THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: At the point of chaos within the rules of college basketball

It's official.

College basketball is a circus.

Bring on the clowns, and maybe a few elephants.

If you follow Gonzaga, you don't need me to tell you that we've reached the point of chaos.

When Charlotte Sweeney is just as important to the lineup as Davis Fogle, well ...

I rest my case.

Sweeney isn't the Zags' desperately needed point guard. She's a judge in Colorado, and in a sane world, she would have absolutely nothing to do with Mark Few's team.

But we've already agreed that college hoops are nuts, so why not let a judge decide the roster?

Sweeney made a decision last Friday that opened the doors for athletes to play five seasons in five years.

That actually made some sense.

As a bonus, it appeared like the new landscape would help Gonzaga find (and sign) a point guard.

The judge wasn't done, however.

Then two days after her ruling, she popped up again and said: "Hold the dice."

Let's turn this thing upside down.

SWEENEY added that the five-in-five declaration needed something to make us all dizzy, so she overruled decisions already made in Tennessee and Ohio.

No transfer portal, she said, ignoring the fact that thousands of athletes already had changed schools via the portal — and hundreds more are in the process of doing so.

Nah, came her ruling.

For this year only (players who began their careers in 2022), anyone who planned to move through the portal was fine.

But the judge, for reasons that give you a bona fide headache, slapped up athletes who did NOT enter the portal back in April. They're stranded on that island with Tom Hanks in "Cast Away."

Seriously.

If you entered the portal but didn't move in the spring, you're free to go now.

If you just stayed in school and earned your NIL money in April, you do NOT have the option of moving now.

Not even if both careers would finish with the exact same number of games.

Charlotte, what are you thinking?

Consider Donovan Dent, who played for UCLA last season.

Dent had transferred from New Mexico and spent just that single year in Westwood. He had another year of eligibility open to him, but Dent decided he'd rather "retire" from college sports and work in a youth program in Albuquerque.

No problem, except ...

He changed his mind this year and decided to use that final season.

He decided to play his last year at Gonzaga.

"Whoa," said Judge Sweeney, "Not so fast."

Going over the fine print in the judge's ruling, you discover that Dent is NOT allowed to transfer for his final season — because he never put his name in the portal last spring.

I'm sorry, but that is absolutely unfair.

If the judge wants to staple everyone to their college campuses, that would be goofy but fair.

A player like Dent who followed the rules, though?

Sorry.

I CAN'T find any logic in Sweeney's ruling.

Really.

If athletes understood the game last spring, that would be different.

University counselors could sit them down after practice and explain the option.

"Sure, you can take that boatload of cash and move to the New Jersey Institute of Technology," the counselor would explain, "but you've got to grab it now."

Wait until next semester and see if you still want to transfer?

No.

Nada.

Not a chance.

Um, why not, Judge Sweeney?

Nobody is scamming the game here.

It's not like Dent (or anybody else) is scooping up the goodies and disappearing like a thief in the night.

Why doesn't this young man have the same options as everyone else?

Does it matter that he plans to transfer to Gonzaga?

Sure, it matters to me and to lots more folks who care about the Zags.

We know the rules, though.

If Dent had decided on a move to UConn for his senior season, we'd be disappointed — but we'd understand.

I'd love to see the kid playing in Mark Few's offense, and I suspect the addition of Dent would bring a Final Four contender to Spokane.

Sure, that would be fun.

Dent was free to make the decision, though, and he decided he wanted to skip big-time hoops.

At least for a year.

OK, please explain why Donovan Dent should have LESS options, and be locked into one school, now that he wants to play basketball and take the NIL rewards again.

Donovan's teammate at UCLA, Skyy Clark, is deciding right now which school he'll attend in the fall.

The only difference is that Clark filled out a form last spring that he never intended to use.

Please, somebody, explain this to me.

Email: [email protected]

Longtime journalist Steve Cameron writes the "Cheap Seats" column for The Press three times each week.