NBA teams will get about half a season to watch James Wiseman in college before deciding if he’s worthy of the No. 1 pick. The NCAA has announced that the Memphis center will be suspended for 11 additional games, making him eligible to return for a January 12 contest at South Florida.
Memphis plans to appeal the suspension, tweets Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
The punishment, which brings his suspension to 12 total games, was imposed “based on recruiting inducements his family received before he enrolled at Memphis and for competing in three games while he was ineligible,” the NCAA stated in its release.
Wiseman will also be required to make an $11,500 donation “to a charity of his choice,” tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. That’s the amount that Wiseman’s family received in moving expenses from Tigers coach Penny Hardaway to relocate to Memphis in 2017.
Jonathan Givony of ESPN notes that Wiseman will still have 16 regular season games – plus the AAC Tournament and probably the NCAA Tournament – to show scouts what he can do (Twitter link). Givony listed Wiseman as the top pick in ESPN’s mock draft earlier this month.
Wiseman was ruled ineligible on November 8, but was granted an “emergency temporary restraining order” and played that night against UIC. He has appeared in three games, averaging 19.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per night.
Can’t believe part of suspension justification is him playing in games when a judge allowed it. Some set on the NCAA…
Quid pro quo fo’ sho’!
Wonder if he will take another loan from the family friend to donate…
So let me get these dates right. Hardaway gave Memphis $1 million in 2008 (11 years ago) when he wasn’t the coach at Memphis. Then he gave the kid’s mother $11,500 two years ago in 2017 when he wasn’t the coach at Memphis. Now that he’s the coach, everything he did before makes him retroactively open to punishment and the kid (who did nothing wrong) being suspended? And the NCAA wonders why it’s always in court – and losing
Because the NCAA loves to punish players not coaches or administrators or boosters who have money, can hire lawyers and fight back. Hardaway should be immediately suspended!
Not going to happen…..
Uhhh, what’s so difficult to comprehend? You do realize Penny was an alumn and booster at the time when he provided funding to Wiseman’s family?
I understand he played high school ball in Memphis. Then Hardaway paid $11,500 for his family to “move ” to Memphis?
Was he alone in high school?
And how much stuff did the family own that it cost so much to “move” them? Or was part of that money for rent? And how did the NCAA find out!!?? They don’t have subpoena power?
He’s from Nashville
Lol….$11,500 is so much?
NCAA is a joke.
The NCAA should suspend entire teams more often. Or just Bruce Pearl.
The NBA would be a similar mess without the CBA. The sport is hard to judge.