ASU AD pumps brakes on Moe Odum return following Big 12 policy banning pro players

Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini said the new Big 12 policy prohibiting players from leaving for professional opportunities and later returning makes it less likely that point guard Moe Odum can return for what would be his fifth college season.

Odum, who has recently practiced with this year’s men’s basketball squad, was named in a California temporary restraining order that granted him and dozens of other student-athletes whose college careers began in 2022-23 a fifth season prior to the policy’s implementation.

“Moe is obviously a kid that was great for our program last year. Super excited that he had interest in maybe considering coming back,” Rossini told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo Thursday. “He would be affected by this Big 12 policy (that) came out. He had signed a professional contract, so right now, it doesn’t look like there’s a pathway for Moe to return to the Sun Devils this year. But again, things could change at a moment’s notice.”

Part of the new conference-wide policy, which followed similar rules implemented by the Big Ten and SEC, prohibits its teams from rostering players who “signed a contract with any professional sports league to provide athletics services.”

Odum signed a professional contract with KB Trepça, a club based in Kosovo, that the European team announced on July 12.

Rossini said the compliance team continues to look into the situation and that “we’ll see what the next couple days bring.”

Odum led ASU men’s basketball in points (16.4), assists (5.7) and steals (1.4) per game, as well as 3-point shooting (37.7% on 7.2 attempts per game), in the final season of Bobby Hurley’s tenure as head coach.

If he returns, he would give new head coach Randy Bennett the team’s second player (fellow returning Sun Devil guard Bryce Ford), who played minutes at the Power Four level last year.

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