Schools go unpunished, but player gets 9 games from NCAA

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Hey, has anyone seen my old Chuck Taylor All-Stars? For the life of me, I can’t remember where I left them, but I don’t remember much anymore, certainly not where a pair of scuffed up sneakers last worn in the mid-50s are.

I can describe them, though. They were black, with white, and when new they were among the early low top sneakers put out. Everyone was wearing them, considering no one had ever heard of Nike. The competition then was Keds.

Need ‘em now, though, because I expect any minute now the phone is going to ring (is that what you call what phones do these days when they want you to answer it?) and it will be West Virginia asking if I want to play point guard for them.


Or, if I prefer, off guard or forward or center.

It’s that bad.

Starting point guard Kerr Kriisa has been suspended from the team by the NCAA for nine games, including the Dec. 1 game against St. John’s, the Pitt game of Dec. 6 and the Fort Myers Tip-Off game against either Virginia or Wisconsin on Nov. 22.


Don’t know what Josh Eilert has done to deserve what’s going on, but the new West Virginia coach lost another player midday Tuesday, not that he wasn’t expecting it since they knew there was a problem since late August when Kerr Kriisa joined them.

Now Kriisa’s in NCAA purgatory, being suspended for nine games ... not for anything he did at West Virginia, but for accepting impermissible benefits while at Arizona before transferring. He admitted to the transgression, according to the WVU news release.

One has to imagine in this NIL era where almost anything goes that Kriisa was given nothing short of a penthouse in Trump Tower in New York to have broken NCAA rules.


Whatever it was, he has been tossed into the NCAA jailhouse.

The way things are going, the WVU basketball program ought to consider just putting a revolving door in at the facility and setting up a direct line to the NCAA offices in Indianapolis. Might even just ask them to fill out the lineup every game for Eilert as they seem to have more control on who’s on the roster and who isn’t these days.

Let’s see, there’s no Jose Perez to play. There’s no Omar Silvero. A couple of days ago the NCAA denied a transfer waiver to RaeQuan Battle, who was supposed to be the off-guard with Kriisa at the point.


Where have you gone, Joe Toussaint?

Mountaineer nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Woo, woo, woo


What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?

Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away

Hey, hey, hey


Hey, hey, hey

So, like I say, I’m only a phone call away, waiting to hear Eilert call so I can say, “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, today.”

Yeah, I know I’m a little short in size, short of breath and long in the tooth, but I haven’t broken any NCAA rules and I think I still have my COVID eligibility left.


Wouldn’t expect any challenges from WVU opponents for playing me, unless they have made the two-handed set shot illegal. And as for dunks ... well, the only thing I’ve ever dunked on had chocolate frosting and sprinkles on it.

OK, let’s take a look at what we have here. Kriisa has admitted breaking NCAA rules, but doesn’t it seem kind of like piling on WVU after what the program has been through? Shouldn’t Arizona, not the Mountaineers, be serving the penalty?

Suspend the Wildcats’ point guard for nine games. The infraction was committed in their jurisdiction, under their direction.


Make Kiirsa return his impermissible benefit, if you want. That would be fair. But he was an Arizona player then in another league, another time zone ... another planet, really, if you’ve ever been to Arizona.

Suspending him may be penalizing him, but it’s also penalizing WVU, his teammates and the fan base while rewarding Kansas, Iowa State and ... well, you get the picture.

Now Kobe Johnson moves not only up to starting point guard, but for nine games is going to have to play maybe 35 minutes a game.


That is, of course, unless I find those Chuck Taylor’s and my old basketball shorts ... you know, the short kind that Jerry West used to wear at WVU ... which would just be more punishment to Eilert and anyone else who has to watch.

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