Players also endorse fifth year of eligibility

INDIANAPOLIS -- Keith Brumbaugh shook his head and sighed at the thought of spending five years playing basketball in college.

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"Five years of school?" the blue chip recruit from Deland, Fla., said Friday at the Nike All-America Camp. "Five years is a long, long time to be in school."

But Brumbaugh, who is deciding between Florida and Florida State after flirting with the idea of jumping straight to the NBA, is not the kind of player coaches target with their proposal to add a fifth year of eligibility.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches unanimously recommended a sweeping new recruiting model Wednesday, one which includes allowing players to be eligible for five years.

NCAA president Myles Brand supports the proposal, saying the extra year of eligibility will help place a greater emphasis on education and improve lagging graduation rates. Brand said most students take 4.8 years to graduate and that athletes should be expected to do the same.

Many of the high school players in town for the Nike Camp endorsed the idea of a fifth year, but with an asterisk.

"It's better overall, but it's not something I'm going to worry about," said Levance Fields, a 5-foot-10 guard from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Like many of the youngsters at this year's camp, Fields envisions a relatively brief college career at a school such as St. John's, Pittsburgh or Miami before making the jump to the NBA.

NABC executive director Jim Haney said the proposal is aimed more at the vast majority of Division I schools, not at the center of the basketball universe.

"The intent wasn't that it helped one institution," Haney said. "We wanted it to touch and improve all of them."

The smaller schools with the less-touted recruits stand to benefit most if a fifth year is added.

"Not only does this proposal help the Michigan States and the Dukes, but the Central Michigans and the IUPUIs as well," said IUPUI coach Ron Hunter, who sat on the committee that wrote the proposal.

The NCAA asked the NABC nearly three months ago to help develop a new recruiting model that would attract more players to college, encourage them to stay in school and remain at the university they originally choose.

North Carolina center Sean May said he thought a fifth year would go a long way toward keeping more players in school and helping them work toward a degree.

"A lot of guys take classes to stay eligible," May said. "By the time they get to the end of their college career, they're not on course to graduate, and they still have to come back to school.

"If players get that fifth year of eligibility, it could help them and the game a lot," he said.

Jonathan Adams, a 6-5 forward from Ringgold, Ga., likes the idea of a fifth year of eligibility.

"I think it's a good opportunity for a lot of people," Adams said. "Academic-wise, it would help you graduate and with the extra year, it could make you better and give you a better chance to make it to the NBA."

Then there are players like Brumbaugh and Justin Dentmon, who have a hard time envisioning a college career that long.

"It would be hard to stick around for that fourth or fifth year watching a lot of guys getting drafted and knowing I could be right there with them," said Dentmon, a 5-11 guard from Carbondale, Ill.

That's not what this proposal is about, said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.

"It's about getting a degree," Izzo said.

Tell that to Brumbaugh.

"That don't make a difference," Brumbaugh said of the fifth year. "They're having a hard time getting kids to go to college at all."