By Robert Cessna | Saturday, July 17, 2010
I’m back from vacation, but evidently there’s folks at the NCAA in desperate need of a break. The NCAA on Friday denied A&M guard Derrick Roland’s appeal for an extra year of eligibility.
That’s just wrong.
Roland broke his leg at Washington on Dec. 22, 2009. It was a gruesome injury, earning national attention. Roland was the second-leading scorer on the nation’s 19th-ranked team off to a 9-2 start. A&M recovered from the loss of Roland to have a good season — trying for second in the Big 12 and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
And while the Aggies were marching toward the postseason, Roland was working hard rehabbing, wanting a shot at a health-free senior season. He deserved that, but the NCAA didn’t agree. What a shame.
It wasn’t hard for the NCAA to say no. Roland played in 12 games. That was 35.3 percent of A&M’s season.
One of the stipulations to qualify for a medical hardship — the biggie — is that a student-athlete can’t have participated in more than 30 percent of the team’s contests.
That’s the rule, but that doesn’t make it right. It’s hard to compare Angelo State, SMU, Samford, Prairie View A&M, North Texas and The Citadel to Texas, Kansas, Baylor, Kansas State, Missouri and Purdue.
You just can’t compare the preseason with games from the powerful Big 12 or the NCAA Tournament. At least Roland got to play against Clemson, West Virginia and Minnesota in the 76 Classic, but again, it’s not the same as Big 12 showdowns or postseason games. Roland was denied playing in his team’s biggest games in his senior year.
He’d worked hard in his brief career to become one of the program’s top players. Because he had potential, Roland played in 22 games as a freshman, but averaged only 5.5 minutes. He needed another chance.
If the NCAA didn’t feel comfortable about granting Roland a full season, why not make his eligible for the second semester? That way he’d could have gotten back exactly what he lost.
He deserved that, but the NCAA blew it, and that’s unfortunate. What’s sad is all the NCAA had to do is what it’s supposed to.
By it’s own definition, “The NCAA’s core purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.”
Interesting. The ruling against Roland wasn’t fair; didn’t further Roland’s education; and it certainly didn’t better his collegiate experience. That’s a shame.
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