Marcus Carr denied waiver by NCAA, will sit out season

Marcus Carr’s appeal to be eligible to play immediately for the Minnesota Gophers has been denied by the NCAA. Raise your hand if you’re shocked by this news.* This is the second time the waiver request that the U filed on Carr’s behalf has been turned down. The news was reported last night by multiple local and national media members, including the STrib’s Marcus Fuller:

Carr came to Minnesota from Pittsburgh following the firing of head coach Kevin Stallings. Last season he averaged 10 points and 4 assists while starting at guard in 27 games for Pitt. The decision denies Minnesota some additional depth in the backcourt, but may also help maintain a balance in terms of recruiting classes.

Whether or not you think the outcome is a net negative for Minnesota or not, the secondary story here is how the NCAA continues to be completely arbitrary and nonsensical in how it approaches the approval of transfer waivers. That’s certainly the angle that national college basketball personalities have focused on:

At the end of the day, the NCAA is always gonna NCAA. We’ll just have to see how big of an impact their unpredictability has on the Gophers.

*don’t lie you lying liar