McSwiggan PKG

nats: “mcswiggan dunkin basketball.” 6 foot 7 britain josh mcswiggan was ready to play division one basketball with the utep miners. but it never happened. “i was like a i going to play? am i not going to play? but i was really kind of broken about it because i just wanna play, that’s all it is.” mcswiggan played overseas for charnwood college as well as the great britain national team. but the ncaa denied mcswiggan’s appeal on his eligibility issue meaning he wont play for utep the entire year. in england you have 13-years of grade school compared to 12-years in the u-s which the ncaa considers a delayed enrollment. and this forced him to lose a year of eligibility that he wont get back. “we’ve seen a lotta guy who have been declared eligible to play by these committees and different members… one say he is ok and the next guy they dont.” but all mcswiggan can do now is work with coach floyd harder than ever before. “he just said to me stay strong stay positive and keep working hard at it.” “the intent of this rule is not about this kid and what he’s about and what he represents. it’s a real shame and it’s a lick for our team.” so now what? “number one i am going to b supporting the team, pushing them in practice, because obviously i can’t play in the games but i can do as much as i can to push them. i am going to work on getting better, bigger, stronger faster. just the things to make myself more of an all around player.” until then, mcswiggan will be in the gym taking shot after shot until he can make the one that really counts inside the don. luke lyddon, abc 7. mcswiggan