The NCAA cracked down on prep schools last spring when it passed legislation that will prevent prospects from earning more than one core course that can count toward college eligibility after their four-year high school graduation date.

The rule was designed to stop recruits from padding grade point averages in a fifth year, and eliminate the relevance of what president Myles Brand famously called "diploma mills."

Myles Brand's war on 'diploma mills' is weakened by a loophole. (Provided to SportsLine)

It was a smart move by the NCAA.

Too bad college coaches are smarter.

"Now kids are just getting stamped L.D.," said one high-major coach. "If you get a kid stamped L.D., the new rule is meaningless."

L.D. is short for learning disability, and there's a good chance your favorite school will soon have a basketball player who suffers from a condition under the L.D. umbrella.

Or not.

And that's the point, really.

No coach worth his million-dollar salary is going to let a little thing like an NCAA rule get in the way of elite prospects becoming eligible. So it was only a matter of time before somebody found a loophole.

Word on the summer circuit -- via multiple coaches who opted only to speak about this subject with CBS SportsLine.com if granted anonymity -- is that a loophole has already been identified, one that will allow prospects to continue to accumulate multiple core courses in fifth years just like always. The only difference is they'll now have to -- legitimately or not -- first be stamped L.D.

No problem there.

Many doctors -- particularly those who are friends of a program -- can easily find a disorder to attach to a student-athlete, whether it's dyslexia, A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder), A.D.H.D. (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), A.P.D. (Auditory Processing Disorder), C.A.P.D. (Central Auditory Processing Disorder) or whatever. And once that's done, the Americans with Disabilities Act takes effect, meaning the diagnosed student-athlete is shielded by the federal law that gives civil-rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex, national origin, age and religion.

Translation: The Americans with Disabilities Act provides student-athletes labeled L.D. the opportunity to take (and use) as many core courses as they need in a fifth year of prep school. So, for example, if Johnny Jumpshot only has 11 of his 16 core course requirements after four years, he could still enroll at a prep school, do a fifth year and earn the additional five core courses he needs to gain Division I eligibility as long as a doctor tags him L.D.

That's how prospects will continue to get eligible.

There's little the NCAA can do about it.

And the NCAA knows it.

"There are some creative folks out there," said NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon. "But at some point we just have to rely on individual integrity, that the diagnosis will be legitimate."

Good luck with that.

Meantime, college coaches will be searching for favorable doctors, people willing to slap a learning disability on a prospect quicker than Anna Nicole Smith's doctor wrote prescriptions. Like anything else, such characters are out there, just waiting to be called. Soon enough, they'll be on speed dial, contributing to championship teams as much as any strength coach or recruiting coordinator.

"There are going to be some doctors making some serious money," said one high-major assistant coach. "Pay the doctor, get the L.D. stamp. That's the new way."

Sigh

"It's unfortunate that you are hearing that from coaches," Lennon said. And I agree with the man. But when you consider Sam Young used a prep school to get to Pittsburgh, Paul Harris used a prep school to get to Syracuse, Joey Dorsey used a prep school to get to Memphis, Jeff Adrien used a prep school to get to Connecticut, Brandon Rush used a prep school to get to Kansas, Alex Tyus used a prep school to get to Florida and Tyler Smith used a prep school to get to Iowa and in turn Tennessee (I could list names forever, by the way), it's not hard to understand why coaches have already found a loophole to keep their pipeline functioning.

After all, lots of wins are at stake.

Plus ticket sales.

And cash.

"So recruits are going to be getting labeled all kinds of things," said one high-major assistant. "They'll be ADD, ADHD or just ATS."

ATS?

"Yeah, ATS," the coach said. "Allergic To School."