Memphis big man James Wiseman, a potential top 2020 draft pick who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA last week, has dropped his lawsuit against the NCAA and the University of Memphis, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Wiseman was deemed ineligible when the NCAA ruled that he had received booster money.
“It has become clear to Mr. Wiseman that the lawsuit he filed last week has become an impediment to the University of Memphis in its efforts to reach a fair and equitable resolution with the NCAA concerning his eligibility status,” Wiseman’s attorneys said in a statement, per Charania.
Memphis initially chose to keep Wiseman in its lineup last Friday, responding to the NCAA’s ruling with an “emergency temporary restraining order.” However, the University has now declared Wiseman ineligible and will immediately apply for his reinstatement, the school announced today. While the young center won’t be able to play in games for Memphis for the time being, he’ll continue practicing with the team.
As Jeff Goodman of Stadium (video link) explains, the next step in the Wiseman saga will involve attempting to reach an agreement with the NCAA on a penalty that falls short of making him ineligible for his entire freshman season. Goodman suggests that Wiseman and Memphis will do their best to resolve the situation fairly quickly, perhaps with a short-term suspension.
ESPN’s draft experts Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz view Wiseman as the top prospect in the 2020 draft class, noting in their scouting report that the seven-footer is an exceptional athlete and has the ability to make an impact as a rim protector, given his 7’5″ wingspan.
NCAA is terrible bulls–t at its worst.
There is a reason for all this.
Jay “wingspan comparison” Bilas is rattled by the NCAA measure, so I’m pleased.
Can he go pro now?
He can’t go to the NBA before the 2020 draft. But if his NCAA eligibility became a major issue, he could go pro and join another league (ie. Australia’s NBL) this season.
Honestly, it makes no financial sense from the player’s perspective for a top 10 high school prospect to go to college. Being exposed against a higher level of competition can cause a player’s perceived value to drop like a rock.
I am thinking of Shabazz Muhammed. He was by far the #1 prospect coming out of his HS class and probably would have been the #2 pick in the draft behind Anthony Davis if he came right out. However, he went to UCLA and got exposed against relatively mediocre Pac-12 competition and the rest is history.
That being said, from a team’s perspective, it makes no sense to give millions of dollars to a player without seeing how he fares against the best talent in his age range. Going to Australia and dominating against a bunch of guys not good enough for the NBA isn’t much better than dominating at a high school. I’d rather take the guy that proved he could handle the challenge of big time college competition.
In down under he will play against real men, pros, in college with kids & punks, I know what I would rather, but hey you take your pick, bruh!
lmao the Australian League is much tougher competition than the NCAA. It’s an actual professional league filled with adults.
What about leaving Memphis – enrolling
at an NAIA school in the quarter system – play the rest of the season and then split.