NOTEBOOK Chaney opposes reform for incoming freshmen

ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Chaney has never had a problem standing alone. The Temple coach speaks his mind even when his opinion is in the minority.
Chaney doesn't agree with the proposed freshman eligibility reforms recently brought before the reform-minded Knight Commission.
Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, the winningest coach in NCAA history, told the commission he believes freshman recruits should play on freshmen-only teams. He also suggested that junior college transfers be forced to sit out a year before playing with the varsity.
"You have to show you're a student first before you have the privilege of playing intercollegiate basketball," Smith told the commission in early February. Chaney said the move would hurt the game.
"He's probably speaking from a standpoint of Carolina where they have millions of dollars and you can afford to have a freshman team and have a varsity team," he said. "He's probably got a little bit of a loss of memory in that so many kids are leaving school early, so why would a kid want to go to college when he has to sit out a year? He may not even want to go to college. You're going to lose players. We lose them now when they're in school for one year. That's fine for him to say, but he must have blinders on as far as reality is concerned.
"The cost of college is $30,000, $40,000 in some schools and you're going to have a kid sitting around a whole year and not play? You would have a lot of colleges getting away from this." One of the latest players to be honored by having his jersey retired was one of college basketball's pioneers. Vanderbilt retired the jersey of Perry Wallace, the first black basketball player in the Southeastern Conference. Last weekend, Wallace's No. 25 joined the numbers of All-Americans Clyde Lee and Wendy Scholtens as the only ones retired by the school.