quote:
Truthfully I hope Maason suits up and see’s what the NCAA will do with him on field. You’re gonna delay a nationally televised game until I sit out? Would be my question to the NCAA.

I know this sounds good, but beyond lobbying the NCAA to reverse their ruling, LSU really needs to stay out of this because they are just coming off closing the books on a bunch of shite with the NCAA.

There is precedent here. Penny Hardaway at Memphis tried to stick his finger in the NCAA’s eye over James Wiseman being ruled ineligible right before his freshman season because of a sudden rule interpretation reversal. Wiseman’s family sued the NCAA and was granted an injunction, so Penny played Wiseman in spite of the NCAA’s threats to refrain from doing so.

Even though Memphis backed the Wiseman lawsuit, it eventually failed and Penny had to stop playing him, which ended his college career. That really hurt Memphis that season, as they were good without Wiseman and could have been a very good tourney team with him, but that was the least of the problems. Out of spite, the NCAA opened an investigation and alleged several L3 violations. It eventually came to even less punishment than LSU hoops got, but it tied up money, time and attention for almost two years. It was classic NCAA bullshite.

Look at how the NCAA is behaving today. What’s happening to Smith is also absolute bullshite and I wouldn’t mind seeing him and his family take a shot at the NCAA. But LSU needs to stay on the sidelines and just let it go. If LSU plays Smith without the NCAA reversing its decision, it will open the door to them declaring him ineligible for the entire season and taking any wins he plays in.

As shitty as this is, take the one game and let him play the rest of the season.