Marcus Jordan, who made national headlines after his disorderly conduct arrest last month, may give up his senior year of eligibility on the University of Central Florida basketball team — at least for now.
Sources apparently told CBS Sports that NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s son may stay at UCF but just take courses. Evidently, he has not worked out with the team over the summer.
The NCAA hit the UCF basketball team in late July with a one-year postseason ban (including the Conference USA tournament) for recruiting violations, and, as a result, there was an expectation that some of the UCF starters would transfer to other schools to continue their collegiate careers.
Senior forward Keith Clanton decided to stick with the UCF Knights for his senior year, however, despite opportunities to go elsewhere. According to the Orlando Sentinel:
“The school is not appealing the decision, which means seniors are free to transfer and play immediately for other teams eligible for the postseason without having to sit out one season.”
In the shooting guard position for the UCF hoops team, Marcus Jordan averaged 13.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game last season as a junior.
Marcus Jordan’s charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Omaha, Nebraska during which he was described as “very animated, intoxicated, and uncooperative” in the police report have yet to be officially resolved in court.
Here is the tweet from CBS basketball writer Jeff Goodman about Marcus Jordan’s status with the UCF basketball team:
Marcus Jordan expected to take classes at Central Florida, but won’t play – per sources. But with Marcus Jordan, you never quite know.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) August 19, 2012
In general, do you think that so-called student-athletes are particularly enthusiastic about the student part?
[Image credit: Robert Jonathan]
the "student" part is kind of a foolish requirement at this point. Why should a ball player waste his time in science and math classes? Accounting students like myself are not required to spend time on a basketball court, or learn football formations. Once upon a time the reasoning for the "student" requirements went something like "Athletics are a privilege" which is ridiculous, or "making the pros is so unlikely that you should be prepared for another career" which is ALSO ridiculous. There are tons of jobs out there for athletes, from training to coaching to scouting to playing. Why shouldn't they be allowed to prepare in any way that gives them the best chance to be successful the same way the rest of us are? There's no restrictions on what an accounting student can do, who can pay them to be an accountant and hone their craft, or a writer, or a computer tech, or whatever. Why should athletes be so different?
Probably for the same reason as a Philosophy student must waste their time on science and math or math students waste their time on grammar and literature classes. There are physical fitness majors where, once your core is complete (all that pesky sciencey and ready stuff), just like any other major, focus solely on what the student is in college for. For me, it was religion classes. For an athlete, it would be more phys ed classes. No different.
Stephanie Denise Irvan Eyster you are not required to get a degree in something you're not interested in. The hours you can work at getting better at your job are not limited, who hires you is not limited, what you can do to improve yourself at your craft is not limited. These are the differences. Athletes can only practice so long as a team, cannot hold jobs during the season, etc.
A college degree is supposed to mean you are well educated, not just know how to do one thing.