Missouri Tigers coach Cuonzo Martin sounds off on NCAA decision about DaJuan Gordon
Missouri men’s basketball head coach Cuonzo Martin viewed DaJuan Gordon, a transfer from Kansas State, as a certain starter for the Tigers in their first game of the season. But the NCAA got in the way.
Martin said Friday that Gordon was suspended for Tuesday’s contest against Central Michigan for playing in a summer league tournament game that wasn’t sanctioned by the NCAA. At the time, Gordon and the Tigers’ coaching staff thought it was allowed because another game he had played in was certified, but the second game was only certified by the NBA.
The Mizzou coaching staff was alerted by another coach that the game wasn’t sanctioned and told Gordon, who stopped playing as soon as they found out. The NCAA still took a game away regardless.
“There was no money, no exchange, anything like that. So I thought that was unfortunate,” Martin said. “Because, of course, you have to follow the rules, but when we found, OK it wasn’t sanctioned and it wasn’t like some mischief under the table — it was a certified event but pro ran. And he played in it, but we were done. And he’s a guy that lost a college game.
“With all this stuff that we have going on in our game, we have some cleaning up to do and we’re working hard toward it. Because I’m on oversight committee, so I understand. I’m behind the scenes, so I see how hard they try to work to make stuff happen the right way. But that’s a tough one. Because this is the life, this is what he does. He plays basketball, he’s a student athlete. I wouldn’t even consider him making a mistake, I would put that on me, just because again, we didn’t know. We just figured one was sanctioned because he did follow the rules.”
Gordon is available for the second game of the season against Kansas City on Monday and is expected to start.
Martin also sounded off on the NCAA’s decision regarding Oklahoma State, which was recently given a postseason ban after fully complying with an investigation.
“I’m not behind the scenes, I don’t have footage behind the scenes, I’m not with the infractions committee, but I thought that was wrong,” Martin said. “Especially when the guy that’s coaching the program had nothing to do with the whole situation. That’s mind blowing to me.”
Martin said the decision raised a lot of questions for him because Cowboys coach Mike Boynton wasn’t involved in the recruiting violations and the team was allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament last year when it had Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
“But if that’s the rule, then I’m still waiting on the other rules,” Martin said. “And we’ve been waiting for a while. And it’s very disappointing when you look at it from that standpoint.”
