Jeff Varem of Nigeria played 2 years of junior college basketball at Vincennes College in Indiana before transferring to Washington State this year. But Varem had to make his belated debut in NCAA Division One on Monday night after having to sit out 8 games. The college anticipated that Varem would have to sit out because one of his peers in Nigeria, Lucky Williams, was required to sit out fourteen games a year ago when he signed with Alabama.

"Jeff was able to play right away at the junior college," said Jim Serra, Washington State's compliance director. "That leads me to believe there isn't the same interest in what ... [international athletes] did prior to coming to America."

Colorado recently found itself in the strange position of trying to prove that a former Louisiana Tech women's basketball player didn't receive more than expense money from a team in Denmark's Elite Division. That's because one of the Buffaloes' freshman signees, Anna Nedovic, had played for the same team.

Only hours before its opener, Colorado successfully proved that former Lady Techster Ayana Walker received only routine expenses from the Danish team BF Copenhagen. Nedovic was cleared to play.

The NAIA and NJCAA are considering legislation that would place a maximum age on athletes, which would have its greatest effect on international players. For instance, the top women's free throw shooter this season in NJCAA Division 1 is New Mexico Junior College's Eva Vodrazkova, a Twenty-six year old sophomore.

Michael Landers, women's basketball coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, is in favor of such a move.

"As much as you'd like to give opportunity to some people to improve their lives, at some point you take away opportunities from other kids," said Landers, whose 2nd ranked Lady Cardinals include three players from Brazil.

The NAIA proposal would require all athletes to document playing experience after high school or, in the case of foreign athletes, after age Ninteen.

"Some NAIA institutions felt that they didn't have a level playing field in the postseason when playing institutions with athletes who may be of an older age, who may have been playing for a national team," said Matt Fry, the NAIA's director of legislation services.

Texas Tech men's basketball coach Bob Knight, who often cuts against the grain when the topic involves NCAA governance, has a suggestion for dealing with the amateur status of international athletes..

"Logic should be applied," he said. "If a kid has passed his Ninteenth birthday – or Twentieth, whatever – any athlete playing anywhere through the age of Eighteen can be a kid that you can recruit. And 4 interns don't have to sit and study some country they have no idea where the hell it is to begin with ... and then determine that this kid is or is not pro. We would have 1 simple rule to take care of it.

"That seems to me to be a really good way to get it done easily, efficiently and cheaply. So those are 3 great reasons for the NCAA not doing it."