Jay Bilas believes college basketball's eligibility problem actually 'not that big of a deal'

The NCAA has an eligibility problem on its hands, and it has become very apparent in college basketball.

Earlier this season, former NBA Draft pick James Nnaji signed with Baylor. Njaji was drafted by the Detroit Pistons but never played in the NBA. He played professionally in Europe, but it was ruled that he could play at Baylor because he was within five years of his high school graduation, and he never signed an NBA contract.

A few weeks ago, things got even more wild. 

Charles Bediako, a former Alabama hooper, decided to come back to Alabama two years after going undrafted. He was granted eligibility temporarily despite the fact that he had signed a two-way contract in the NBA and had even played in the G League.

It sort of feels like something has to give. Georgia head coach Mike White recently joked that Anthony Edwards would be back in the lineup for the Bulldogs. 

Noted college basketball analyst and talking head Jay Bilas doesn't seem to think it's that big of a deal, though. He does think the NCAA needs to come up with some hard and fast eligibility rules, but ultimately, he believes the outcry — especially from the coaches — is a bit self-righteous.

“One of the things I find really interesting about this is the reaction of coaches in this,” Bilas said Wednesday on "The Paul Finebaum Show" (h/t On3). “The idea that some of this is shameful and all that. ‘Shame on the NCAA, shame on the coaches.’ When I hear that, what I really think is, look, if you don’t want a player like Charles Bediako, don’t recruit him. But what they’re really saying is, we don’t want to play against him. That’s what’s being said here is, they don’t want to play against Charles Bediako. James Nnaji at Baylor, after all the hullabaloo about him, he’s averaging 1.7 points per game. Charles Bediako — no disrespect. I mean, he’s a good player. But, what, he had 13 and 14 points in two games? We had three freshmen over the weekend score over 40."

Jay Bilas believes college basketball's eligibility problem is overblown 

Bilas is basically saying that there are bigger fish to fry. Sure, if White's joke about Edwards came true and the three-time NBA All-Star decided he wanted to come back to play college hoops, we'd be in big trouble. Or if LeBron James decided he wanted to play for Ohio State because he technically never played college basketball. That's where things could really go sideways. 

Again, Bilas believes there needs to be clearer rules when it comes to eligibility. He's right about that. Ultimately, though, it's his thought that the drama is a bit overblown.

If it gets people to tune in to college basketball before March, it may even be worth it for the NCAA.

“We’re not talking about an All-America-caliber here. Again, I don’t mean that to be disrespectful, but why are we getting in a twist over all this stuff when it’s really, in my view, not that big of a deal," Bilas said. "I do agree that the NCAA should be better in the way they promulgate rules. Their rules should make better sense than they make. But I’m not sure that to the extent these players and institutions are kind of being demonized over this, it’s nowhere near as big of a deal in my view as is being made of it.”