A Controversial Debut and the Growing Debate in College Basketball

James Nnaji, a 2023 NBA draft pick making his college debut for Baylor, faced an unusual reception during his first game with the team. The 7-foot center was met with boos from TCU fans every time he entered the game or touched the ball. The jeers were especially loud when Nnaji tried to protest a call, leading to his early exit from the game.

Baylor coach Scott Drew ensured that Nnaji was pulled from the game after picking up a fourth foul with 4:42 remaining in the Horned Frogs’ 69-63 victory in their Big 12 opener. The situation could have been even more uncomfortable if Nnaji had picked up a fifth foul, forcing him to walk to the bench under the scrutiny of the crowd.

The reaction from the TCU fans was a mix of delight and surprise, especially considering the presence of Baylor supporters among them. The game marked a meeting between two conference rivals with campuses just 100 miles apart.

Drew and TCU coach Jamie Dixon were unsure how to interpret the crowd’s strong reaction to Nnaji, who had signed with Baylor on Christmas Eve. His signing sparked criticism from coaches across college basketball.

“James did nothing wrong,” Drew said after the game. “Baylor did nothing wrong, and I know he’s human and just making sure he doesn’t feel that. If James was an NBA player today, he would be in the NBA.”

Nnaji spent four years playing professionally in Europe before being drafted by Detroit as an 18-year-old with the first pick of the second round (31st overall) two and a half years ago. His draft rights have since been traded to Charlotte and New York.

Since Nnaji never signed an NBA contract, Baylor’s move prompted the NCAA to issue a statement saying any players who have signed NBA deals won’t be eligible. However, a handful of players who spent time in the developmental G League without some version of an NBA deal have turned up at college programs.

Nnaji has four years of eligibility because he hasn’t attended a U.S. college, and Drew said he and his family simply want to see him get a degree. Nnaji wasn’t made available to reporters after his first college game.

“James is a great young man,” Drew said. “Grew up playing piano in the church. Mom’s most excited about his opportunity to get a degree. Brother’s a mechanical engineer. Sister’s trying to get a master’s. I thought he did a great job in a short period of time. He hadn’t played a competitive game in seven months, been recovering from an injury.”

Dixon said he doesn’t notice crowd reactions anyway, and mentioned that he joked with Drew by saying, “You’re famous now, huh?” That was after someone in the front row of the student section held up a sign that read, “Scott, college coaches don’t respect you.”

Most of the coaches who questioned the signing of Nnaji, including Arkansas’ John Calipari, have said they don’t blame Drew or any other coach. They blame the lack of standards in the rapidly shifting landscape of college sports.

College basketball has long toed the professional line more closely than football because of plentiful international talent and the many U.S. athletes who attend college for just one season. The money involved with name, image and likeness (NIL) has further destabilized the system.

“Call it what it is,” Dixon said. “We have professional basketball with no cap, no draft, no rules, no interpretation. It’s not in writing. You can be as good as you want to be. You’ve seen that in football. You’ve seen it in basketball. Put the resources into it.”

Nnaji’s first college points came on a putback dunk — the one time fans didn’t have a chance to boo him until he had already slammed the ball through the hoop and was running down the court.

The loudest cheers for him also came from TCU fans — when Nnaji missed his first college free throw before making the second. Drew didn’t have a specific plan for how many minutes Nnaji would play, but didn’t come close to putting him back in after that fourth foul.

“Good,” Drew said when asked how Nnaji was handling the extra attention. “The fact that he’s excited about going to class and getting a degree and being around guys his age and being in college, that’s exciting for me. It’s just like any parent, you give a Christmas gift and your kid likes it, you’re happy.”

Many in college basketball aren’t.