Some updates on JayVaughn Pinkston

On Monday, we talked a bit about JayVaughn Pinkston, the Villanova freshman forward that is currently facing an investigation involving an incident off-campus that ended up with a student in the hospital. The NY Post has some more details:

A source said Pinkston was locked in the laundry room at the facility by two males. The 6-foot-7, 260-pound 18-year-old broke the door down and allegedly got involved in an altercation with the two at a nearby party, a source told The Post. Another source said Pinkston was involved in a fight at a party and that “it was bad.”

From what I have heard, and from message board innuendo, the cause of the fight is difficult to pinpoint, but just about everyone agrees that Pinkston roughed a kid up pretty badly.

To his credit, Jay Wright isn’t sidestepping this matter:

“It surprised me a lot. He’s a great kid,” Wright said. “It’s not like him.”

“He made a mistake. He’s going to take responsibility and we’ll see how it goes,” Wright said.

“It doesn’t help, but I still feel great about the guys we have, I feel great about the program,” Wright said. “I just think this is part of teaching 18- to 22-year-old kids.”

This isn’t the first time that Villanova players have gotten in trouble recently. Reggie Redding missed the start of last season after being arrested for possession of weed. Corey Stokes was cited for peeing in public. And Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Taylor King were all benched last season for “teachable moments”.

How big of a problem as this become? Is this a sign of the kind of program Wright runs?

Honestly, I don’t think it is. This Pinkston incident is really the only one I have a major problem with. Redding got caught with weed. It was a dumb decision on Redding’s part, but its weed. I bet a third of Villanova’s campus could be busted for possession at this exact moment. Stokes got caught peeing outside, something that ever redblooded american has done. Hopefully he learns to go a few steps further down the alley next time. And while King, Reynolds, and Fisher all missed gametime, their offenses clearly were not all that serious as they weren’t suspended for any games.

Pinkston’s fight is a different story altogether. We all know a frat boy or two that deserved to catch-a-whoopin’, but 6'7", 260 lb highly trained athletic machines on scholarship should not be the ones doling them out.

Pinkston has to know better, and hopefully he did not do enough damage to warrant being thrown out of school.

(For what its worth, the Post is reporting that Pinkston will be forced to sit for four games.)

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.