I wonder if after all of this, we really still want this kid. All we need is bad apple to poison the atmosphere. At this point, with all of our troubles, we seem to have good guys who get along together and who have good deportment.
How can you call this kid a bad apple? We don't know if he was defending someone who was being bullied or defending himself. Everyone is entitled to a mistake as long as they learn from them. I guarantee you this young man has learned from this and I expect him to be a great Bobcat. It's posts like this that poison the atmosphere.
For my 2 cents, I'm not calling this kid a bad apple. I don't know much about him. I did want to note that Gary Trent was, by most definitions, a bad apple in his time on campus. It certainly seems like he grew quite a bit over the course of his life, and from some really terrible beginnings. My point is: bad apples exist, and to many different degrees. You've got to do something with them. Taking a flyer on one (whether in basketball, or at a job, or in a thousand other areas) and actively trying to improve/expand their lives isn't necessarily a bad thing. As far as basketball is concerned, sure you have to worry about the team dynamic, so I definitely don't advocate for 13 problem children. One or two, on the other hand, can be a risk worth taking. For the kid's sake, and for the team's sake. Again, not claiming this kids is, or will be a problem.