One of the toughest decisions looming for SIUE men's basketball Head Coach Lennox Forrester will be one made off the court.
Alex Brown, a senior recruited out of Herrin High School was set to join the Cougar's roster next season, but allegations of theft put his high school career in limbo, as the Alestle reported two weeks ago.
Once details regarding the allegations became public at a Jan. 20 hearing in Herrin, the decision inevitably got harder for the SIUE coaching staff. Brown's prep playing days have ended.
Brown, along with two teammates, JoJo Hart and his younger brother DeShaun Hart walked to a local convenient store to get some snacks and sodas to compliment a long night of video gaming.
You probably know what's next; they stole from the store. Well, you guessed wrong. Enter, gray area.
A "cougar" approached the trio. No, it was not our furry friend Cory, rather the other kind: a 35-year-old woman, according to the Benton Evening News.
The article out of Benton tells the story of how the woman asked them to come to her house, where she offered food, alcohol and sex.
Interesting.
At the meeting, the Harts' mother, Dondra Porter, addressed the incident, claiming the players did not give into their temptress, declining her sexual advances, passing on her booze and not eating her food, meanwhile accepting the non-SIUE-cougar's gifts, which included a television, camera and iPod.
Porter said once the woman fell asleep, with Brown and the Harts still at her residence, they hightailed it out of there with the gifts, prompting the "cougar" to identify the players on Facebook and call the police. The police went to Herrin and questioned the players, prompting their suspension.
The items were later returned.
The biggest question is why did the players go to the house in the first place if they wanted nothing to do with sex, booze and free food? Why did they stay?
If what Porter says is the real story, then no harm is done. The players made a stupid decision and apparently never learned about taking candy from a stranger in kindergarten.
The woman should be the one punished for offering alcohol to minors, and the younger Hart was under 18 so if she was offering him sex, she could be punished for that as well.
On the other hand, parents are always trying to get their kids out of trouble, and it is easy for anyone to speculate on the night being any different than we have come to believe.
Truthfully, we will probably never know the entire story.
I have no idea whether or not SIUE needs to reconsider Brown's scholarship. That ball is in their court. One train of thought leads to believe boys will be boys and the other lends to every action having a consequence.
SIUE wants the best student athletes they can get. From numerous stories we have done, and the shiny 3.03 GPA across the Athletic Department, I can honestly conclude this university does not want questionable individuals on its courts or fields.
This whole situation opens the door to questions concerning Brown. Once again, if the story is as it was told, he did nothing wrong. He is also 18, so if anything sexual occurred, it is null and void in the eyes of the law.
SIUE needs to make an informed decision about Brown. Given what we know, the ideal scenario would be for Forrester to sit down and have a conversation with Brown, find out the whole situation, and try and get him to learn from this and become a better person on and off the court. This is a character issue that can be fixed, rather than something with criminal intent and should be treated that way.
His suspension may just be an overreaction to a young adult's actions by Herrin High School, but Forrester and his staff need to give this some serious thought, and ultimately give Brown his shot at continuing his basketball career and growing up a little bit.
