Nothing seems to come easy for Josh Pastner and the Memphis Tigers lately. Coming off a summer where the eligibility of nearly the entire incoming freshman class was in question, the Tigers appeared to have finally turned things around first with Will Barton being declared eligible, then the rest of the eligibility chips falling into place. Earlier today, however, that aura of placidity came crashing down with the news that Jelan Kendrick, an incoming McDonald’s All-American small forward, had been suspended from the team. Kendrick had first left the team on October 22nd for what had been described as “family issues,” but today news broke that Kendrick had in fact been suspended indefinitely by the team with reports that the suspension was related to multiple altercations with teammates, including making a verbal threat against a teammate. According to Kendrick’s AAU coach, several other programs have started calling about the possibility that Kendrick might transfer at the end of the semester, but at this point Kendrick still plans on playing for Memphis once the issues are resolved.
It is worth noting that there are other reports that this is not a suspension, but instead is a mutual decision while Kendrick gets some things straightened out. Honestly, that sounds like PR spin to us, but in any event don’t expect to see Kendrick in a Tigers uniform for the time being, although we doubt that Pastner will keep him out for a significant portion of the season unless something egregious happened.