Vermont freshman Dre Wills has been suspended for eight games by the NCAA for reselling textbooks.
It’s a violation of NCAA rules, which is why Wills apologized for getting himself suspended and why his head coach, John Becker, said that he supports the decision.
It’s also about as ridiculous of an overpunishment as you will find in any sport.
For comparison’s sake, former Cincinnati center Yancy Gates was suspended for six games for throwing a punch that left Xavier’s Kenny Frease looking like this during the brawl between the two teams back in 2011.
Wills was in the wrong for reselling his textbooks -- the rules are stupid, but he knew it was against the rules and he knew that he’d get punished if he got caught -- but are we really out here trying to tell kids that making a few hundred bucks off of textbooks is worse than punching a dude in the face and leaving him looking like he has an eggplant over his eye?
Wills, a junior that is averaging 6.8 points and 5.3 boards, has sat out the last three games and will only be forced to miss the next five games.
The Catamounts are 6-7 on the season.