College kids today… they just don’t take their schoolwork seriously.  Especially ones that haven’t taken a class in over fifty years.

(photo credit: Roane State College)

Ken Mink, the septuagenarian who couldn’t be slowed by the ticking clock with respect to stepping on the basketball court and competing with players one-quarter his age, was declared ineligible by the National JuCo Athletics Association (NJCAA) due to a pesky Spanish class that he needed to pass.  From the FoxSports report:

Fearing he might fail the Spanish class, Mink said he enrolled in a Sociology class on another campus, hoping that a passing grade there would give him the credits he needed to retain his eligibility. But that class was apparently completed too late to apply to the semester in question.  “This is not an academic issue, it’s an administrative issue,” Mink wrote in an email to the News Sentinel on Friday. “… the NJCAA is ruling me ineligible because the NJCAA contends Roane State did not follow administrative procedures in restoring my eligibility after the NJCAA had questioned whether or not one of my courses was completed within the fall semester.  “Coach Nesbit supplied the NJCAA all the documentation proving my academic eligibility. Coach Nesbit knew I had met the requirements and restored me for play, but the NJCAA has contended the coach (or school) had not checked with the NJCAA a second time before restoring me to play.”

In what is becoming standard Mink-speak, it wasn’t his fault!  Recall that the given reason Mink was kicked off of his Lees (KY) Junior College team in 1956 was that he was falsely accused of spraying the coach’s office with shaving cream.  Fortunately for Mink’s version of this story, the aggrieved coach and his teammates are no longer alive or competent to answer questions.  Now we’re hearing from Mink that it wasn’t the fact that he failed Spanish class, it was that there was an administrative problem with his eligibility.  Somehow we’re having more and more trouble believing that Mink wasn’t involved as the evil mastermind behind the shaving cream incident a half-century ago.

What’s all this mean?  Well, Roane St. will have to forfeit a game from Feb. 7 against Hiwassee where he played and scored two points.  Given all these administrative headaches and public attention, maybe he should just shut it down and declare for the NBA Draft.

 Some post-election madness in the college hoops world…

• You’re my boy, Blue!  RTC fav Ken Mink scored two foul shots in his debut for Roane State Monday night (which makes him 71% better than Ish Smith), for his first collegiate points in fifty-two years.  Props to Deadspin for mentioning this, but we had the same thought – who fouls a 73-year old basketball player?  Seriously, dude, move your feet a little. 
• Ohio St. forward Nicola Kecman will miss twelve games stemming from his association with a semi-pro team in his native Serbia.  His first game back will be Jan. 6 at Michigan St. 
• The Daily Tar Heel reports that Tyler Hansbrough may only miss two weeks of practice relating to his stress reaction after all.  We’re still not sure they’re getting through November unbeaten, though.
• Nice, Arizona.  AD Jim Livengood denied freshman center Jeff Withey’s request for release from his scholarship.  We see no possible good coming out of this.   
• The legendary Gus Gilchrist received his waiver from the NCAA and will be eligible to play for Stan Heath’s South Florida team on Dec. 14 – set your Tivos now. 
• Interesting thought – will Barack Obama’s presidency help Craig Robinson’s recruiting efforts in any way at all?  It’s worth tracking…
• Ten Freshmen to Watch. 
• We couldn’t agree more with the inclusion of Hasheem Thabeet on this list. 

We stumbled across this blurb today and hadn’t seen it anywhere else.  Ken Mink is a sweet-shooting guard from Tennessee who hopes to see a few minutes a game this season for his new school, Roane State (TN) Community College.  He transferred in from Lees (KY) Junior College, but his route between the two schools was more than a little unorthodox.  You see, Mink, a self-described adventurer and athlete, last played college ball when it was whiter than snow in 1956, and he is now 73 years old.  From the Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Ken Mink was shooting baskets in his driveway about this time last year when he had a sports epiphany.  “I had been knocking down shot after shot, so when I came in the house I told my wife, ‘I’ve still got it,’ ” said Mink, a 73-year-old semi-retired journalist. “She said, ‘You’ve got what?’ I said, ‘I can still play.’ ”  Roane State coach Randy Nesbit took Mink up on his offer.  “I’m not very good at saying no,” said Nesbit, who just turned 50. “It’s a gesture of good will to help a fine man find closure. Why not?”

(photo credit:  Saul Young)

Hey, we just think that’s great.  We’re sure that the Raider players will love the daily routine of ridiculous touch fouls, razor-sharp elbows, 60-lb metal knee braces and standstill corner jumpers, but the important thing is that everyone gets to live their dream, right?

Seriously though, if we’re puttering around half as well as this old codger at his age, we’d be thrilled.  Although from the looks of it in the video here, Mink needs to step it up on D…