NCAA denies Wichita State’s appeal for Siena transfer Colby Rogers to play this season

The best sharpshooter on the Wichita State men’s basketball team won’t be able to take a single three-point attempt this season.

The NCAA Div. I Committee for Legislative Relief denied Wichita State’s appeal on Thursday regarding a waiver for Siena transfer Colby Rogers to play immediately, the player confirmed to The Eagle.

The decision officially closes the door on Rogers, who ranked in the top-10 nationally last year with his 42.9% three-point shooting percentage, playing for the Shockers this season.

The outcome wasn’t a surprise to WSU, as optimism had faded internally the longer the process stretched. Rogers had already sat out the first seven games of the season waiting for the ultimate decision and received his answer ahead of WSU’s road game at Kansas State on Saturday.

WSU has been practicing all season as if Rogers would not be available and Thursday’s decision cements his status as one of the nation’s best scout-team players this season. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter will continue to practice with the team for the rest of this redshirt season and then have two years of eligibility remaining at WSU beginning in the 2023-24 season.

He declined to offer additional comment following the NCAA’s final decision, but Rogers did tell The Eagle in May when he committed to WSU that he was prepared for this scenario.

“I told coach (Isaac) Brown that if I couldn’t get a waiver, I was prepared mentally to be able to sit out and still support the team and work on my craft,” Rogers said then. “I still would want to help the team however I could. And when coach Brown told me he would take me regardless, waiver or no waiver, the decision was pretty much made. I appreciated that.”

Wichita State junior guard Colby Rogers, a transfer from Siena, is still awaiting a ruling from the NCAA to determine if he can play this season for the Shockers.
Wichita State junior guard Colby Rogers, a transfer from Siena, is still awaiting a ruling from the NCAA to determine if he can play this season for the Shockers.

Why did Colby Rogers need an NCAA waiver?

The NCAA recently approved a rule that allows first-time transfers to play immediately at their new school, which is why newcomers like Jaron Pierre Jr. (Southern Miss) and Quincy Ballard (Florida State) are able to play right away for the Shockers.

Rogers is a different case because he is not a graduate student and has already used his one-time free pass in the transfer portal to move from Cal Poly to Siena following the 2020-21 season.

Colby Rogers
Colby Rogers

Why did the NCAA deny Colby Rogers’ waiver to play at Wichita State?

When filing a waiver, a school must demonstrate with documentation that the student-athlete’s decision to transfer was linked to mitigating circumstances outside of their control.

The three factors in play are mitigation (examples include mental health, egregious behavior and run off), academic records and the previous school’s position.

Siena coach Carm Maciariello made his stance clear to Rogers when he entered the transfer portal, which was later explained by the Siena athletic department in a statement sent to The Eagle last month.

“We welcomed Colby to Siena last year through the NCAA transfer portal process,” Siena’s statement read. “Since it was his first transfer, Colby was able to play immediately, and he had a great year at Siena. When Colby decided to transfer for the second time, he was made aware of what entering the portal meant. Siena wanted Colby to return to Siena, so we don’t think that signing a non-participation waiver is the right thing to do. Should the NCAA determine that Colby could play right away, that would be wonderful for him and Siena would not take issue with that outcome, but that part of the process is Colby, Wichita State, and the NCAA’s responsibility, and not Siena’s.”

Because Rogers was successful in the classroom (he made the dean’s list) and on the basketball court (he averaged 14.1 points and earned all-conference honors in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), WSU was unable to prove enough mitigating circumstances to override Siena’s opposition.

Wichita State Men’s Basketball players Colby Rogers, left, and Jalen Ricks, right, laugh at a teammate during media day.
Wichita State Men’s Basketball players Colby Rogers, left, and Jalen Ricks, right, laugh at a teammate during media day.

How rare is it for a former school to block a waiver?

While not unheard of, it is increasingly rare in today’s college basketball world to hear of former schools blocking the way for players to play immediately at their new school.

The approval rate is so high that CBS Sports national college basketball writer Jon Rothstein has poked fun at the process as a formality, in most cases, with this go-to tweet: “The NCAA continues to hand out waivers like they’re seedless watermelons at a 4th of July party.”

“Most coaches just do it now,” Stadium’s Jeff Goodman texted The Eagle. “Don’t bother fighting it, even though so many aren’t really run-offs.”

“There are a lot of coaches who will say, ‘Whatever. If you want to leave, I’ll sign the waiver, I don’t want to deal with this,’” said Rob Dauster, a national analyst at The Field of 68.

Former WSU coach Gregg Marshall most notably did this in 2018 when he let prized recruit Alex Lomax out of his signed letter of intent and signed the necessary paperwork to allow Lomax to transfer and play immediately for his hometown team, which won him some goodwill from the national press in the process.

Current WSU coach Isaac Brown shares the same view as his predecessor.

“Every guy that’s ever left Wichita, we’ve given them the run-off waiver,” Brown said. “I’m in the business of I want to help kids out. If you want to play at Wichita State, we want you to be eligible. If you don’t want to play at Wichita State, we’re going to write the waiver for you.”

Siena transfer Colby Rogers committed to play for Wichita State next season, joining Isaac Brown’s 2022 recruiting class.
Siena transfer Colby Rogers committed to play for Wichita State next season, joining Isaac Brown’s 2022 recruiting class.

What are people saying about Siena’s decision to block Rogers’ waiver?

Wichita State star point guard Craig Porter shed light on the roadblock to Rogers playing for the Shockers before the start of the season.

“I feel like as an institution (Siena) shouldn’t hold a player back like that,” Porter said following WSU’s exhibition game. “He’s just doing what’s best for him and his future. I feel like they shouldn’t be able to make that decision for him. He’s moving up in life and I feel like they’re trying to take him down because he’s making that better step for himself.”

CBS Sports national analyst Gary Parrish agreed with Porter’s stance on the topic.

“My position on this topic is consistent: I think it’s morally wrong for any athletic department to stand in the way of a student-athlete being able to compete,” he told The Eagle. “I get being frustrated or disappointed or whatever, but, ultimately, athletic department officials should just take the high road, sign whatever needs to be signed and move on. Lots of coaches take that approach. It’s unfortunate that some still do not.”

But other national college basketball analysts blamed the NCAA’s unclear system rather than Siena or Maciariello in this particular scenario.

“I don’t see why Siena should have any obligation to sign something that’s blatantly false, just for the kid to play this year,” Sports Illustrated writer Kevin Sweeney told The Eagle. “I don’t think Siena owes Colby Rogers anything and I don’t think Colby Rogers owes Siena anything. The problem is the system requires Siena to be in the mix. Why does Siena get to decide whether or not Colby Rogers gets to play this season? It’s easy to blame one person because he could sign a piece of paper and push it through and for one day, it would be great. But it wouldn’t solve the actual problem that we have.”

Dauster also supported Siena’s decision to stand its ground, but pointed out the downside in doing so.

“If I was in this spot, I think I might just want to sign it just because I don’t think you want to deal with this,” Dauster said. “You’re not getting the kid back. I don’t know if the backlash and getting dinged on the recruiting trail is worth saying you stuck to your guns. But what can you do if you’re Siena? It’s a very difficult situation to be in because it puts pressure on programs with players leaving to sign the waiver, otherwise they’re going to have issues. And I also don’t love the way Wichita State went about this either, making it public and trying to put pressure on Siena. But that’s just the way the system is set up, it doesn’t prioritize the student-athlete. So I don’t think one party here looks great and one looks bad in this, it just is what it is.”