Fresno State facing tougher time getting 2 transfers on the court under looming rule

The NCAA Division I Council took a pass on a proposal for a one-time transfer waiver for student-athletes in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and — not that it matters at Fresno State — men’s ice hockey.

The council, according to a press release on Wednesday from the NCAA, instead approved a resolution to develop rules creating uniform, modernized rules governing eligibility after transfer for all student-athletes. It also has targeted January to adopt the legislation, which leaves the Fresno State men’s basketball program with a few questions for the next few months and maybe the upcoming season.

Coach Justin Hutson added four transfers during the spring signing period, and graduate transfer point guard Devin Gage (DePaul) and JC transfer guard Kyle Harding (Allan Hancock College) are eligible immediately.

But guards Isaiah Hill and Deon Stroud, Division I transfers from Tulsa and Texas-El Paso, will now need a waiver to be eligible this season.

Fresno State has not had a great deal of success gaining waivers for basketball players, and last season did not clear guard Jordan Campbell, a mid-year transfer from Oregon State, until Jan. 7.

He was the last mid-year transfer in the Mountain West Conference to gain eligibility and among the last in the nation, making his Fresno State debut with 28 minutes in a loss at New Mexico.

New Mexico guard Vante Hendrix was cleared to play on Dec. 17 and in that game against the Bulldogs was playing in his fifth game, and Boise State forward Abu Kigab played in his first game on Dec. 22 and had played in six games by the time Campbell saw the court for the first time.

But given uncertainty over the one-time exception, the late addition of Harding to the Hutson’s recruiting class was critical for Fresno State.

The Bulldogs this season return Campbell and guard Alec Hickman, a transfer from UC Riverside and East Los Angeles College who redshirted last season.

Niven Hart, who put his name into the NBA Draft to get a gauge of his stock, returned to Fresno from his Florida home last weekend.

Hutson also recruited a talented shooter in Destin Whitaker from Romeoville, Ill., in a recruiting class that also includes guard/forward Leo Colimerio from Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, and 7-foot center Braxton Meah from Memorial High along with Gage and Harding.

This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 6:10 PM.