The NCAA tournament is only a little more than a week away and a lot of the talk has been about a player that will likely not be involved. Ben Simmons, the No. 1 recruit in 2015 and the expected No. 1 pick in this year's NBA Draft, will more than likely be watching the big tournament from home.
That is no fault of Simmons' as he has had a great year personally but his team, the LSU Tigers, have struggled for the majority of the season. LSU was ranked in the preseason polls and was expected to compete with Kentucky for the SEC championship, but instead finished the regular season at 18-13. LSU will need a miracle run in the SEC tournament to make the big dance and if it doesn't get in, we will be deprived of seeing one of the most talented players in the country in the tournament.
While Simmons has been about as good as advertised on the court as a freshman, he has had his struggles off the court. Simmons has said that he struggled to adjust to being in college at first, and as a result he skipped a lot of classes in the beginning of the season. Simmons did add that he learned from it and is going to all of his classes now, but he has already suffered some consequences for his academic issues.
In a game late last month, Simmons was brought off the bench for the first time this season because of what head coach Johnny Jones called "academic stuff". Simmons only missed four minutes of that game, but it was the start to what has become a story of his grades. On top of being benched in that game against Tennessee, Simmons has also been ruled ineligible for the Wooden Award.
Although Simmons likely wouldn't have won the award, he certainly would have been a finalist. Despite that, he "did not have the necessary criteria to be eligible". On the season, Simmons is putting up monstrous numbers, averaging 19.7 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He would have been a worthy finalist for sure.
Simmons is not the first player to be ruled ineligible for the Wooden Award as Carmelo Anthony was ineligible in his one year at Syracuse. Anthony had a 1.8 GPA in his first semester and Simmons' GPA is reportedly in the same neighborhood. This likely will not affect Simmons' ability to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, but it does remind us that academics are important for student-athletes.
