Suspended Alabama basketball player JaMychal Green has been reinstated fully to the team and will make the trip to Providence this weekend for the Tide's nationally televised matchup against the Providence Friars. His suspension will end after missing three games.
Word had gotten out earlier this week that this would likely be the case, but Anthony Grant comfirmed it today in his press conference.
Junior forward JaMychal Green has been reinstated to the Alabama basketball team, but he won't start the Crimson Tide's next game, coach Anthony Grant announced today.
[...]
"He's got to get caught up in terms of understanding things we've put in in his absence," Grant said. "Just get himself back to where he needs to be. We anticipate him playing, contributing.
"I don't see where it really matters whether he starts or not. I don't consider that a big deal."
Nothing has been made official as to what exactly it is that Green did to incur Grant's wrath, and we'll probably never know, as Grant today reiterated "that's between myself, JaMychal, and the team."
Reading between the lines, though, from several statements made over the last few weeks by Grant and some players, it seems as though Grant's displeasure with Green wasn't limited just to one incident where Green crossed the line, though something likely did happen to spark Grant's decision. Rather, it seems as though Grant has been disappointed in Green's effort, attitude, and lack of leadership throughout the first few games of the season.
Prior to his suspension Green was leading the team in scoring (13.0 points/game) and was second in rebounding (5.0 rebounds/game), but both numbers were down from his numbers last season. It was no secret to Grant or most fans that if the team was going to be able to survive in another rebuilding year after losing our leader and top scorer from last year, that Green would have to step up from a production and a leadership standpoint. Through the five games in which he played, he did neither of those things. Green did something to anger Grant, sure, but this 3-game suspension went beyond that. Grant knows this team needs Green--it's only true blue-chip recruit and one of only two players on the roster who has been with the program more than one year--to do more than he had been doing in those first five games.
Hopefully we'll see a new JaMychal Green--from an attitude, effort, and production standpoint--in Providence on Saturday. His return will undoubtedly help us from a talent and scoring standpoint, as his absence was especially conspicuous on Saturday against Purdue's stellar defense. If we're gong to improve upon our slow start to this season, though, we need him to start to "bring it" and really live up to his potential in ways that he frankly hasn't done in first two seasons and five games in Tuscaloosa.