NCAA eligibility rules punishes Cats for standing pat

The 2021 Pac-12 season has not been kind to the Arizona Wildcats.

As one of the youngest teams in the conference, the UA has seemingly been behind the curve since the beginning.

“It’s like, let’s bring Mike Bibby back for a year,” Rubio said. “I mean seriously, let’s bring back Richard Jefferson for a year. That’s what it’s like.”

Rubio is referring to the NCAA rule that has granted each student-athlete an extra year of eligibility for playing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rule allowed all collegiate student-athletes to compete in the 2020-21 season without having it count against their years of eligibility. The rule also allows a one-season exemption that allows teams to exceed their scholarship limits.

Some schools have full taken advantage of the NCAA rule, stacking their teams with veterans and transfers.

Arizona hasn’t, and it’s costing the Wildcats on the court. The UA (14-11, 6-8 Pac-12) will host No. 16 Utah (16-7, 9-5) at 3 p.m. Friday in McKale Center. Colorado visits at noon Sunday.

Arizona is tied with ASU for seventh place in the league. The Wildcats were swept on the road last weekend by No. 13 Washington and No. 21 Washington State, two teams with vastly more experience. Arizona is now 0-4 against the Washington schools this season.

“Washington has two ‘super seniors’ and the other players are all older juniors or seniors,” Rubio said. “We just don’t have enough time on the clock.”

A similar story unfolded last month when the Wildcats hosted USC and No. 12 UCLA. Graduate senior Mac May led UCLA with 18 kills as the Bruins beat the Wildcats in straight sets.

The Wildcats went four sets before falling to USC, which was led by graduate senior Brooke Botkin and her 14 kills.

“(Botkin) carried those guys just like all the other teams that we’re playing against that have the ‘super seniors,’” Rubio said after the USC match on October 17. “I mean, it’s like, playing with a stacked deck or with loaded dice.

“That’s what it’s like playing against these guys. I feel bad for our kids because it’s really unfair what’s happening here, and yet, it’s legal.”

Rubio says the new rule has inadvertently created a huge discrepancy between the schools that can financially afford to exceed the scholarship limit and the ones that cannot.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“Not only do they get the ‘super seniors,’ but they’ve recruited graduate kids to come in and now they’re older than us,” Rubio said. “I mean … it’s a completely unfair playing field at this point.”

So why didn’t Arizona take advantage of the eligibility rule like its conference rivals? Rubio said Arizona could not financially afford to exceed the scholarship limit. Plus, he noted, he didn’t expect the scholarship rule to change the sport the way it has.

“My understanding was if you were going to be over (the scholarship limit), you can only be over with kids in your program. But that wasn’t the case,” Rubio said. “So teams were able to recruit these kids who normally would have been out (of eligibility) and then put them on scholarship.”

The Wildcats had just two seniors on last year’s roster, and neither of them returned. Even if they had, Rubio would have been concerned about taking playing time away from some of his younger players.

“The downside of that is that you’re preventing a player in your program from developing that normally would have been developing,” he said. “So eventually, that catches up to you.”

Arizona has three seniors on this year’s roster: Zyonna Fellows, Merle Weidt and Malina Kalei Ua. Rubio said he doesn’t expect Fellows or Weidt to return.

Fellows will likely pursue the international pro circuit, while Weidt will play her final season at the University of Denver because the UA does not offer her desired graduate program.

Although the rule has plagued the Wildcats immensely this season, Rubio says that his team shouldn’t be at a disadvantage for much longer. Teams will have to shrink its roster sizes back to normal next season, which could lead to transfers and even more roster turnover.

This time, the Wildcats won’t have to worry.

Arizona’s top three leaders in kills are all underclassmen. Sophomore outside hitters Sofia Maldonado Diaz and Jaelyn Hodge lead the way with a combined 555 kills, while freshman Puk Stubbe is third on the team with 226 kills.

Rubio expects junior libero and “MVP of the team” Kamaile Hiapo to stick around and is also very high on freshman middle blockers Nicole Briggs and Alayna Johnson; the two will likely replace Fellows and Weidt in the lineup.

“That’s where I think, that on the back end of this, will be the beneficiary,” Rubio said. “That will all come to fruition on the back end. That’s the plan … I think anybody in the league will say, ‘How’s Arizona going to be in the future? Well, geez, Arizona is going to be really, really good.’”