According to tweets from Kevin Ware, the freshman combo guard from Georgia will not be eligible to play for Louisville this season until January.
The news marks the end of a tumultuous several months for Ware.
Ware originally signed with Tennessee last spring, but was released from his letter-of-intent after the school fired head basketball coach Bruce Pearl. He then committed to Central Florida, but backed out following stories from the New York Times and ESPN alleging the program had partaken in some shady recruiting practices. A couple of weeks after that, he landed at U of L.
Though he was initially labeled as "good-to-go" by head coach Rick Pitino, news surfaced in mid-August that Ware's academic status might be in jeopardy. This was confirmed by Piitno several days later.
"It’s a very close call, and the NCAA will decide," Pitino said on Aug. 26. "Right now he’s waiting for his grade to come back from his online testing. Right now we don’t know. So if we don’t get the answer in time … he’ll probably be eligible in January."
The news of Ware's partial ineligibility is a big blow to a Louisville team in desperate need of depth at the point guard position. There might not be a player on the roster who had more to gain in the season's opening months than Ware, who just started learning the point guard position this summer and is a natural two. How he'll fit into Pitino's plans once he joins the squad at the beginning of league play is anyone's guess.
It's time to step up, Bullet.