I liked that the AST twitter page called out Blue. I think we should all be tweeting him.

#FreeChima


Before this season I would have said, how amazing would it have been to see Corey & Chima on the court together.

Now Shorts has to be climbing as one of our top players and it’s a shame we also will be missing the Shorts/Chima era!

- More of a wishful hunch than anything concrete.

Hard to justify a mass effort to bring him back without the facts

not necessarily saying he should be back. I just want some sort of status update at this point...

Also, I know we were talking about how the chemistry could be a problem if Chima came back this late as our team has been playing pretty well without him.

If he does come back, I’d almost prefer him to come off the bench. That way, the team can continue to flow like we have been over the last few weeks.

we're at day 25 on this saga; you'd think they would be able to get information and render a decision in that amount of time. i still think they are choosing NOT to make a decision, effectively suspending him for the season, in order to avoid any type of public announcement.

just my feel on the situation.

The Hawai'i home game on Thursday night is Senior Night for Chima, Onybalu and Hennings. I wonder how they are going to handle the pre-game ceremony for Chima assuming he is still suspended. Normally, the players have their family members with them and the PA announcer reads a bio often with stats and honors. Seems kind of awkward now....

Chima hasn't seen his parents in 9 years and, earlier in the season, the Aggie website said his parents were planning to visit him soon to see him play. What a shame it will be if they are here and he is in street clothes and still under the ongoing suspension.

If I may hazard a UC Davis - educated guess or seven before I sign off this site for good I believe I have an idea of what happened.

We have two clues so far. 1. We know that Chima was suspended for violating team rules at the hotel and 2. UC Davis is attempting to smooth things over with the hotel.

Think back to when you were in school and travelled with your sports team, club, or class. What rules did you have in the hotel ? Probably chief among them were some subset of the following:

-A set curfew and lights out by a certain time
- Stay out of the mini- bar if there is one
- Don't disturb other guests or break anything
- No parties, rowdy behavior, or loud music.
- No visitors in your room

Now, which of these sounds like the most likely reasons would get you suspended for this long and facing academic review? Probably not staying out late or eating the $20 cashews, but violating any combination of the last 3 could.

Let's look at the other clue. UC Davis is attempting to resolve things with the hotel. When you read that you just know that the hotel suffered financial damages as a result of China's actions. That suggests that either property was destroyed or the hotel lost money refunding or accommodating angry guests that were disturbed by the behavior. Probably both in this case.

So where does this lead us ? Taking our previous assumptions together leads to a slightly less murky picture. One initial guess I had- that Chima had gotten into a fight at the hotel bar or restaurant- didn't pass muster because that seems out of character for him. Besides, a fight would likely have resulted in the police being called , and there would be a police record. If there were a police record a lot more would be known about the case.

Here's what I think happened:

Chima met some locals or perhaps even other hotel guests when he was out with the team having a meal or whatever. And you know by that I mean women. One thing leads to another and Chima invites his new friends to visit him in his room later to watch The Lion King and talk about how silly New Zealand is. One of the guests sneaks in some alcohol (or raids the mini- bar) and maybe another brings some drugs. There's loud music. People get drunk or high and furniture and mirrors/Windows start getting broken. There's your property damage. Guests in neighboring rooms complain to hotel management. They can't sleep. They want other rooms or refunds. Perhaps the hotel contacts the team representatives first, who break up the party before the police can be called.

Maybe Chima wasn't an active participant in these activities, but he's responsible for his guest's behavior, especially because he wasn't supposed to have any.

UC Davis is attempting to fix everything on the down- low with the hotel because this is very negative publicity for the University- it doesn't want to be seen as another Chico State. Chima is likely facing academic review because as an ambassador of the school he represented it very poorly in that instance.

Of course there's another explanation- that Chima is really a video game lion king/knight of the same name and tore the place apart looking for evildoers or power- ups of some kind.

There is one loose end- how did his roommate on the trip not get punished as well ? Perhaps they had a verifiable alibi for those hours. I can't imagine he got his own room.

And now I am done. It's time to go to trial. Cue the Law and Order music. And much like a mid- 80's fastball thrown by an Aggie pitcher to a Fullerton hitter I am OUT OF HERE !

From the Bee:
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/ailene-voisin/article202683109.html

GoAgs. That was a lot of work for a rant of pretty much total speculation and supposition. Most of what you present as a “theory”, “what I think”, or “idea” is just that. If it was, indeed. a hotel bust up, or fight then the police would have had to have been called and there would have been a report. There is none to our knowledge (a hotels insurance coverage requires it!) . If it was somewhat less (woman, booze, weed in the room) why were the roommate and other players not involved in the suspension? Go I am as flomuxed as you for what happened to Chima; and downright angry at how this has all turned out. We all feel the pain. Best to move on with the team we have now. To reinstate now would in MHO disrupt the team as it now stands- which is actually doing very well without Chima.

Intersting read. Now i really want to know what happened.

Wow...that is perhaps the most speculative and presumptive rant I've ever read. Please don't consider law school...

Having heard absolutely nothing, we naturally want info and it brings about speculation. It could be spot on. But could also be 100% off. We're running out of time. We need a gift from the basketball gods. Hoping this isn't something too serious.

The Voisin article really sums up this whole situation. This is turning out to be such a terribly sad affair now that his mother, whom he hasn't seen in over 9 years, and his brothers from Australia will be here for Senior Night on Thursday and Chima will be in street clothes.

It's far better the be ahead with information than trailing. Not a good look.

The part of the Bee article that's is worrisome and does not look good is this:

"What is known is this: Moneke was questioned, but not arrested, by police officers called to the hotel. The incident is being investigated by Detective Thomas Townsend of LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division that handles robberies, special assaults, cold cases and various types of homicides. It is unclear whether Moneke will face criminal charges, a division spokesman said Wednesday."

I speculate the police were called as Chima belted out a rendition of Bossy Cow Cow.

Bossy Cow Cow

Bossy Cow-Cow
Honey Bee-Bee
Oleo Margarine
Oleo Butterine
Alfalfa Hay!!

Moooooooo!,,,

Hahaha...now that would definitely be disturbing the peace!

Yea I just read the Sac Bee article from yesterday that has no hope.

Chima is done... such a bummer!

Damn.

"Special Assaults" stood out to me- since nobody died (?) Definition in link below. If it was a party, something very bad was alleged- but not against Chima.

http://www.lapdonline.org/detective_bureau/content_basic_view/6262

Alleged robbery... like someone lost their Justin Beiber or Chance the Rapper CD. ... go Aggies!

Do they still yell Bossy Cow-Cow at games? I haven't heard it the few times I've been to Davis since... Well, a lonnngg time ago.

I guess Steph Curry heard about Chima got bored at the hotel and busted up the glass coffee table in the hotel room. There will be no suspension.

From the Davis Enterprise article after the Hawai'i game regarding Chima:

Seniors honored

In a pre-game ceremony that was both poignant and perplexing, suspended UC Davis basketball star Chima Moneke said his final goodbye to The Pavilion as part of Senior Night. Also honored were guards Arell Hennings and Michael Onyebalu.

It was perplexing because Moneke remains suspended from the team for a violation of team rules at a hotel in Woodland Hills a month ago, but there he was at center court being honored by the very school that suspended him.

“I will graduate in three weeks. (At that time) I’ll get an agent and move from Davis,” Moneke told The Enterprise, adding that he knows nothing about the status of the school’s internal investigation and would not comment on the circumstances surrounding it.

Moneke confirmed he has an eye on an NBA career.

Moneke was leading the team in scoring (18.4) and rebounding (9.6) through 22 games and was in the running for Big West Player of the Year before being hit with the suspension seven games ago.

UCD officials refused to confirm or deny a report in The Sacramento Bee that said “Moneke was questioned, but not arrested, by police officers called to the team hotel” in Woodland Hills.
According to an LAPD spokesman who spoke to The Bee, “It is unclear whether Moneke will face criminal charges.”

Despite repeated requests to the LAPD for information, The Enterprise has been unable to verify that police responded to the hotel on the night in question.

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/its-for-all-the-marbles-when-aggie-men-meet-irvine/

I have mixed reactions to the way this whole matter has been handled. I wish it went faster, but on the other hand I am glad to see that it is being handled through proper administrative channels, (or so it seems.) I have never been a fan of seeing matters like this - criminal, administrative, or whatever - tried in the press. There are interests at stake that are more important than media coverage.

My two cents.

Our first big DI controversy?

“I will graduate in three weeks. (At that time) I’ll get an agent and move from Davis,”

makes it sounds like he doesn't foresee a possibility of being reinstated for a possible post-season run.

Nope. Is this a first? Has another team ever honored a player at mid court that was suspended at the time? This entire situation is strange.

"This entire situation is strange."

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.