This is a travesty and about to be a very angry post by this Hoosier.
I’m sure everyone knows what I’m talking about. Peter Jurkin and Hanner Mosquera-Perea have been suspended for nine games this season due to a violation by their AAU coach- Mark Adams. Between the years of 1986-1992, Adams gave $185 (supposedly bumper stickers) to the Varsity Club at IU, which qualified him as a booster. The best parts- NEITHER player was alive at the time these were bought and Adams’s ex-wife purchased them. But they are being punished because they happened to get into a program that was to benefit them? Personally I think that the NCAA is just laying down the law.
The worst part isn’t that two big me are out for 9 games, or how there have been reports about this for months, but they have to pay back money to be reinstated. For Peter, this is $250 but for Hanner it is a whopping $1,590! How is he suppose to do that?! They are student athletes. Even if they did take out money from their scholarships it’s still not right. Don’t worry Hanner, I will personally round up the Crimson Guard and we will begin canning for you. That seems to be the only viable option at this point.
I just don’t understand this. It’s not like Adams was giving them new cars, new sneakers, or anything of the sort. He lived with these kids, took them in, cared for them, and wanted to support them the way that they should be supported. They were given plane tickets to see their families, a cell phone, and a laptop. This seems like modest means to me and frankly I’m just as hurt as I’m sure these players are.
This suspension is not only affecting them either, it’s affecting the whole team. With two big guys out, Cody Zeller will have to watch himself with fouling and make sure that all the big men are well conditioned. Derek Elston is also out with an injury so it leaves us with few men in the deep court. However we do have Jeff Howard, and until Jurkin and Perea can get back on the floor, he may be seeing more playing time. The game will have to be put into perimeter shots as well as using our speed and front men in a lot of different combinations.
I completely agree with Terry Hutchens’s article. “Or maybe, just maybe, the NCAA will take a look at this and say, you know what you’re right, nine games is a little excessive. How about 20 percent and make it a five-game deal? Or you know what, 10 percent probably sends the message, too. How about a three-game suspension? Or you know what, why don’t we just accept IU’s recommendation that paying some of the money back is a sufficient penalty and there’s is no game penalty. That would certainly seem like the logical thing to do. But then again, I’m not sure that we’ve read ‘NCAA’ and ‘logical’ in the same sentence very many times. This could be ground-breaking”.
Yes it would, just pay the money back and let them get on with their season.
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