzo was right all along
Whenever Izzo would talk about loving his job but hating his profession, people would roll their eyes because it was the same old-school rant that we’ve heard time and time again. Izzo was just the old man yelling at a cloud.
Looking back, he was right all along.
Izzo was outspoken about the transfer portal, and he’s been right on that so far; he’s also been right about the current direction of the sport.
The legendary head coach blasted the NCAA over the summer and then again when he found out that Louisville had brought in a former G-League player. Now, he’s disgusted about the direction of the sport after Baylor landed Nnaji who played in the NBA Summer League this past year.
Izzo speaks for just about everyone who follows college basketball because the sport is in a dangerous spot. This is the definition of a slippery slope. First you let in European pros, then you accept G-Leaguers, and now it’s former NBA draft picks? Where does it stop? Should pros who left college early be able to come back?
Obviously that’s hyperbole, but you get the point.
We all should have listened to Izzo from the beginning.