UCLA suspends three freshmen arrested in China indefinitely: UNC G Cam Johnson out 3-6 weeks with knee injury

Submitted by Bambi on

A quick basketball update on some of our future opponents:

UCLA has indefinitely suspended the three freshmen (LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley) arrested for shoplifting in China. Riley was competing to be the starting 4 for UCLA, while Ball and Hill were supposed to be backups at the 3 and 5 respectively.

UNC G Cam Johnson tore his miniscus in practice Monday and is supposed to be out 3-6 weels. Johnson is a grad transfer from Pitt who averaged 12 points, 4.5 boards and 2.3 assists per game last year. He missed the opener against Northern Iowa with an unrelated injury. Last year's Final 4 MOP Joel Berry, who has been out for a few weeks due to a broken hand, has been practicing and may play tonight vs Bucknell, so he will be back for our game against them.

FauxMo

November 15th, 2017 at 6:20 PM ^

While the period of their suspension may be "indefinite," the fact that they will be back by the time we play them in early December is "definite," I would guess...  

Mr. Elbel

November 15th, 2017 at 6:52 PM ^

Hopefully this is more of a FL players indefinitely and less of a Grant Perry indefinitely. I know if some of my players did something stupid enough to warrant international leaders getting involved, with jail time in a foreign country on the line, they wouldn't be playing the whole year. They got off the hook in China but something severe needs to happen to set their minds straight.

The Krusty Kra…

November 15th, 2017 at 8:01 PM ^

Those 3 morons thought they could steal from 3 stores in a country that leans more towards "steal something and get your hand cut off" than the leaner end of the spectrum. If they play us it really shows that athletes are above any law, just like when J.T Barrett got a DUI at age 20 and sat all of one game. Disgusting.

Craptain Crunch

November 15th, 2017 at 8:54 PM ^

They are VERY TALL African Americans in a country with 0.1% racial diversity and a population that isn't that tall. They stood out like, well, VERY TALL AFRICAN AMERICANS! For them to think no eyes would be on them shows you just what a bunch of morons they are. If we lived in a normal society, these kids would have been dismissed from the team. But that won't happen.

UM Griff

November 15th, 2017 at 8:24 PM ^

Take a page from his college coach’s playbook and knock some heads together. Causing an international incident and disrespecting your school and country like this is really bad and deserves a significant sit down. It will be surprising if they get more than a slap on the wrist......

Gunga Galunga

November 15th, 2017 at 9:40 PM ^

Trump saved those kids. He is proving himself to be a true leader worldwide. The Chinese people love him which was exemplified by the way he was treated there. Now if only “the swamp” here would respect him and work with him our inner cities would see an improved way of life.

Bigly yuge

November 15th, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^

I hope these kids learn their lesson and become better people. Will be interesting to see how long these guys are suspended for. I would hope the suspension would be at least 5-10 games.

Mr. Elbel

November 16th, 2017 at 7:08 AM ^

You're focusing on the wrong thing. It's all about the location. You do this in LA and get caught and maybe it's a big deal for a little while but I suspect they'd still get out of it all the same. The fact is, they did this in a situation where they got international leaders involved and were facing potential significant jail time that would destroy their basketball careers. This is so much bigger than lavar, and he's only the dad of one of them. Just because they got off free doesn't mean you neglect to teach them a lesson about the seriousness of what they did given the location.

ca_prophet

November 16th, 2017 at 4:36 AM ^

They are also reporting that the Regents and Board of Trustees got involved.  Assuming that's true, it is more likely that indefinitely will actually mean half a season or the full season.

Without knowing more than "three players were alleged to have shoplifted on a goodwill tour in a foreign country", half a season to a full season actually seems like a fair consequence, particularly in light of "could have gone to jail in a foreign country".