NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
The conversation surrounding SMU guard BJ Edwards’ health led to plenty of outrage Wednesday night before the Mustangs had even started their game against Miami (OH).
For two days leading up to ‘Selection Sunday’, Edwards’ injury status was the talk of whether SMU deserved to be in the field. On paper, its CV looked like a team worthy of jumping out of the bubble and into the ‘first four’.
But with the comments of NCAA Selection Committee Chairman Keith Gill, the outrage seemed to take on a life of its own after the Mustangs’ 89-79 loss to the RedHawks.
What was the deciding factor in SMU making the field?
“One of their key players, (BJ) Edwards, lost five of six of those games,” NCAA selection committee chairman Keith Gill said of SMU. “He’s coming back. He’s the third-leading scorer, defenseman. So the quality of wins and obviously coming back to full strength allowed them to get the last spot.”
Did SMU Mislead the NCAA? BJ Edwards not playing against Miami (OH) raises ethical concerns
Ok, so they trusted a school that was on the bubble to provide correct information about a player’s availability with a spot in the tournament on the line.
Sorry, NCAA, that’s on you. Just getting to the tournament is a financial win for the Mustangs, and maybe they actually thought Edwards would be available for the opener against Miami (OH).
Did SMU cheat its way into the NCAA Tournament with BJ Edwards’ health status? They could have fooled the committee (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Maybe the NCAA learned a lesson with SMU
The problem was that there was zero guarantee that he would play. Even with SMU releasing a statement on social media telling committee members it ‘expected’ BJ Edwards to play in the opener, you can’t trust schools to be 100 percent truthful about a player’s health until they’re forced to.
So when the final injury report came out two hours before Wednesday night’s game and Edwards was listed as ‘out,’ it was questionable whether SMU had gamed the system.
After the 89-79 loss, SMU head coach Andy Enfield was asked about the events that led to Edwards not taking the court.
“He looked really good in practice today, the last couple of days, he shot the ball well,” Enfield said after the loss. “He’s moving well, but I think there’s something called game readiness and he just didn’t feel like he was fully ready for the game. He said, ‘I could definitely play on Friday if we win this game,’ definitely going to play on Friday, but just not fully ready for the game.
“Really, it was probably a day short.”
OutKick spoke with a Power-4 head coach Thursday morning who had this to say about the ordeal.
“I’m sure the Edwards kid had the intention of playing. But if you trust the school to give you full transparency with a spot in the tournament on the line, it’s on the NCAA to relay the message that this was a major reason why they got in. What was SMU going to say? They weren’t going to be ready for the first game, but not the second game.
“If that was the case, it didn’t sound like the NCAA would have put them in.”
Either way, hopefully the NCAA learned a lesson from this ordeal.
And next time, I’d imagine the selection committee won’t trust an availability report for a team on the bubble, or a team looking to increase its seeding in the tournament.
