The NCAA's widely criticized attempt to impose an education requirement on basketball player agents is dead in the water after less than a week. 

The governing body announced Monday it has amended its agent certification qualifications to remove a requirement that anyone serving as an adviser to players deciding whether to enter the NBA Draft must have a bachelor's degree. 

The new rules will allow agents certified by the National Basketball Players' Association to serve in that capacity with underclassmen, regardless of their degree status. While the NBPA also lists a bachelor's degree among its certification criteria, the union offers waivers to that requirement to some agents. 

Most prominent among that group is Rich Paul, whose Klutch Sports Group represents LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Ben Simmons and other NBA stars. When the NCAA announced its new policy last week, James and other observers immediately accused the organization of targeting Paul, though the NCAA has repeatedly denied that was the case — and did so again in Monday's release. 

"We are committed to providing student-athletes who are deciding whether to stay in school or explore NBA draft options with access to a wide array of resources to make their decision," the NCAA said in Monday's announcement. "NCAA member schools developed the new agent certification process to accomplish that goal and reflect our higher education mission.

"However, we have been made aware of several current agents who have appropriately represented former student-athletes in their professional quest and whom the National Basketball Players Association has granted waivers of its bachelor’s degree requirement. While specific individuals were not considered when developing our process, we respect the NBPA’s determination of qualification and have amended our certification criteria."

The reversal came hours after The Athletic published a first-person piece by Paul in which he called out the NCAA for potentially "preventing young people from less prestigious backgrounds, and often people of color, from working in the system they continue to control."

"I actually support requiring three years of experience before representing a kid testing the market," Paul wrote. "I can even get behind passing a test. However, requiring a four-year degree accomplishes only one thing — systematically excluding those who come from a world where college is unrealistic.

"Does anyone really believe a four-year degree is what separates an ethical person from a con artist?"

The new, revised requirements go into effect immediately.