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No, Nebraska Basketball Shouldn’t Go After Akolda Manyang

By Oliver Vandervoort

Mar 5, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners center Akolda Manyang (30) tries to save a ball from going out of bounds in front of TCU Horned Frogs forward Karviar Shepherd (32) during the first half at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners center Akolda Manyang (30) tries to save a ball from going out of bounds in front of TCU Horned Frogs forward Karviar Shepherd (32) during the first half at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Nebraska basketball team has been desperate for big men basically for the entire time Tim Miles has helmed the team.

Despite that desperation, there is one big man who has recently become available that the Huskers should stay far away from. Oklahoma Sooners center Akolda Manyang is the kind of player that, on paper is exactly who Nebraska basketball should be going after.

Still young and talented, Manyang played just eight minutes a game for a Sooners team that won 26 games and went deep into the NCAA Tournament. The center, who stands at seven feet tall only played eight minutes a game, but he managed to make those minutes count, averaging 2.1 and 1.4 blocks per game.

Considering the only Nebraska basketball player currently on the roster taller than 6’8″ is incoming true freshman Jordy Tshimanga those numbers might have had head coach Tim MIles licking his chops if not for one problem.

The reason that Akolda Manyang is now a free agent, is because he was released from his scholarship from Oklahoma following his arrest for assault. According to NewsOK, this wasn’t a situation where he was arrested for “kids being kids” kind of crimes either.

This wasn’t something like Manyang getting into a fight with some other college students at a local club. Instead, police reports indicate the former Sooners center and a friend, Tadros Deng were accused of assaulting a cab driver and stealing his keys to his personal vehicle around 3am on Wednesday morning.

While police say the two friends were intoxicated, at some point “but I was drunk” can’t be an excuse that is acceptable. It certainly wasn’t acceptable to the Oklahoma basketball team and it shouldn’t be acceptable to the Nebraska basketball team.

Akolda Manyang has not yet been charged and some schools might have even allowed the center to stay with the school until “things get sorted out” but the Sooners moved quickly. That in itself should be a splash of cold water to any basketball fan who wants Nebraska to shrug its shoulders murmur “boys will be boys” and hope the player isn’t going to be finding the same kind trouble here.

Everybody deserves a second chance, but this isn’t the kind of kid who should be getting a second chance with the Nebraska basketball program. This is a kid who got drunk with a friend, and decided it would be a good idea to allegedly attack someone and try to steal their car.

Next: Nebraska Basketball Finally Has a Big Man, But Will He Play Right Away?

Winning is as important to me as it is to the rest of the Nebraska basketball fandom but Tim Miles and company should find a way to win without looking in the direction of Akolda Manyang.

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