North Carolina has one of the few JV basketball programs in the country and its future is cloudy.
A federal judge is set to approve a proposed settlement of the $2.78B House NIL (Name Image Likeness) suit against the NCAA April 7. One portion of the agreement establishes a hard cap or roster limit for D1 college teams. For men’s basketball it’s an increase from 13 to 15 players for the 25-26 season.
This could be the end of the JVs “if the House settlement goes through and rosters are capped at 15 with no exceptions for JV teams,” a UNC official told CSN.
U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken of the District for Northern California is expected to rule only on whether to approve or deny the settlement and send the case to trial.
The UNC JVs have 15 non scholarship players and are coached by UNC assistant coach Marcus Paige. They completed an 11-1 season Feb. 8. They were 11-0 before heading into the finale against Davidson-Davie College and losing 57-53. Tryouts are held each fall for the two-year program.
They play all their games at the Smith Center, usually three hours before a varsity game, against a mix of community colleges, Div. II and III college and prep teams. They went 10-2 the previous year.
Both Hubert Davis and Roy Williams served as JV coaches at UNC. Dean Smith began the program in the 70s when freshmen were first allowed to play varsity ball and frosh teams were dropped at most schools.
J.B.
