Condoleezza Rice: NCAA rules 'incomprehensible,' athletes should be able to profit

Two weeks after releasing a long-awaited report on college basketball, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has defended her commission's work while blaming the NCAA's regulations for obstructing student-athletes from being able to profit off their names.

"We believe that students ought to be able to benefit from name, image and likeness but you can’t decide a program until you know the legal parameters," Rice told USA TODAY's Christine Brennan. "That was the point. I think some of the commentary suggested that we didn't really speak on this issue. I think we did speak on this issue."

The Commission on College Basketball report, chaired by Rice, made over a dozen recommendations to reform NCAA basketball. Yet the report was criticized in many quarters for not going far enough and setting up the NCAA to remain with the status quo.

However, Rice called its rules baffling.

"Sometimes when something's incomprehensible, you have to go ahead and say, 'This is incomprehensible,' which means it probably isn't right," Rice said. "And I thought that in the report, we were pretty clear, that we think the framework doesn't work."

Rice, a former provost at Stanford University, hopes the NBA's one-and-done rule be eliminated in time for the 2019 draft and 2019-20 NCAA basketball season.