Ha-- the counting of four tournament games as single scheduling date is an allowance the NCAA makes only for scheduling purposes...
The NCAA Medical Hardship rule specifically addresses this exact issue and defines that those "exempt" games ARE counted each as a full game EACH!
Plus, of all the ridiculous hypocrisy - they want to count the four NIT games as only ONE game as far as games played..but then they want to count them as FOUR separate games when it comes to games scheduled!!!
if those four games counted only as ONE in every respect, then of course things start to really get silly...
then Jake's 108 points scored so far this season, weren't really scored in 12 games (giving an average of 9.0 ppg), they were then scored in only 9 games, causing his scoring average to really be 12.0 ppg!
Nope - the NCAA counts games played as games played...and Jake's 12 games played is already 40% of his team's scheduled games.
the rules are clear and precisely defined...
although - having said that, the NCAA does sometimes give kids a break and allow redshirts where otherwise not fitting all the rules.
One such example - somewhat similar to Jake's - is Missouri State's
Spencer Laurie.
The NCAA gave this guy an extra redshirt year - actually 6 years to finish five seasons of athletic eligibility,
when he didn't fit the rules at all...
The rules require a season be lost due to reasons beyond the athlete's control - such as season ending injury, termination of a program, etc..
Laurie lost one of his years simply to the choice of transferring from one school to another.
Plus, at the time Laurie lost a season to injury - the rule was no more than 20% of his team's scheduled games -- but Laurie had already played in 7 games - more than the allowable 20%.
So on TWO separate counts, Laurie did not fit the NCAA's criteria, yet they still granted him an extra year - a 6th year to finish out his 4 years of eligibility.
http://www.missouristatebears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13800&ATCLID=706962
Here are the current
rules for medical redshirt
(I have highlighed in
red the main requirements)
The main requirements, in short, are-
1) injury must be incapacitating, meaning season ending, player does not return from the injury
2) must occur before the midpoint of the season, player cannot play in 2nd half of season
3) player cannot have played in more than 30% of scheduled contests and "exempt games" ARE included
"14.2.4 Hardship Waiver. A student-athlete may be granted an additional year of competition by the conference
or the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet for reasons of “hardship.” Hardship is defined as an
incapacity resulting from an injury or illness that has occurred under all of the following conditions: (Revised:
8/8/02)
(a) The incapacitating injury or illness occurs in one of the four seasons of intercollegiate competition at any two year
or four-year collegiate institutions or occurs after the first day of classes in the student-athlete’s senior year
in high school; (Revised: 1/10/92 effective 8/1/92, 11/01/01, 8/8/02)
(b) The injury or illness occurs prior to the completion of the first half of the playing season that concludes with
the NCAA championship in that sport (measured by the number of scheduled contests or dates of competition
not exceeding the maximum limitations in each sport as set forth in Bylaw 17 as set prior to the first
scheduled contest or date of competition of the designated official NCAA championship playing season in
the applicable sport or the number of completed contests or dates of competition) and results in incapacity
to compete for the remainder of that playing season; and (Revised: 1/14/97 effective 8/1/97, 4/26/01 effective
8/1/01, 4/3/02)
(c) The injury or illness occurs when the student-athlete has not participated in more than three contests or dates
of competition (whichever is applicable to that sport) or 30 percent (whichever number is greater) of the
institution’s scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in his or her sport. Only scheduled or
completed competition (including exempted events but excluding scrimmages and exhibition contests identified
as such in the legislation) against outside participants during the playing season that concludes with the
NCAA championship, or, if so designated, during the official NCAA championship playing season in that
sport (e.g., spring baseball, fall soccer), shall be countable under this limitation in calculating both the number
of contests or dates of competition in which the student-athlete has participated and the number of scheduled
or completed contests or dates of competition during that season in the sport. (Revised: 1/10/92, 1/14/97
effective 8/1/97, 4/26/01 effective 8/1/01, 3/10/04, 5/11/05, 8/4/05, 4/26/07 applicable to student-athletes who
initially enrolled full time in a collegiate institution on or after August 1, 2003)
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/stan/genrel/auto_pdf/2007-08_d1_manual.pdf
(page 137, Rule # 14.2.4 "Hardship Waiver")
so it's pretty clear Jake has already played too many games to fit the criteria in the rules...