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Mike Lewis going Pro


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It doesn't matter whether it was Duquesne or Nevada or anyone else. The NCAA has the ultimate decision. They claim to have the interests of the student-athlete as their highest priority, but it's become increasingly clear over time what BS that is.

Lewis dealt with two coaching changes in his first three seasons. Regardless of when or where he transferred, he should be allowed to finish his academic and athletic career on his terms. If the NCAA truly believed in its mission statement, they would put Lewis in the position that leaves him most likely to earn a degree. They did the opposite. Lewis loses, SLU loses, fans lose, and it's not like the NCAA itself had anything to gain here. If they clear him, is there anyone who would actually complain?

And if the answer to that question is "Keith Dambrot" or another coach or administrator, why is that okay? Dambrot makes $1 million per year. If he complains about an unpaid player ending up in the same conference and having to play against him a year later, he deserves the worst. If the NCAA is going to allow a system where coaches make millions and players make nothing, the fact coaches or programs have any power over the players they shove out after the fact, it just makes it all the more disgusting.

Imagine making $1 million a year and then throwing a fit when a former player shows up in the same conference. (We don't know for sure this happened - just saying.)

What a morally bankrupt system.

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13 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

So what does the "there may be more surprises to come" mean?

It means nothing has gone as expected for this team in years, and we now have 2 open scholarships. We thought we were done but maybe not.

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I am probably wrong but Mike’s comment on “unforeseen complications” seems more than just a straight up eligible issue. A denial of an immediate eligible ruling for him wouldn’t be “unforeseen”. It would be one of two likely outcomes. 

We won’t know until or if Lewis or Ford wants us to know. 

I’m guessing just like everyone else. 

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4 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

I am probably wrong but Mike’s comment on “unforeseen complications” seems more than just a straight up eligible issue. A denial of an immediate eligible ruling for him wouldn’t be “unforeseen”. It would be one of two likely outcomes. 

We won’t know until or if Lewis or Ford wants us to know. 

I’m guessing just like everyone else. 

It's possible they said he couldn't play until the second semester. It's possible they said he had to sit another year. It's possible there's a third ruling I'm not considering at the moment.

None of those really change anything I said above.

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29 minutes ago, Pistol said:

It's possible they said he couldn't play until the second semester. It's possible they said he had to sit another year. It's possible there's a third ruling I'm not considering at the moment.

None of those really change anything I said above.

My guess it would be another year

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It doesn’t really matter what happened.

the problem is that the NCAA is so corrupt that 95% of us assume they screwed over the student.

if they would just do the right thing people wouldn’t feel this way every time a ruling come out.

clean up your system and I’ll stop assuming the worst.

 

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Like government on any level, the NCAA's issue is one of transparency.  No one seems to know how anything works.  Someone mentioned the differences in the Smith cases at Mizzou.  One in the other not.  Was it Mustapha Heron  at St. John's too?  Even Travis Ford said he didn't know how things worked for these waivers and no one seems to know.  

My immediate gut reaction is that it hurts this team because we have no known outside shooting credibility.  It does appear to give more minutes to Jacobs and Jimerson and I'm okay with that.  The urgency for Ford to deliver has waned some what with last year's tournament run so the stop-gap mercenary recruiting can end.  Verbal Commits still shows Maidoh and Pryor as unsigned targets of ours.  Both are listed as small forwards and we only list Perkins in that area with Hankton as the unknown backup.  But Perkins is also somewhat of an unknown as well.

Going to be a huge development year.  Goodwin, Thatch and French all need further development.  Bell and Diarra are both likely projects.  Hankton and Jacobs are second year unknowns.  Jimerson, Perkins, Collins and Hargrove all have some unknowns coming in.  Going to be a great year to sit back and see what develops.  Outside of just surviving his first year with {dead} dumpster fire, this year might be Ford's greatest challenge.

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16 minutes ago, Clocktoweraccords2004 said:

Theoretical question, is Coach Ford a better or worse coach because he plays by the rules?

obviously Martin has his own rules for players like Mark Smith. Does that make him a better coach? 

I would say it depends who you ask, I want a coach who does whatever it takes to win, but I also don’t believe it fits SLUs mission

Don’t take this the wrong way but how do you know Ford plays by the rules? I certainly think and hope he does but none of us know . 

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The only local example I've seen of a player playing right away is Mark Smith, who got run off by Brad Underwood. If a player leaves of his own free will, he's pretty much out of luck. He's got to sit out a year.

It's like leaving a job.  If you get laid off, you get unemployment compensation. If you leave of your own free will, you get nothing.

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What rules are you speaking of?  Those of the opaque NCAA?  Not a fan of Cuonzo Martin but yours is an uniformed statement.  As Pistol and brian say, the rules seem pretty cut-n-dried.  Except then the NCAA makes unexplained waivers and we're all left guessing.  I think Lewis got shafted at first when [dead] went after gems like Miles Reynolds and Marcus Bartley.  That's on [dead].  Did the kid really, really want to be a Billiken all along?  So he says.  Then he got shafted when Ferry, the coach he signed with, got canned at Duquesne.  Dambrot re-recruited him obviously, same with Eric Williams, Jr., and then couldn't or wouldn't hold on to either.  Lewis got passed over for Sincere Carry and Tavian Dunn-Martin.  Problem was he didn't figure that out until second semester junior year.  Transfers sit a year.  Then the guy he wants to play for, Musselman at Nevada, rides off into a promotion send off and the kid is left adrift again.  Ian Vouyoukas.  Cody Ellis.  And now Mike Lewis.  The NCAA doesn't do SLU any favors and likely never will.  Coulda/shoulda/wouldas run deep in the Lewis tragedy.

I will watch with some interest where this "pro" career goes.

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1.  Confused reading this Board.   Have been told that for months that outside shooting is covered not only by Jimerson but by the others.  Now, Mike Lewis is our only outside shooter?  Please explain.

2.  Just as disappointed as everyone else as the loss of Mike Lewis. With that said, the silver lining may be my mantra/goal for this program:   local players - you have one chance to be a Billiken.   Choose wisely.  

a.    Late bloomers:   if Duquesne is the best you can do - enjoy and stay there.  If you needed/wanted to leave, then why go to Nevada instead of SLU?   And if you choose Duquesne and Nevada over the Bills, then enjoy and stay there.  

b.    Big eyes/bright city lights/power 5 dreamers:   if you think the grass is greener and you need to leave town for a power 5 and/or better "name" program, then don't expect a spot here at SLU as your safety net - as a fallback homecoming when things don't work out.   

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26 minutes ago, Clock_Tower said:

1.  Confused reading this Board.   Have been told that for months that outside shooting is covered not only by Jimerson but by the others.  Now, Mike Lewis is our only outside shooter?  Please explain.

2.  Just as disappointed as everyone else as the loss of Mike Lewis. With that said, the silver lining may be my mantra/goal for this program:   local players - you have one chance to be a Billiken.   Choose wisely.  

a.    Late bloomers:   if Duquesne is the best you can do - enjoy and stay there.  If you needed/wanted to leave, then why go to Nevada instead of SLU?   And if you choose Duquesne and Nevada over the Bills, then enjoy and stay there.  

b.    Big eyes/bright city lights/power 5 dreamers:   if you think the grass is greener and you need to leave town for a power 5 and/or better "name" program, then don't expect a spot here at SLU as your safety net - as a fallback homecoming when things don't work out.   

He was our only "proven" shooter. However, I'd like to point out when Lewis was kicking our ass as a freshman at Duquesne, he wasn't "proven" and when the freshmen at St. Bonnies were sticking it to us in the last game of the regular season, they weren't "proven" either.

When a player is highly skilled at something, they're usually like that from year one. Looking forward to watching Jimerson shoot.

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43 minutes ago, slu72 said:

My guess for Lewis choosing Nevada over SLU is Duquesne would have blocked him via the in conference rules for transfers. 

 

That might be true. And he tried to abide by the rules by transferring to Nevada and "walking on" for a semester. And then his coach f u k ed him over. Give the kid a break, NCAA. 

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1 minute ago, RiseAndGrind said:

That might be true. And he tried to abide by the rules by transferring to Nevada and "walking on" for a semester. And then his coach f u k ed him over. Give the kid a break, NCAA. 

If the A10 wasn't going to waive their rules for Lewis, I don't think there is anything the NCAA could have done to give relief to Lewis.

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Lewis went to another conference, was bumped by a coaching change, and went back home. The last time he played a college basketball game was on December 22, 2018. The last time he played against another A10 team was in the conference tournament on March 8, 2018. If he suited up for SLU immediately and played the entire 2019-2020 season, it would've been over 10 months since the last time he played a game - with another school and coaching change in between - and almost 22 months between A10 opponents.

If the conference can't make an exception in this case, then it cares about student-athletes about as much as the NCAA does - not very much.

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