In the post-Katehi scrub-the-internet world we live in, you'd think the school would be very careful about honoring him if they thought the investigation was going to turn up something nasty.
Still, we don't know what we don't know. Curiouser and curiouser.
I think that honoring Chima was the right thing to do. He is due a presumption of innocence and, by honoring him, I think the university is saying he is innocent until the investigation is completed and he is found to be at fault or not.
The whole thing is sad...but clearly he must have done something relatively serious. Coach Les was quick to suspend him. Hopefully it wasn't criminal and he can move on with his life. It would be great if the whole thing can be cleared up or at least explained so that the program and player can move on. As fans, all we can do is cheer for the guys we have and celebrate the coaching job Les is doing and the fight/tenacity the players are demonstrating. The Chima incident has made one thing clear, we actually have a basketball PROGRAM! What other team loses their all league star and rips off a bunch of wins!
Totally agree and we also have an athletics program that operates with integrity and academics first and that is something to be very proud of considering a lot of what we see too often in college athletics.
I love how on Reddit these days the popular narrative among the fans of major progrms is now "everybody cheats", to which I get to respond ".... yeeaaahhh pretty sure we don't." There are problems with UCD ICA but integrity is generally not one of them.
On the subject of everybody cheating, SDSU also had our star player sit out recently -- he was implicated in the FBI-investigated scandals for being on a list for receiving loans from an agent. The school preemptively suspended him while the investigation was underway but reinstated him after a game because he was cooperating fully and there was no other evidence aside from a single reference.
The purported loan amount? $1400. Man the NCAA is picky.
I will reject to being reinstated if I am Chima. Haven't play for a while and the team is playing great make no sense for him to rejoin the team (Les rather put his chips on the younger players for next season given his contract is safe regardless of this season result). Furthermore, he may get hurt by going full force after abundant time of inactivity. Get an agent and play oversea for a short period of time can make him a more appealing stock to NBA team (at least G League affiliations).
I think Chima would gladly rejoin his teammates if he were reinstated. He was clearly heartbroken at the senior night pre-game ceremony. The suspension has been devastating for him and I'm sure he'd love to be able to take the floor with them again even if it meant he wasn't in the starting line up. There is a strong bond between Chima and his teammates and I think it would be very healing for everyone if he were cleared to play again with his "brothers."