Dispelling the Carl Hall rumors

[WSUwatcher]

Okay, enough, guys. If people are going to post or speculate about (and thus propagate) Internet rumors about Hall's eligibility, then do so in one place instead of spreading them out all over, from Basketball to Recruiting, every time a worry about Carl crosses someone's mind.

Here's the place, and I'll start things off with a dose of skepticism. I have no inside info; I never do. (Personally, I think that adds to my credibility, if only because alleged inside info or rumors from "sources" so often prove bogus.) I'll just note that, according to the MaxPreps site for Carl's high school, Bleckley County HS in Cochran GA, he was a senior in 2008-9. If that's true, then there's no basis for concern about his eligibility clock running out, because next season is just the fourth year since then, and you get five years to use up four seasons of eligibility. So the speculators need to find a new worry.

[Aargh]

Carl was born in March, 1989. That makes him 23. If he graduated HS in 2009, he was 20 then. There are two years missing somewhere - either before or after he graduated HS.

I'm going to think of the whole situation as speculation until something official is announced. The speculation (as I understand it) is that Carl played some football before his heart condition was diagnosed. Then he took a year off to evaluate his health before he went to JuCo to play basketball. That seems a pretty logical explanation of the missing two years.

The hardship waivewr is that this was an unusual circumstance involving the health of a student-athlete and Carl needed the year to evaluate a potentially life-threatening medical issue. If Carl is not granted another year, it would deny him the ability to get a college degree, which is the "only" reason that athletes get scholarships.

One thing I've noticed about Marshall. He's very tight-lipped about his players if the information involves nything other than basketball and their relationship with the university. If this is all speculation, we may never find anything published. If there is an appeal, we will probably only hear about it when the final determination is made.

The same holds true for Uwadiae and Hawkins. We won't hear anything until the NCAA clearinghouse either clears them or denies their clearance. I don't think Suellentrop is going to go around Marshall and dig up anything when Marshall deosn't wnt that done. We'll know when we know.

[Ricardo del Rio]

One thing I've noticed about Marshall. He's very tight-lipped about his players if the information involves anything other than basketball and their relationship with the university. The same holds true for Uwadiae and Hawkins. We won't hear anything until the NCAA clearinghouse either clears them or denies their clearance.

Think Coach Tom Penders, player Luke Axtell and the University of Texas.

[martymoose]

The person who I heard it from doesn't just make things up...so I think it's possible there is a concern. It sounded to me like the university is currently working to clear up his eligibility. Maybe I should have asked Marshall at the autograph session yesterday...but my 3 year old son thought asking if he or the players are scared of Wu Shock was a more important issue.

[Kung Wu]

Carl was born in March, 1989. That makes him 23. If he graduated HS in 2009, he was 20 then. There are two years missing somewhere - either before or after he graduated HS.

I have been traveling so much I haven't had time to keep up with Shockernet. So this is the first I have heard about any of this. But just thinking about what you posted: We know that Carl has a vision problem (remember the lack-of-wearing-contacts fiasco in Puerto Rico and the constant squinting on video?). It's not unusual for kids with vision problems to be misdiagnosed as having learning disabilities in their younger years and he may have simply flunked a grade or been held back early on, causing the age discrepancy.

That's complete speculation and I am not trying to make a case that that is what happened at all. The point is, just like you are saying, there are certainly reasonable reasons for a kid to graduate high school at a later age that doesn't make him ineligible at all. And there are other scenarios where he graduated at a normal age and didn't attend college immediately that keeps him eligible too.

[1972Shocker]

my 3 year old son thought asking if he or the players are scared of Wu Shock was a more important issue.

One of the very few times an indisputable point, comment or thought is made on ShockerNet.

BTW, what was the answer?

[SubGod22]

The person who I heard it from doesn't just make things up...so I think it's possible there is a concern. It sounded to me like the university is currently working to clear up his eligibility.

That's where I stand on this issue as well.

[1972Shocker]

So, assuming there are issues or questions about Carl's reamining eligibility then would I be correct in assuming that JUCO players do not have to go through the NCAA Clearinghouse?

[Ta town]

So, assuming there are issues or questions about Carl's reamining eligibility then would I be correct in assuming that JUCO players do not have to go through the NCAA Clearinghouse?

If you graduate from JuCo (associates) then you are eligible. Infact I believe unless you were a qualifier out of high school then this is the only way to be a JuCo and eligible. So there really isn't a grey area I don't believe.

Obviously 5 to play 4 is a completely different issue and the one that effects Carl Hall.

[pogo]

If there are only two years missing out of his life he is lucky. My whole undergraduate career is missing... at least I don't remember any of it for one reason or another.

[Wu du Nord]

Am I the only one who saw the title of this thread and wondered why it was in the Basketball forum?

[WSUwatcher]

KW, if Carl was 20 when he graduated from high school he certainly wouldn't be the first, and there are any number of plausible reasons why it might have happened, including your scenario. And nothing that happened back in those days would affect his college eligibility.

My point was simply that IF MaxPreps is right, and Hall did indeed graduate in 2009, he's right on schedule, about to enter his fourth year since high school. So where did the phantom juco "year" of football come in? There's no time for one; it would have had to be during the same year he also played basketball (i.e., first semester football, second semester basketball -- an unusual but not impossible combination, especially at the JC level). And where did the phantom year off come from? It's hard to see how a timing problem could be hiding somewhere between 2009 and now.

I believe in old Occam and his razor -- the simplest explanation is the best place to start. And I'm assuming MaxPreps got it right. If they didn't, maybe the speculators are onto something. But until our rumor mongers establish that MaxPreps is wrong and Hall actually graduated sooner than 2009, I'm a Skeptic with a capital S.

[WSUwatcher]

Am I the only one who saw the title of this thread and wondered why it was in the Basketball forum?

Apparently so. I know Scandinavia is a long way off, but did you miss that Carl Hall played men's basketball for WSU last year?

[martymoose]

One of the very few times an indisputable point, comment or thought is made on ShockerNet.

BTW, what was the answer?

My wife brought him up there first but he couldn't get up the nerve to ask. Then he wanted to go back when I brought our daughter up for autographs...but he couldn't spit it out when we got to the autograph table. Maybe next year.

[Kung Wu]

KW, if Carl was 20 when he graduated from high school he certainly wouldn't be the first, and there are any number of plausible reasons why it might have happened, including your scenario. And nothing that happened back in those days would affect his college eligibility.

My point was simply that IF MaxPreps is right, and Hall did indeed graduate in 2009, he's right on schedule, about to enter his fourth year since high school. So where did the phantom juco "year" of football come in? There's no time for one; it would have had to be during the same year he also played basketball (i.e., first semester football, second semester basketball -- an unusual but not impossible combination, especially at the JC level). And where did the phantom year off come from? It's hard to see how a timing problem could be hiding somewhere between 2009 and now.

I believe in old Occam and his razor -- the simplest explanation is the best place to start. And I'm assuming MaxPreps got it right. If they didn't, maybe the speculators are onto something. But until our rumor mongers establish that MaxPreps is wrong and Hall actually graduated sooner than 2009, I'm a Skeptic with a capital S.

Yeah, it's a valid point. This thread is the first I have heard of any of it, so I was just commenting on @Aargh:'s point. You may be right too -- there never was an issue to begin with. I thought Carl's problems were grade related, but then again, I don't know that he even ever had a problem.

Probably all of this is just started by some jaded VCU fan, or even "Short-shake Shaka"? Wow! I made myself laugh: "Short-shake Shaka!!" MUHAHAHA