Chris Smith, Kyle Kuric, and Elisha Justice to walk-on at Louisville next season

Headlines were made last week when the SEC took steps to eliminate the practice of oversigning in football.

For those unfamiliar, oversigning is when a coach accepts too many LOI's and is forced to tell either an incoming freshmen or a player that has been a member of the team for at least one season that there is no longer a scholarship available for them. But its not an issue that is solely relevant in football. In happens in hoops too.

Coaches over-recruit, often times ending up with as many as 15 or 16 players that have been promised a scholarship. The end result is usually that a player at the end of the bench is forced to pay his own way or is "run-off", essentially being forced to transfer.

While its common to see a team force these players out, its not unheard of to see a player give up their scholarship for the betterment of the team -- willingly or unwillingly. Last year, it was Oklahoma State's Nick Sidorakis that gave up his scholarship and paid his way for his senior season after Travis Ford promised scholarships to 14 players. Before that, Mississippi State's all-SEC center Jarvis Varnado took out loans to pay for his senior season to make room for a scholarship for Renardo Sidney and Washington State's all-Pac 10 point guard Taylor Rochestie giving up his scholarship to make the numbers game work.


On Tuesday, Rick Pitino announced at a Louisville press conference that Kyle Kuric, Chris Smith, and Elisha Justice would be walk-ons next season, paying for their right to set food on the floor of the KFC Yum! Center.

This isn't exactly a surprise. All three were recruited to the school as walk-ons. Justice was given a scholarship as a freshman last season because there was one available, but he likely already knew that it would not be renewed. But with incoming freshman Kevin Ware and George Mason transfer Luke Hancock opting to join the Cardinals in May, Rick Pitino's recruiting class now includes two more players, which is why Kuric and Smith have had their scholarships taken away.

What is strange about this particular situation is that Kuric and Smith aren't role players. They are starters. Kuric has a real shot at being an all-Big East player and is the Cardinal's leading returning scorer at 10.8 ppg. Smith isn't that far behind at 9.4 ppg.

Here's what Pitino had to say on the matter:

Of this particular scholarship move, Pitino said, "When Kyle first came here, he wasn’t supposed to be on scholarship and he was put on scholarship. Bullet (Elisha Justice) was coming here he wasn’t supposed to be on scholarship, he was put on scholarship. Chris Smith was not supposed to be on scholarship, he was put on scholarship. I told the Kuric family at some point in time throughout his career I might need it for a year and I’ve never had to do that until now. So we’ve been very up front with everybody. As a matter of fact, it’s just the opposite. Those guys weren’t supposed to be on scholarship but they were. And Kyle has more than not only exceeded but deserved the scholarship he’s been on.

Before I go any further, it should be noted that both Kuric and Smith will have no problem paying their way at Louisville. Kuric's father is a brain surgeon, and last I heard that was a fairly lucrative profession. And Smith is the younger brother of Denver Nugget guard JR Smith, he of the three-year, $16.5 million contract.

It also should be noted that neither Kuric nor Smith had much of a choice. Its easy to praise the commitment that Kuric and Smith have shown. They -- or their families -- are paying many thousands of dollars for these two to be members of the Louisville team next season.

But don't forget that neither player had much of a choice. Kuric is a rising senior. If he was to transfer out of Louisville, he would have had to sit out for a year before playing out his final season at a different school in a different system for a different coach. There is no guarantee he would have had as big of an impact or been granted the opportunity to play as many minutes as he will next year at Louisville.

Smith had no say in the matter. He played for two years at Manhattan and sat out a season before using his third year of eligibility last year. If he was to transfer to another D-I school, he would have to get a waiver to play immediately -- which would be granted if he completes his undergraduate work at Louisville -- or finish his career at a non-D-I university.

Smith and Kuric -- and Justice, for that matter (he turned down a scholarship offer from UK out of high school because of his loyalty to Louisville) -- should be praised for their selflessness and dedication to the team.

But don't make the mistake of assuming that that selflessness was voluntary.