KOBE Paras' decision to take his act to the University of the Philippines makes him eligible to play for the Maroons next year come UAAP Season 82 alongside another blue-chip recruit in former high school teammate Ricci Rivero.
Paras is the second transferee from the US NCAA in a week's time to join a UAAP team, his announcement coming just after former Wake Forest player Troy Rike committed to play one year with the National University Bulldogs.
But unlike Rike who is eligible to play for the Bulldogs this coming season, Paras will have to red-shirt for one year before becoming eligible to play for the Maroons next year.
Why so?
Rike spent four years at Wake Forest and earned a degree in Business Management. With a diploma at hand, Rike is no longer considered a 'transferee' but a graduate student. Therefore, the regular residency rules no longer apply to him.
The UAAP by-laws is explicit in the case of Rike: "A student-athlete from a non-member school who is pursuing graduate studies in a member school shall not be subject to the said residency requirement."
Paras, on the other hand, is still considered as a transferee after last seeing action for Creighton in the US NCAA in 2017. League rules state that students moving from one school to another - wherever that may be - will have to spend a year of residency.
On how many eligible years Paras will have left in the UAAP after one season at Creighton and a year undergoing residency each at Cal State Northridge and UP is still unclear. That decision is often under the mercy of the league board.
One thing clear, however, is that Paras can't go beyond three years - or beyond 2022 - because of the league rule limiting elibility to the seven years after a player's graduation from high school.
But that, too, is under the mercy of the all-powerful UAAP board.
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