In my opinion, UNC has known for sometime that PJ was gone and Leslie was getting 30%, and like most suspected they kept PJ around long enough to finish the semester and not hurt the APR. Why make him practice and go through the charade of "we are working with/waiting on/being delayed by the NCAA and hope to have PJ back soon". Hogwash. It was all a game. Chapel Hill Mafia strikes again.
Notice too how most articles have the Faulcone kid being "Suspended for 9 games" and Leslie McDonald was "cleared to play after being held out 9 games by the University"
Hairston's stats before Williams finally woke up and committed to small ball (which allowed Hairston to actually play major minutes): 23 games, 19.2 mpg, 12.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg. After Williams put Hairston in the starting lineup: 13 games, 30.8 mpg, 18.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg.
For whatever reason, Williams couldn't figure out that Hairston was probably his best player until over halfway through the season. He finally figured it out and played Hairston leading player's minutes, and Hairston produced.
Had Williams not been so stubborn about his lineup for the first half of the year, I have zero doubt that Hairston would have been All-ACC last year. But because the ACC voters are count-stats driven, Hairston's limited minutes early in the year kept him off the list.
But make no mistake: he was one of the 5 or 10 best offensive players in the conference last year. And he would have been one of the 5 best offensive players in the conference this year had he played. HUGE loss for UNC.
But convenient excuse for ol' roy. If the NCAA hadn't taken so long, the ordeal would not have been so disruptive and his team would have been more consistent. It is so dadgum hard to concentrate with the specter of the NCAA lurking.
At year end, he will be able to wistfully speculate how much more successful they might have been if the NCAA hadn't robbed him of his best player.
Naw! It was a negotiation strategy. P.J. was the supposed treasure for whom UNC was ready to fall on its sword, even though his sins were many. The Heels were using PJ to get a better deal on Leslie McDonald. In the end, UNC said, "We'll give up on PJ, but only if you accept our estimates of the impermissible benefits for LMcD." UNC probably got his games missed reduced to nine from possibly twice that many.
sage
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I have to wonder if Graves issues came at a REALLY REALLY bad time and influenced the decision.
The UNC AD/Chancellor as a result took the decision out of Roy's hands and made a University decision (These clowns wont stop calling me..) as opposed to a basketball decision.
Because they know, through informal conversations with the NCAA, that a petition for reinstatement will not be granted. It would be a (further) waste of time for everyone involved.
McDonald's application was filed once UNC had reason to believe it would be granted.
I do agree with Newton_14, though, that it's awfully convenient for all this to finally play out right at the end of the semester. If UNC has been confident for some time that a reinstatement was not in the cards for PJ, they should've told him so he could get started playing overseas, or whatever it is he will do next. Maybe they DID tell him and he chose to finish the semester, but it's odd to keep him practicing with the team if all involved know he's done playing.
This UNC article gives credence to our thought process.
"PJ's Fate Sealed Almost Two Months Ago"
So is PJ technically a free agent now? Can he/Does he sign with a pro team, or does UNC try to keep him in school to save the APR? Wuddy'all think he's gonna do?
Maybe, but doesn't that only work if UNC assumes Hairston will leave school as soon as it's clear that he isn't getting back on the court, and is misleading Hairston about his chances? I mean, there's nothing preventing Hairston from finishing out the semester or the year at UNC regardless of when he is determined to be ineligible.
Not that he has any incentive to do so, but I wonder if he'll end up talking now that he's been used and finally cut loose...
UNC is now officially #PJ_Free
"Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR
Agree. Just not sure what incentive he has to stay on if he is kicked off the team and no longer practicing etc. Maybe he stays on maybe not. In reading the article I linked, and another article linked inside of that one, there were several interesting points. Bubba wanted to dismiss PJ for good in July, but Roy said no. UNC knew two months ago that there was no way he would play again, but decided to package their announcement of PJ together with their announcement of Leslie. The NCAA originally wanted Leslie to sit 18 games, UNC negotiated that down to 9.
A few key snippets from the article
While the details that would ultimately dictate Hairston’s fate became clear
after those Oct. 24 interviews, UNC intended to package the decision along with
Leslie McDonald’s case once it was resolved. According to sources, UNC and the
NCAA went back and forth on the length of McDonald’s suspension over a period of
weeks. TheIn the report was the acknowledgement that "McDonald’s reinstatement request is
the only one the NCAA has received from North Carolina.” This highlights the key
distinction in how UNC handled its investigation of Hairston. According to
sources, UNC intended to control and rule on the Hairston investigation and
decision itself, rather than leave it solely in the hands of the NCAA.
Y'all have the spin wrong. PJ has finally been cleared by the NCAA to pursue other opportunities.