NCAA’s latest action could finally clear the way for Olivier Sarr to play at Kentucky
The NCAA has already granted a transfer waiver for star Kentucky basketball newcomer Olivier Sarr, and an additional announcement Wednesday might finally clear the way for him to play for the Wildcats this season.
The Herald-Leader confirmed last month that Sarr — a 7-footer who spent the past three seasons at Wake Forest — had been approved to play immediately by the NCAA, which was long thought to be the final hindrance to the star center suiting up for the Cats this winter. But Sarr is still waiting on clearance from the Southeastern Conference, which has an additional rule that says non-graduate transfers coming into the league with fewer than two seasons of remaining eligibility cannot play right away, no matter what the NCAA says.
UK might have been given a way around that rule Wednesday, when the NCAA’s Division I Council voted to approve a measure that would allow all winter athletes to be granted an additional season of eligibility, even if they play during the upcoming 2020-21 season, due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic will continue to impact winter sport seasons in ways we can’t predict. Council members opted to provide for winter sport student-athletes the same flexibility given spring and fall sports previously,” said DI Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania. “The actions today ensure the continuation of local decision-making in the best interest of each institution and its student-athletes.”
The NCAA had already approved an extra season of eligibility for athletes in fall and spring sports after college athletics was upended last spring by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also greatly affected sports this fall.
The NCAA’s latest move effectively gives Sarr two seasons of remaining eligibility, which would theoretically make him exempt from the SEC’s additional transfer rule. Since the NCAA has already cleared him to play for UK this season, he should face no other hurdles toward immediate eligibility, unless the SEC, for some reason, says such a provision wouldn’t apply to Sarr retroactively, since he enrolled at UK before it was approved.
It seems unlikely that the conference would interpret the rule in such a fashion.
Sarr — originally from Toulouse, France — averaged 13.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last season, leading Wake Forest with 11 double-doubles and 33 blocked shots. If eligible, he is expected to be Kentucky’s starting center this season, and national college basketball experts have pegged UK as a legitimate Final Four contender with him on the court.
The Cats have been generally ranked around No. 15 nationally under the assumption that Sarr wouldn’t be eligible.
An SEC spokesman told the Herald-Leader that the league “does not comment on or confirm pending transfer waiver requests.” The SEC has declined to respond to questions from the Herald-Leader regarding other aspects of the league rule that has kept Sarr from gaining immediate eligibility.
The men’s college basketball season, which typically begins in early November, is scheduled to start Nov. 25, though Kentucky’s exact schedule has not yet been finalized.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 4:31 PM.
