One question: is suspended from the team the same as suspended from school? If so, forget the team. Chimas academic status is being very negatively impacted and could hurt him for the rest of his life. Really seems unfair that thi is being dragged out so long.
I would presume that suspended from the team does not mean he is suspended from school. I think he is still attending classes and we've seen him with the team at home games. I don't think we would see him at the games with the team if he was suspended from school.
Yes, he's been on the bench and was even at the end of the starting 5 introduction line embracing each player as they got announced. Les has said they want to support him and keep him in contact with his teammates during the review process.
It seems that the infraction of "rules" is something more than a coaching decision but less than something criminal. The longer this goes on the more it sucks big time.
I heard Les say "he would be calling" but he was not referring to the Moneke situation. I thought Scott had said, "TJ should be the Player of the Week in the Big West" and Les' response was, "If he isn't, I'll be calling." I hope you heard him say something in regards to Chima though. All this waiting is getting old.
The team obviously is jellying in the absence of Chima and doing very well. Would it now be a disruption or a distraction if he now comes back to the team this late in the season? I bet Les might be a bit concerned which ever way it turns out. Like Blue, this is really getting old. AD must be pulling his hair out by the handful.
My opinion on Chima's return is that it will depend on the team's ability to reintegrate him. They played will with him and they played well without him (albeit after two losses). I think the team is solid enough and Coach Les is sharp enough that his return will be a smooth one. A key to the Ags success in the tournament, though, might be getting him back for the final regular season game.
Ideally he’d be back this week and they could ease him back Saturday. Play more each of the following games and be ready to roll tournament time with a much deeper team.
So he’s not back this week. Should we just accept “End Of Chima?” I do not think he is coming back at all at this point. Administration should really set this straight and clear the air on this long and tortuous ordeal. I will join some who say AD Blue is not up to the task on these types of “problematic” developments and just likes the nice stuff. Pretty face but no there there. . .
Davis has higher standards, cutting corners not the norm, all we know is they're trying to gather facts. I hope they have given it a priority and this isn't on a back burner.
I think everyone expects Chima is done with Aggies. I will not blame Blue on this incident but they better hope no impact on next season ticket sales as well as traveling fans showing up in BW tournament ( at least I will not go to Anaheim this year). Chima is most likely the guilty party in this incident but the administration should just rule him out of the season (suspend indefinitely creates confusion and false hope to fans)
This will be my last post on this subject. It is such a shame to have Chima miss the rest of his career at Davis. He was a charismatic player, a great post player, and a leader on the court. We will move onward from this unfortunate situation maybe better than before.
As I noted before, if this is a student conduct violation, it will take some time. I tried to see if the code has any specific time frame (http://sja.ucdavis.edu/disciplinary-process.html), but I saw only that the student must appeal within 10 days. The lack of a time frame is a disturbing omission. So it is still anyone's guess if the process is still ongoing (including an appeal). I'm suggesting it is otherwise a final decision would have been made public. Thus, I believe there is still a chance that Chima will be back.
I recall when I was a student, I had a couple friends who were leaders in a student organization but were a thorn in the side of a non-academic university staff member. Senior year, they were suspended for alleged "alcohol violations" that said staff member overheard from a third party. Student Judicial Affairs suspended the students from participating in the organization while they launched an investigation. They pressured the students to "confess" and take a plea deal that basically said they could return but any hint of further misconduct and they would be kicked out of the university, forfeiting rights to a hearing. They refused to take the plea deal, so SJA allowed the "investigation" to go on for months. There was no evidence and no witnesses came forward. Eventually the students were declared innocent -- with a week left of school after being frozen out of an entire spring quarter. The appearance was that SJA purposely prolonged the process so the staff member wouldn't have to deal with students he didn't like and the students would be "punished" without having to be found guilty.
Also keep in mind that the burden of proof is simply "is it more likely than not" that the student committed the infraction, not "beyond reasonable doubt." And when all else fails, they pull the "violation of principles of community" accusation out, which is about as amorphous as it comes. Point being, you can expect about as fair a hearing at SJA as a political dissident in Soviet Russia.
All that said, I am not suggesting that Chima is even under investigation by Student Judicial Affairs. This could be strictly internal to the team or Athletics. And depending on the issue, FERPA may prevent anyone from saying anything.
If we all feel this way, think about how Coach Les and Chima's team-mates feel? I suspect that teh Coach knows a lot about this, but he cannot talk about it.
UCSB's coach could be in trouble down the road as well. They have emails from when he was an Arizona assistant that may tie him into the Sean Miller recruit payoff deal.