After a prolonged wait, head coach Fred Hoiberg and the Nebraska basketball program did not get the news they were hoping for on Tuesday, as the NCAA denied the waiver request to make junior guard Shamiel Stevenson immediately eligible for this season.
Stevenson, who came to Lincoln as a transfer from Nevada via a transfer from Pittsburgh, was forced to miss the first five games of the season before the ruling was finally announced.
Stevenson will sit out the remainder of the 2019-20 season and have two years of eligibility beginning in 2020-21.
Per a release, Nebraska's initial waiver was previously denied but then the Huskers filed a request for reconsideration, which was also recently denied. The release stated that Stevenson and NU's coaches had an appeal hearing with the NCAA over the phone on Monday which sealed the ruling.
“I am disappointed and hurting for Shamiel.” Hoiberg said in via statement. “We believed we presented a strong case on his behalf. We appreciate all the hard work that Jo Potuto and our Compliance staff put into advocating for Shamiel.
“Although this is a setback for Shamiel, we feel confident we can continue to provide him an opportunity to have a successful year developing alongside Derrick Walker and Dalano Banton. We had a similar situation in Ames with four sit-out transfers in my first season at ISU and every one of them made major contributions the following season in helping us start our run of NCAA tournament appearances.”
The 6-foot-6, 245-pound native of Toronto, Canada, originally signed with Pittsburgh and played extensive minutes for the Panthers as a true freshman in 2017-18.
Stevenson played in 32 games with 13 starts and averaged 8.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. He led Pitt with a 50.5-percent field goal percentage and was 37.5 percent from behind the arc. He also ranked second on the team in rebounding and got to the foul line a team-high 112 times.
After Pitt fired head coach Kevin Stallings, though, Stevenson did not mesh at all with new head coach Jeff Capel and eventually transferred in December of last season.
Stevenson ended up at Nevada, where he planned to sit out the second half of the year and be eligible to play for the Wolfpack at the end of the 2019 fall semester.
Another wrench was thrown in his plans when head coach Eric Musselman left Nevada after the season to take the job at Arkansas.
Rather than play for another coach that didn’t recruit him, Stevenson hit the transfer market again and eventually wound up at Nebraska this summer.
Because he transferred twice within a span of one year, his eligibility clock was reset and was no longer considered a mid-year transfer. That's why he won't be eligible until next season.
