Mangok Mathiang will be one of the thousands of students beginning classes at U of L on Monday, as the freshman center from the Sudan has earned academic clearance from the NCAA.

According to Eric Crawford of WDRB, Mathiang still has one more hurdle to clear before being eligible to play for the Cards this fall, but was with the team yesterday for a meeting about academic matters.

It's been a whirlwind few weeks in the life of Mangok, who went from virtually unheard of to the final member of a Louisville basketball team which could begin the 2012-13 season ranked No. 1. The fact that he's walking into a situation where the Cardinal frontcourt is already loaded has led to widespread speculation that Mathiang might be redhsirted in his first season at U of L.

While Mathiang's academic clearance is a giant step-forward for both he and Louisville, neither is out of the woods just yet. It's worth remembering that Gorgui Dieng was an enrolled student at U of L for about two months before the NCAA originally declared him ineligible in Oct. of 2010. Dieng only became eligible after U of L won an appeal.

You might-a have-a the Mangok.