Respectfully, the supposition that the NCAA has the athlete’s best interests in mind is a bit polly-anna-ish. However, the last time I said something negative about the NCAA I was banned for a week - here’s hoping I can earn that credit again! Follow the money, losing athletes to professional sport or professions is bad for their revenue stream. It’s never going to be fair for 24 and 25 year-olds to play college wapo because they gave up years of eligibility pursuing international hardware. That earned experience, in my opinion, should preclude them from playing against 17/18//19 year-old undergraduate kids whose roster spots they are hogging up.
Nothing respectful about misrepresenting my post. Nowhere do I say the NCAA has the athlete’s best interests in mind. This thread has already identified the NCAA’s main reasons: roster management, reducing litigation, etc. But your claim that 24 and 25-year-olds are hogging up 17 / 18 / 19 year old roster spots will actually be addressed by 5 for 5 – it’ll eventually protect opportunities for incoming athletes by preventing older returning players, as we’ve seen in the last few years.