Wait continues for Cadougan and Mbao
While the rest of their teammates have all come to campus and gone, already through with a session of summer school and a personal introduction to strength and conditioning coach Todd Smith, Junior Cadougan and Youssoupha Mbao both remain at home, awaiting the OK from the NCAA Clearinghouse to begin finally their careers at MU.
Since each graduated in mid-June -- Cadougan from Christian Life Center Academy in Humble, Texas and Mbao from Stone Ridge Prep in Tarzana, Calif. -- they have been in limbo while awaiting the Clearinghouse's required review of their scholastic records and transcripts.
"We touch it every day," said coach Buzz Williams. "Obviously there are only so many things I can say because it's related to their academic careers, but the kids have done exactly what they should have done. We've monitored that; we're on top of that.
"I feel much more confident today in Junior than I do in Yous. That's not to say that Yous won't be here, but we're further along in Junior's case. That's different because Junior went to high school all four years in the United States, but he's from Canada. That's not the deal with Yous. Yous went to Senegal and Spain, and then one year of high school in California.
"So the paperwork needed, the transcripts, the course descriptions, the textbooks, all of those things needed on Yous, there's much more to it than there is to Junior. It's been our No. 1 priority since they graduated high school. So in that regard, it's been a long summer."
Cadougan, expected to challenge immediately to become the Golden Eagles' starting point guard, was at least able to get to Milwaukee for a brief period last week, as he took the official visit allowed him.
"It was great," said Williams. "He may be more hurt and disappointed than any of us. "He's a very humble kid who's very grateful for anything, and he misses not being around our guys. He wants to be here working; he wants to be here going to school. He's disappointed that he wasn't able to be a part of that.
"I don't want to get into the Clearinghouse and all that, but Junior has done everything he's supposed to do. And so for us to be able to reward him with an official visit, it was a good 48 hours for him, and it was a good 48 hours for our team, just for him to be around and just to be with us. He was great when he was here, so hopefully he'll be back in a couple weeks."
Williams said he was pleased with how Cadougan looked. Listed at 6 foot 1 and 205 pounds, he's battled weight problems in the past.
"He looked great," said Williams. "He's a lot thinner than he was when we signed him. He's worked really hard. I think he'll even be better when he's able to spend consistent time with Todd. I think his body will change even more in a positive way. But his body's changed dramatically since we signed him."
The holdup for both Cadougan and Mbao appears to be double-sided in that the Clearinghouse already has its hands full trying to clear athletes for upcoming fall sports, as well as the fact that as international student-athletes (Cadougan's from Canada and Mbao from Senegal) automatically receive a great deal more scrutiny than those born in the United States.
And with the fall semester set to begin on Aug. 31, Williams is already concerned about whether one or both will be cleared in time.
"Oh yeah," he said. "I think the longer it goes, the tighter the time restraints become. But we'll keep banging away at it. It's just hard to say, because there's a process to it. It's not, 'Hey, they got all their stuff, and the answer is yes or no.' It doesn't go that way with international kids.
"That's the thing with the new rule; not to justify Junior or Yous, but the new rule in general relative to international students...we had four domestic kids on campus this summer. None of them were certified. Kids graduate June 10, June 12, summer school starts here 10 business days later. There's no possible way the Clearinghouse can process not just Marquette's basketball guys, but all the basketball guys.
"They're working on football. That doesn't count volleyball or softball or golf. And when you say specifically international kids, you have to be certified eligible with an I-20 before you can attend class, and it ain't going to happen in 10 business days. They're absolutely overloaded and I don't want to portray myself as having all the answers, but they're going to have to work through what's the most efficient way to do it, because this way could possibly be the most inefficient way to do it, and it really hurts these kids.
"We've had four American kids running around for a month that haven't been certified, you know what I mean?"
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/52920372.html
I know it's not the same as personal work with the S&C coach, but are we allowed to give these guys a program to work with on their own before they come to campus? I assume we can, but you never know with the NCAA.
I, personally, think Hayward is a great example of the wonders of what our program can do for kids. Matthews, too, but to a lesser extent.
I'd really hope that in the end MUs ability to run such a clean, probation-free program for so many years might help things along just a little bit.
wow bama based on that comment you have never met a true bureaucrat
So if I'm reading this correctly, as a foriegn student, they can't enroll in college at all until cleared? Even for the fall semester?
Wow, that completely blows.
So, the question now is, if they don't get cleared in time for the start of the semester, do you sit them this entire year to make sure you get the four best years possible? If they get cleared mid semester, they're 6 weeks behind in classes and much more in conditioning. I think they'd be worse off then Lazar his freshman year.
Quote from: lurch91 on August 11, 2009, 10:02:21 AM
So if I'm reading this correctly, as a foriegn student, they can't enroll in college at all until cleared? Even for the fall semester?
I think it's more a matter of them having to pay their own way until they are cleared. If I remember correctly, Zar had to pay his first semester of tuition before he was cleared. I may be wrong on this though.
Quote from: muwarrior87 on August 11, 2009, 11:09:53 AM
I think it's more a matter of them having to pay their own way until they are cleared. If I remember correctly, Zar had to pay his first semester of tuition before he was cleared. I may be wrong on this though.
Can they be reimbursed if cleared later? $15k is a lot to front though with a wager on getting cleared.
Quote from: muwarrior87 on August 11, 2009, 11:09:53 AM
I think it's more a matter of them having to pay their own way until they are cleared. If I remember correctly, Zar had to pay his first semester of tuition before he was cleared. I may be wrong on this though.
That's the way it used to be for everyone, and still is for American students. But it appears the new rule has made it so that Foreign students cannot enroll at all until they make it through the clearinghouse, whether they are paying out of their own pocket or not.
Quote from: muwarrior87 on August 11, 2009, 11:09:53 AM
I think it's more a matter of them having to pay their own way until they are cleared. If I remember correctly, Zar had to pay his first semester of tuition before he was cleared. I may be wrong on this though.
If that's the case they should have been here all summer. They could have just paid for the summer courses themselves.
But as bma725 points out, foreign students are no longer able to do this, or again they could have been here all summer.....
Which again gets back to my original question. If Junoir and Mbao aren't cleared before the fall semester starts, at what point do they get sat for the 2009-2010 season?
What's the last date for Fall enrollment? Would you kill a year of eligibility by having them play in the second/Spring semester? Or do you let them redshirt this season and get four quality years out of them?
I doubt the NCAA could stop a kid from enrolling at MU. All they can do is say he can't play until he is cleared and limit his access to financial aid.
MU can choose to admit anyone they want as a student the last time I checked.