Several players around the country other than John Wall are awaiting various forms of clearance before they’ll be back in uniform. Let’s take a quick look at some of the more prominent names.
Nolan Smith, Duke. Smith will make the extremely thin Duke backcourt downright transparent for two games as he will sit for playing in an unsanctioned summer league in the Washington, DC, area over the summer. During tonight’s 84-48 win against Findlay, Smith did not play in the first half so his teammates could adjust to playing without him. He will miss the season opener next week against UNC-Greensboro and Duke’s second game against Coastal Carolina. Karmic equilibrium for this?
Trevor Mbakwe, Royce White & Devron Bostick, Minnesota. Tubby Smith announced indefinite suspensions for White & Bostick today, joining teammate Trevor Mbakwe who was already on suspension for allegations involving an attack on a woman in Miami last April. White, another member of a stellar recruiting class along with Mbakwe, is a 6’8 power forward who is accused of stealing merchandise from a Macy’s at the Mall of America and pushing a security officer down to the ground. Bostick, a senior forward who averaged 4/2 in eleven minutes per game last season, is being suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules. All in all, what was looking to be a very promising season in Minnesota is not off to a good start. Smith was ambiguous about how long White & Bostick would be out of action, but Mbakwe will not be cleared (if at all) until after his court date in Miami on Dec. 14.
Stefan Welsh, Arkansas. Stefan Welsh also sat out his team’s first exhibition game last night against Dillard (not Al, we hope). John Pelphrey indicated that Welsh, a starter for 14 games last season who averaged 12/3 in just under thirty minutes per game, may be out for the rest of the semester for undisclosed reasons. This suspension comes in front of the anticipated set of suspensions that Pelphrey will soon mete out based on rape allegations in September where as many as five scholarship players could be suspended for several games. That assumes, of course, that the special prosecutor now assigned to the case will not decide to bring charges against the players allegedly involved. Yikes. It could be a really rough winter in Fayetteville.
Renardo Sidney, Mississippi State. We don’t have a scoop here, as Sidney is still currently not cleared to play this season. But as we discussed last week, and as Jeff Goodman reported today, the Sidney family believes that they have satisfied the evidentiary threshold that the NCAA required, and think that Renardo will be cleared as soon as this week. There’s no question that Sidney’s eligibility would change the complexion of the SEC and make MSU a darkhorse to reach the Final Four in April, but we hope that their statements aren’t borne of hubris, rather of confidence.