re: Jalen Cook's Waiver Denied

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I don't know if I blame him for thinking Cook wouldn't get minutes here.

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WW had a thing for Eric Gaines, who came in the same class as Cook. Gaines was getting around 15mpg and averaged 2.5pts on 22% shooting from the field and 17% from 3.

Cook averaged 3.1ppg on 45% shooting from the field and almost 35% from 3.

Brilliant move by Wade to let him go to begin with. Cook was THE ONLY traditional PG on the roster at the time. Gaines, Thomas, Mays, Manning were not true PG's

WW also thought Manning was a better player than Cook at the time as well. He did not make one 3 pointer all year. So I definitely blame WW for how poorly Cook was evaluated in his first year at LSU. He should've been one of the first off the bench, and everyone knew it.

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Man, what an obsequious response.

I mean, say that you’re going to appeal and you want more transparency into the decision.

But also state your reasons why Jalen should be eligible and actually advocate for him in your statement.

Show a little backbone! Don’t actually THANK them for their long overdue response then compliment them on their hard work!

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Read this again.



That reads more like "Here is a little more showing you why he had to leave that other place and it is probably in your best interest to agree if you want to keep pretending like you actually care about student-athlete wellness and mental health and not have us share this info to show how callous you are".

I could be wrong about that but that is how it struck me.

It's always better to keep the pissing contest behind the curtain as long as possible.

That being said, crap crap crap.

Meanwhile, if Joel Embiid wanted to play another season with Kansas rather than fail to make the finals with the 76’ers again this year, the NCAA would grant him a waiver. And the guardians of the sanctity of college basketball at ESPN would cheer the decision. Only slightly exaggerating.

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Serious question. Why can't we tell them to go frick themselves and just play him anyways

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There is nothing stopping McMahon from doing this. Its just no one at LSU has the balls to stand up to the NCAA

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Wade didn't think he'd get there.

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I'm not sure that is correct. I was told that Cook left on his own accord and was not processed.

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That reads more like "Here is a little more showing you why he had to leave that other place and it is probably in your best interest to agree if you want to keep pretending like you actually care about student-athlete wellness and mental health and not have us share this info to show how callous you are".

I could be wrong about that but that is how it struck me.

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They are taking the Tez Walker approach.

Walker initial waiver request was denied. He appealed. Also denied. Then, he submitted "new information" and his denial was reversed.

Walker's appeal was essentially based upon his mental health welfare. LSU is clearly taking the same approach. I don't know what Walker's "additional information" was, but it opened the crack just enough to get him eligible.

It will be interesting to see what the NCAA does here because this is what ALWAYS happens. They have a rule. They enforce it by the letter of the law. Then they allow an exception....followed by others arguing for the same exception to be applied....which the NCAA allows at an evermore frequent clip....until the rule essentially become meaningless.

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WW had a thing for Eric Gaines, who came in the same class as Cook. Gaines was getting around 15mpg and averaged 2.5pts on 22% shooting from the field and 17% from 3.

Cook averaged 3.1ppg on 45% shooting from the field and almost 35% from 3.

Brilliant move by Wade to let him go to begin with. Cook was THE ONLY traditional PG on the roster at the time. Gaines, Thomas, Mays, Manning were not true PG's

WW also thought Manning was a better player than Cook at the time as well. He did not make one 3 pointer all year. So I definitely blame WW for how poorly Cook was evaluated in his first year at LSU. He should've been one of the first off the bench, and everyone knew it.

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You're leaving out a few very improtant factors here.

1. Manning and cook played different positions in reality and is pretty pointless to compare the 2 because Manning also got hurt very early on that season
2. Gaines played more than Cook as a freshman because Gaines was an high end defender, he was never out there for his offense, he was out there because he was a menace to other teams players...Cook has never been a good defender and thats where he struggles. HE is a bucket getter and thats the last thing we needed his freshman season, we needed DEFENDERS on that team, this is why Gaines played and he didn't
3. There is no evidence Wade told Cook to leave the program. He was straight with him in that he wasnt going to start or even get significant playing time but again we really didnt need offense at that point so it made complete sense. Wade didnt say "go transfer we dont want you", but he was honest with him about about his role at the time.

Cook transferred simply because he wanted to play more.

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Walker initial waiver request was denied. He appealed. Also denied. Then, he submitted "new information" and his denial was reversed.

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I feel like the crux in Walker's case was he went to NCCU, they didnt play the 2020 season, FCS moved their season to spring 2021 which they also decided to not play so he transferred. So he never even played or got started at NCCU because of the canceled season and then another season they canceled as well. So the reality is his "First" school should really be Kent State, and truly his transfer to UNC was his first real transfer because his previous school kept canceling seasons and he never played there. I'm sure other things might have been discussed but ultimately it just makes sense in that situation he should be eligible. It wasnt his fault the 2020 season canceled then the school also canceled the makup spring 2021 season, he wanted out of there and I get that and should be a good clause for his "2nd" transfer to have eligibility.

Cook's case is nothing like that, NCAA has been denying eligibility to a lot of cases like Cook's for a true 2nd transfer.

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WW also thought Manning was a better player than Cook at the time as well. He did not make one 3 pointer all year.

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Manning only played 6 games that year because of injury.

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Brilliant move by Wade to let him go to begin with. Cook was THE ONLY traditional PG on the roster at the time. Gaines, Thomas, Mays, Manning were not true PG's

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Mays wasn't on that team. Smart was the starting PG with Thomas as the SG. Considering those two combined for 39 ppg and played averaged 34 mpg per game, there wasn't a ton of minutes for freshman guards.

Wade clearly preferred Gaines over Cook that season. But I don't think you can sit here and say it was obvious to everyone that Cook should have been the first one off the bench. Gaines didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but he had athletic traits that made him a more impactful defender/rebounder (most notably, great length). The next year Gaines was one of LSU's better defenders on a team that was an elite defensive group.

You're viewing this situation through the lens of hindsight knowing what Cook would do at Tulane. But Gaines wasn't bad at UAB himself. His a preseason first team all conf. selection.

Could Cook have played a little more his Freshman year? Sure. But during that year, on that team, at that time, he's wasn't the Jalen Cook of today. He was a freshman.

I keep saying they need to emphasize the fact his freshman year was the infamous “covid year” that technically doesn’t count against his eligibility. He also barely played in conference that year

Hopefully we can at least get him after the semester is over somehow