Just one thing here: Xavier Basketball

Check it out:
 http://www.goxavier.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/090612aaa.html

We start conference play with Temple and finish with St. Louis and Butler.  We are in for some very tough games.

Go Muskies!

This morning, Dez Wells will be committing to Maryland. Best of luck to him!

No word yet if he will be eligible this fall or have to sit out the standard year for transfering.

Go Dez!

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19967359/dezmine-wells-speaks-for-first-time-following-expulsion-

Well, just as has been happening all along, Xavier is looking really foolish again here.  What a disaster this offseason has become.

What the hell is going on now???

Attorney Joe Dieters as well as Dez Wells' lawyer were just on 700WLW talking about how Xavier wrongfully treated Wells in their decision to kick him out of school.

Remember that uneasy feeling about whether the administration screwed up again?  I was hoping that feeling would go away but nope.  Now, it's even worse.  

Xavier was the ONLY school that Dez Wells was considering in high school.  He then shot up the recruiting rankings and big-time programs were interested but he kept his choice of Xavier all the way through.  Now, if this is true, Xavier has absolutely smeared his name and threw him under the bus.  I think I'm gonna be sick.

UPDATE - Xavier University Statement regarding Hamilton County Grand Jury announcement:

Federal Law (Title IX) and Federal Regulations and Guidances prohibit Universities from ceding student conduct matters to the criminal justice system. The Federal Law requires schools to act quickly and all schools, by law, must use the “preponderance of the evidence” standard, whereas the criminal justice system uses the “probable cause” standard to indict, and the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard to convict.

The process used by the Xavier University Conduct Board is the standard used in American universities. The XU Conduct Board heard evidence that may or may not have been heard by the Grand Jury. After the Conduct Board reached its decision, the matter was considered and upheld by an appeal board of members of the student body, faculty and staff and is final.

So, in summary, XU is saying they might know more than the Grand Jury knew.  How the heck could that be?  The Grand Jury only needed to decide that there was enough evidence that there should be a trial to decide if someone was guilty. They found overwhelmingly that no trial was needed.  Xavier looks foolish here. I'm so disappointed in my school today.

Good luck to Dez Wells.

Now that I've had some time to think this through, I have to say that I don't feel much better about this. My gut feeling on what to think is "I don't know what to think".  

On the one hand, if Dez Wells did something that broke the Student Code of Conduct, I'm pleased that Xavier acted swiftly and treated him just as they would any other student. No one person, even the best athlete on campus, is above any other at Xavier.  I commend Xavier for handling this as they have.

I wish those were my only thoughts...that'd be easier, but they aren't. I can't help but wonder if the administration handled this correctly. If this was years ago, I wouldn't have questioned this. If this was a decision made by just Coach Mack or just AD Mike Bobinski, I wouldn't have questioned this. But the XU Administration has not exactly impressed me in the last few years.  Nearly all the decisions made by them after the UC/XU fight were questionable, if not poor. They were pressured by the crazed media and made knee-jerk decisions. The students were scolded, then told they have to attend mandatory reflection sessions if they want to attend any more games, then reversed their decision. And I don't disagree with giving to charity (although not a fan of how they did it in this context) but there is no reason to move college games off of college campuses. But none of this compares to the sad happenings of the student sexual assault cases that hit the national news in the last 2 years. To sum it up quickly, a couple administrators handled the case(s) poorly, possibly even siding with the abuser, and Xavier took a lot of flack for it.  

For those reasons, I can't help but wonder if this decision to expel Wells may have been made too quickly and too harshly. Did they fear the wrath of the media and the pressure of the public? The fact of the matter is that I have no idea. For all I know (and I hope), this was handled justly and a fair punishment was handed out. But with the puzzling decision-making we've seen in the last couple years, it's hard for me to not be just a little bit skeptical.

In the end, we have to trust that our school made the right decision and move forward. Dez Wells was a talented, bright person who will undoubtedly find success if he has the same work ethic in the future that he had in his year at Xavier. Best of luck to him.  Now, we must move on with new faces.

Go Muskies!