Here's How God Helped The NCAA Totally Screw Baylor Off The Tournament Bubble

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a story about Baylor freshman forward Perry Jones III. Detailing his eighth-grade verbal commitment — "[H]e never wavered, even as coaches from more-traditional college-basketball powers, including Kansas and U.C.L.A., sent letters to his home" — it painted him as a loyal, churchgoing, NBA-bound lad.

In one anecdote, his mom Terri cried when he showed her the tattoo he'd dedicated to her with the words, "My blessing from God." Well yesterday, the heathen NCAA deemed Jones ineligible for the Big 12 Tournament game vs. Oklahoma, which Baylor lost. Now, the school awaits a ruling on their appeal to allow the leading scorer to play in the NIT.

The ineligibility-driving offense? Perry's blessing from God accepted, then repaid, "three 15-day loans" from an AAU coach to pay the rent while her son was still in high school. He didn't know about the $1,000, either.

So, this is the point where it would be easy to point out that if the NCAA wanted to be an honorable justice dispenser, some Ohio State Buckeyes would have been held out of the big-money Sugar Bowl for selling memorabilia to a tattoo-parlor owner, right?

"I just hope no other institution, no other team, no other family or players ever has to go through what we did the last couple of hours," Baylor coach Scott Drew said after the loss. Baylor learned Jones would be ineligible six hours before the opening tip.

Baylor Freshman Forward Perry Jones III Declared Ineligible For Receiving Pre-Enrollment Benefit [Baylor]

Baylor 'disappointed' with NCAA's decision to rule Perry Jones ineligible [Dallas Morning News]

Is it Dunk and Done for Perry Jones? [New York Times] (Photo H/T: Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated, via Getty Images)