[GoMarquette.com] Youssoupha Mbao To Miss Several Weeks With Knee Injury

[avid1010]

I often consider BMA the final word on issues, but your post raises the following question:  Do the Xavier, Michigan and Florida State games also count as 1 game?

If so, does that mean that Mbao was hurt in the 15th game of a possible 30?  Would that make it the first half of the season?

Interesting.  I wonder if Buzz wants him to redshirt?  My thought/hope is that we'll be recruiting better bigs every year that Buzz shapes MU into his team, with his recruits.  Would he not have redshirted Yous to start the season if he wanted him around for five years.  It seems obvious that he is a huge project.

[bma725]

I often consider BMA the final word on issues, but your post raises the following question:  Do the Xavier, Michigan and Florida State games also count as 1 game?

If so, does that mean that Mbao was hurt in the 15th game of a possible 30?  Would that make it the first half of the season?

I just re-read the whole section on medical hardship in the rule book and after I finished banging my head against the wall, I'm not completely sure but I'm leaning towards no.

To answer your question directly, yes and no and perhaps maybe.

Here's the thing.  Those games are counted as 1 total game so that teams are in compliance with the maximum participation rule.  Teams are allowed 29 games when not playing a pre-season tournament and 27 games when the additional games are part of an approved exempt tournament. 

Then it gets murky.  When doing the calculation for the 30% participation clause, they expressly state that exempt games are counted individually, rather than as one game.  However, they state no such thing when it comes to halves of the season.  Rather they do it based upon scheduled contests, which to me would mean that they are factoring in all games regardless of whether or not they are considered exempt....but it doesn't expressly say that and no further clarification is provided.

Additionally, and this is part I haven't mentioned before, part of the qualification for a Medical Hardship Season of Competition Waiver(that's the actual name) is that the medical issue has to incapacitate you from playing the remainder of the season.  Based on what we've seen so far, that wouldn't seem to be the case for Yous.  He's out for up to 6 weeks according to Rosiak, which conservatively puts his return some time in early March....i.e. before the end of the regular season and definitely before the BET.

If anyone out there feels like reading those sections of the rule book and trying to explain it better, go right ahead. 

[mu ricer22]

What is with the injury bug and this team????  

Yeah what is with all these injuries is Buzz doing something wrong? Did most of these injuries happen in practice..um...maybe they made the AL a little too slippery.

[StillAWarrior]

I just re-read the whole section on medical hardship in the rule book and after I finished banging my head against the wall, I'm not completely sure but I'm leaning towards no.

To answer your question directly, yes and no and perhaps maybe.

Thanks, BMA. As usual, you've gone beyond the call of duty.  If it's a close call, it might be worth fighting for the extra year and see what happens.

But, above all, I hope Yous is OK and recovers fully.

[4everwarriors]

Buzz may want to get another opinion from that hotshot ortho doc in Indy who's on top of Crean's Christmas list. I'm certain the MRI in Milwaukee just sucks compared to the world-class care Mbao could have received as an IU athlete.

[94Warrior]

First off, I enjoy watching Yous play and best of luck to a speedy recovery for the young man.

Secondly, thanks for your input BMA.  Much appreciated.  Can someone post a link to the specific section in the rule book that deals with medical hardships?  I just spent way too much time googling for it, and had no luck.

Finally, who is this Gwaki loser?  What a dumb thing to say following an injury. If/when Gwaki suffers a setback in his life, I'd be first in line to say 'not a huge loss', but I'm not that big an a-hole.

[Jay Bee]

I'm not going to dig THAT deep because it's not the end of the world, but... I wonder two things:

1) if there has ever been an exception made, or if one can be made, for a player student-athletes that strays from the rules we've been looking at, and

2) whether the fact a player was suspended for certain games figures into the equation ever... for better or for worse.

[bma725]

Secondly, thanks for your input BMA.  Much appreciated.  Can someone post a link to the specific section in the rule book that deals with medical hardships?  I just spent way too much time googling for it, and had no luck.

Unfortunately the rule book isn't linkable that way, you have to load the whole 431 page Division 1 rule book.  You can download the PDF file here:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/ncaa/legislation+and+governance/rules+and+bylaws

The hardship rules are under section 14, the maximum competition exemptions are under section 17.

[bma725]

I'm not going to dig THAT deep because it's not the end of the world, but... I wonder two things:

1) if there has ever been an exception made, or if one can be made, for a player student-athletes that strays from the rules we've been looking at, and

2) whether the fact a player was suspended for certain games figures into the equation ever... for better or for worse.

Can't answer the first part, but the second part has come up before in terms of regular redshirts.  If the NCAA grants you a redshirt year during a year you were supposed to serve a suspension, they have in the past decided that the suspension can't count during the redshirt year and then enforced the suspension again the following year.

[martyconlonontherun]

So if we could get an exemption:
Pros- A 5th year developed big man 2013-14 with a nice recruiting class and hopefully some solid seniors.
Cons-Misses this year's tourney, Misses start of next season, could be a waste of scholie in 2013-2014.

I would lean towards redshirting him if possible, but tough call.

[oldwarrior81]

In Devendorf's case I do believe the "half of the season" was a pre-determined set date for all NCAA teams (ie Jan. 10), and not a specific date when each team played it's 16th or 17th game.

The BigEast tourney counts as one game and neither the NCAA or NIT tourneys factor in as a game(s).

In Syracuse's case they played 32 games that season.  30% of 32 is 9.6 which was rounded up to 10.  Devendorf played in 10 games in the first half of the season and was granted a medical redshirt a few months after the season ended.