New Mexico State Gets Instant Karma

Sometimes it does seem that there is an order to the universe.

So much seems to have gone wrong for New Mexico State after a rapid rise. Their top recruit is shot, and while making a full recovery, it still remains to be seen how he will actually do once he gets on the court. They lose Reggie Theus to the NBA in June, after they gave him a raise and an extension.

Now, their best returning player, senior Tyrone Nelson, gets dismissed from New Mexico State following his plea of no contest to robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and conspiracy to commit bribery. Now while the plea deal avoided the trial and any jail time, NMSU's student-athlete code of conduct calls for the dismissal of a player who is convicted or pleads no contest to a violent felony.

The NMSU Athletic Director, McKinley Boston, testified on behalf of Nelson regarding his character -- and to try and have Nelson avoid being tagged as felon so Nelson could ~~keep playing basketball~~ complete his education.

Gary Parrish at CBS Sportsline suggests that NMSU ended up losing Theus because they chose to let Nelson play this season while the charges were hanging over Nelson's head -- and Nelson kept maintaining his innocence.

Nelson averaged 11.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season, a season in which New Mexico State only made the NCAA Tournament because it won the WAC Tournament and in turn earned an automatic bid. And because Nelson averaged 17.3 points in the WAC Tournament -- including a 26-point effort in a 77-70 win over Louisiana Tech -- it's reasonable to conclude the Aggies probably would not have won the event without Nelson, meaning it's reasonable to conclude the Aggies probably would not have appeared in the NCAA Tournament without Nelson, who, it's worth noting, allegedly offered a neighbor marijuana and money to accept blame for the robbery.

(If nothing else, this proves Tyrone Nelson and Ricky Williams are not neighbors.)

So now the question is this: Would the Kings have hired an NIT coach?

Can't say for sure, but I'm guessing the answer is closer to no than yes. Consequently, it seems that in allowing Nelson to play despite overwhelming evidence indicating he had indeed robbed a pizza delivery man, New Mexico State put itself in position to get robbed just the same.

Odds are they would have lost Theus eventually. Whether to the pros or a bigger college program, but Parrish is probably right to suggest that NMSU gave up some class and their coach a little too easily for Tyrone Nelson to play this season.