Hofstra and Iona received preseason boosts in the last week when local transfers Shaquille Stokes and Tavon Sledge, respectively, were granted hardship waivers for ill relatives to gain immediate eligibility.
With the NCAA’s new rules regarding waivers for transfers — such as demanding medical documentation of the immediate family member and the transfer school to be within 100 miles of the family member — this could become more common.
After a stunning 440 student-athletes opted to transfer, many of them applying for waivers, the NCAA’s Division I legislative council’s subcommittee for legislative relief passed the rule hoping to stunt the rapidly increasing movement and to gain consistency with the waiver rule.
Harlem native Sidiki Johnson, for example, would not be eligible to apply for a waiver at Providence after leaving Arizona.
Though the talent in the area may have dropped off somewhat, it is still chock full of talent.
“Some schools have three or four players within a 100-mile radius — we have 30 or 40,” Rutgers coach Mike Rice said. “There’s no question it benefits [local schools].”
Fordham coach Tom Pecora agrees — “It could be advantageous for us,” he said — but doesn’t necessarily think it’s a positive. He would recommend a player sit out the year even if he could get a waiver to be close with the sick relative. Another issue, Pecora said, is schools actively recruiting other programs’ players with the waiver in mind.
“It makes the recruiting process even more muddy,” he said.
Many top players look to go elsewhere after high school for a variety of reasons. Some just want to experience another area of the country, others are not recruited by the local Big East programs and oversell their own ability, going to schools above their skill level.
Now, when hardships happen, the players will have no choice but to come home rather than sit out a year, and local schools such as Hofstra and Iona may reap the rewards.
* Christ the King shooting guard Jon Severe took an official visit to Duquesne last weekend and is at St. Bonaventure this weekend. The 6-foot-2 senior plans to pick between those two schools, along with Rhode Island and George Washington.
Power forward Denzell Thomas of St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey picked future Conference USA school Old Dominion over LIU-Brooklyn.
Jermaine Lawrence, a consensus top-20 6-foot-10 senior forward from Queens, announced a final four of St. John’s, UNLV, Cincinnati and Syracuse.
Highly regarded junior shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead of Lincoln has cut his list to 10 schools: St. John’s, Louisville, Syracuse, Maryland, Kentucky, UCLA, Rutgers, West Virginia, Florida and Kansas.
Wagner landed a major commitment from Long Island native Greg Senat, an imposing 6-foot-8, 240-pound power forward who attends Marianapolis Prep (Conn.), a source told The Post. The multi-talented Senat picked the Seahawks over Drexel, St. Bonaventure, Manhattan and Rider.
Long Island Lutheran sophomore point guard Chris Atkinson took an unofficial visit to St. John’s on Tuesday for its exhibition contest against Concordia.