Still waiting

There are two players in the JSU basketball program you have yet to see this season and the longer their absence grows, the question arises whether the Gamecocks would be better off to simply redshirt both of them.

Freshman forward Brylle Kamen has yet to play for the men’s team as JSU waits for an NCAA determination on his eligibility as an international signee. No one to date has said what the hold up is – whether it’s grade correlation, international playing experience or something else -- but other players around the country in similar situations already have been cleared.

Sophomore post Cierra Duhart has yet to play for the women’s team following the early arrival of her twins and complications following their birth.

Duhart, the women’s second leading scorer and top rebounder last year, has been taking classes and was said to have done well in the fall semester all things considered, but has not been involved with basketball at all. Kamen at least has been practicing with the men’s team.

Although the decision is the athletic department’s to make, it would probably be logical at this point to go ahead and say they were going to redshirt Duhart -- giving her three more years of eligibility -- since there’s no telling when the 6-foot Georgian could be available if she did come back this year. The decision on Kamen isn’t so simple.

“We can’t necessarily say that because we don’t know what the circumstance will be when they give (the decision) to us,” JSU coach James Green said. “If they say, ‘OK,’ let’s say he’s available for the last 12 games of the season or something crazy like that but that year’s going to count against him anyway, why wouldn’t we go ahead and play him then.

“I don’t know what the circumstance may be. Not until we see that will we know. I wish we did know so we could play him. If I had that decision I would say at this particular point he’d play.”

In the meantime, Green has taken the public tack that until the Gamecocks have him, you can’t worry about how he’d fit in the plan.