It Took A Judge To Reverse The Most Asinine Ruling And Allow Maori Davenport To Play High School Basketball After Accidentally Receiving An $850 Check From Team USA
[AL.com] – Pike County Circuit Judge Sonny Reagan has granted an emergency motion and ruled Charles Henderson basketball player Maori Davenport can play in tonight’s home game against Carroll.
The Davenport family filed a lawsuit this week asking the court to invalidate the AHSAA’s suspension of Maori Davenport, a 6-foot-4 Rutgers signee and the top candidate to be Miss Basketball, for running afoul of the governing body’s amateurism rule.
Let’s all say this in unison real quick. FUCK Steve Savarese. In case you missed it over the last week, Maori Davenport and her eligibility for high school basketball has been talked about during NBA, NCAA games and all over the Internet. Here’s what happened:
Kelley and coach Dyneshia Jones told Davenport that she had been ruled ineligible for the rest of her senior season. At issue was a stipend check for $857.20 sent to Davenport by USA Basketball. Davenport had led Team USA in rebounding and blocks en route to a gold medal in Mexico City at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in August.
Typically, USA Basketball confers with high school federations to determine if players are allowed to accept payments. But due to an error USA Basketball admits it made, no call was made to the Alabama High School Athletic Association, which does not allow payments of more than $250.
When USA Basketball realized its mistake, it notified Henderson and the AHSAA. Davenport then sent the money back. But the AHSAA ruled that she was ineligible for one season.
So why fuck Saverse? Simply because he dug his heels in the ground, denied appeals and basically said ah fuck it, we’ll let her sit for the year over a clerical error. Think about it? Davenport sent the money back. Literally no harm done. Again, who is this hurting? This isn’t giving an advantage to Davenport or her team. It’s a stipend, which is commonly given to NCAA players when they represent Team USA. Are we really going to pretend that someone is a professional or that their eligibility was ruined because of a relatively small stipend check?
I will say this about the whole situation. A pissed off Jay Bilas (who was probably the loudest voice from a national scale on this) sure does get shit done. Others chimed in too:
