UCLA AD Dan Guerrero Working On A Partial Fix For "One-And-Done"

We here at Bruins Nation have a tendency to give UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero a lot of grief. Most of the time, it's well-deserved.

But, every once in a while, he does something that actually deserves some praise. This is one of those times.

According to an article on ESPN, the NCAA Men's Basketball Oversight Committee, which Guerrero chairs, has proposed allowing college underclassmen to return to school after declaring for the NBA. The article says:

Under the proposal, which was a coordinated effort by the NCAA, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and the NBA, would allow underclassmen to attend the Chicago pre-draft combine in May, get evaluated by team personnel and given a true reading on their draft status. The players would then be able to decide if they wanted to stay in the draft or return to school. They couldn't sign with an agent, though.

Currently, the rules do not allow an underclassman to return to school once he has declared for the draft.

It doesn't totally solve the whole one-and-done problem as that falls more on the NBA than on the NCAA and the best solutions would likely require changes to the current NBA collective bargaining agreement.

But, this looks to be a step in the right direction.

At the very least, allowing underclassmen to test the waters might prevent situations like the incident between Steve Alford and former UNM player Tony Snell's mother because a player who learns that his draft status isn't what he thought would be able to return to school as long as he hasn't hired an agent yet.

Of course, it could also lead to an increase in players declaring for the draft because doing so would not permanently jeopardize their college playing status.

But, it seems to be giving the student-athletes more freedom in general and that should be considered a good thing.

To take effect, the proposal needs to be approved at a meeting in January.

Go Bruins!!!