Longhorns: "Balbay's Suspension 'Dogus'."

by Horn Brain on Apr 12, 2008 12:18 AM CDT in Basketball

The AAS has a story up on Texas' future point guard Dogus Balbay's suspension for playing "professionally" in Europe prior to coming to Texas. Texas is saying that Balbay was cleared to play for the last ten games of the season, but did not participate. Therefore, those games should count toward Balbay's 11-game suspension. I understand that it's worth a shot, (if the NCAA will give OU their wins back...) but this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

If those games count for his suspension, then they should count toward his eligibility too, right? You can't count and not count the same 10 games. My first question to you, then, is:

Has anyone ever heard of a player using all or part of their redshirt season to serve a suspension?

Assuming that it counts, that would effectively burn a whole year of Balbay's eligibility to let him play 11 games against non-conference opponents. Obviously the experience would be valuable in the rest of the games, but is it worth a whole year of Balbay? This, of course, assumes that Balbay is a four-year player at Texas. PB has given us hints that his sources think Dogus is something special, but that doesn't mean he'll necessarily go early for the Association. Brandon Rush played ~~four~~ almost four years, for God's sake.

So, given that information, here's my second question:

Suppose the NCAA gives Barnes the choice:

A.) Take the redshirt off early and have Balbay only miss the first game of the season or...
B.) Keep the extra year but lose 11 games next season

What does he do?

For my money, I'd drop the shirt and get Balbay into the game as early as possible. With DJ, it'll give Barnes confidence to give quality minutes to Dogus and keep DJ fresh, without DJ, it will be vital to help the team mesh with Balbay early on before the real tests arrive.

Also, I'd just like to say that the NCAA is ridiculous. If Balbay never made a dime, how exactly is he a professional? Because one of my friends played in an IM basketball game with Jermichael Finley, that makes him an NCAA student-athlete? Because other players on the team got paid, Dogus is a professional? Puh-lease.

Oh yeah, by the way- I owe vy til i die an award since the rest of you gave up:

I love this.

Poll

Barnes should

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Rush

Brandon Rush has only played three years. Of course, that's two more than he intended, but he clearly thought he was a lot better than he is.

We'll carry the banner high!

by TB on Apr 12, 2008 12:50 AM CDT 0 recs

Rush was a junior this year?

No way! Will fix.

Go boom, mothers. Please, just go boom.

by Horn Brain on Apr 12, 2008 12:56 AM CDT up 0 recs

More circumstance than not being good

He declared for the draft after last years elite eight run but tore his ACL in a pickup game early in the summer and pulled himself out. His freshman year he didn't do as well as was expected and KU lost in the first round--that combo caused him to stay. So you're right about his freshman year, but last year wasn't a matter of being good.

by ajax77777 on Apr 12, 2008 11:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

aw hell

I say throw him in as soon as possible. If he's as good as he supposedly is, he won't need that last year anyway.

by owenh on Apr 12, 2008 1:16 AM CDT 0 recs

Shouldn't the decision be Balbay's?

It seems like this is all being done after the fact. In football, if a kid burns his red-shirt its because the coach puts him on the field and he gets the opportunity to play.

There was never an intention of Texas to play Balbay this year, so in his mind he was thinking he would have four more years of eligibility. I think Texas coaches making the decision on their own would be unfair to Balbay.

Of course, if he is something special he may not be a four-year player at Texas, so it may be a mute point. And if that is the case, I'm sure that Balbay would be willing to give up a year so he can get in early next year.

I just hope that Balbay's opinions and thoughts are considered.

by FroggyBaby on Apr 12, 2008 9:15 AM CDT 0 recs

Good point...

... I often forget that these are human beings and not really athletic robots. I don't think, though, that Barnes can force Balbay to burn his year if Balbay doesn't want to burn it. Can he?

Go boom, mothers. Please, just go boom.

by Horn Brain on Apr 12, 2008 11:39 AM CDT up 0 recs

Yes, Barnes could force the issue

In essence, Rick Barnes can force Balbay to burn his redshirt year. As the head coach, those decisions are ultimately up to him, although I have a hard time believing that Barnes would actually go through with requiring a player to give up a year of eligibility. I think it would only happen in very dire circumstances where Barnes just didn't have any other choice (i.e. not having another player to fill the role).

But my guess would be that Barnes and Balbay probably discussed this weeks if not months ago and both decided that it’s best for the team if Balbay gives up the year. Surely they knew that the NCAA was not going to give Balbay a redshirt year AND lift his suspension, so I doubt they would be petitioning the NCAA for the latter if they intended to use the year as a redshirt.

As for the NCAA’s decision regarding Balbay’s amateur status, rules are rules. I certainly do not agree with it, but it’s not like this just came out of left field. It is a well-established part of NCAA amateurism policy that you cannot play on a team in which any participant is paid above and beyond necessary expense reimbursement. It is a clear-cut violation of NCAA rules, so, other than thinking that the rule is dumb in the first place, I have no problem with the suspension. We’re lucky they’re letting him play at all.

by bassale47 on Apr 13, 2008 5:40 PM CDT up 0 recs

4 years?

I doubt that Balbay sees himself as a four year player anyway. Surely UT is his steppingstone to the NBA.

by Caradoc on Apr 13, 2008 6:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

Who knows?

I haven't seen the guy play, so I don't know for sure if he's an "early entry" type of talent or not. But, at least at this point, it doesn't appear that he's overly concerned about maintaining four years of eligibility. Barnes doesn't seem particularly worried about it either, which tells me that they probably both figured he wouldn't be in Austin for four years.

by bassale47 on Apr 13, 2008 8:45 PM CDT up 0 recs