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Report: NCAA denies hardship waiver for Rutgers transfer whose father and brother died last season

Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan apparently won't have transfer Kerwin Okoro this season. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan apparently won't have transfer Kerwin Okoro this season. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

The NCAA, no stranger to controversial and seemingly nonsensical rulings, has denied a hardship waiver for a Rutgers guard whose father and brother died in a two-month period last season, reports the New York Post's Zach Braziller.

The NCAA grants the waivers - which let a transfer play immediately - for athletes to be closer to a sick relative, among other reasons. But the deaths of two loved ones apparently isn't enough.

Kerwin Okoro, a New York native, wanted to be closer to home - and his mother - after losing his father Stanislaus to a stroke and his brother Idiongo to colon cancer. He transferred from Iowa State to Rutgers and was expected to be a part of new coach Eddie Jordan's rotation this season.

“I think it’s crazy,” Abdu-Allah Torrence, Okoro's AAU coach, told Braziller. “It was hard on the whole family. The biggest [reason for coming home] was being a support system for his mom.”

The transfer rules don't say anything about the death of a family member, so the NCAA appears to be following its own rules. (The NCAA and Rutgers did not comment to Braziller.)

But it feels like a case earlier this week, where a former Marine was denied immediate eligibility at Middle Tennessee State University for playing in a rec league while in the service. After an outcry, the NCAA declared Steven Rhodes eligible.

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Common sense could prevail again in Okoro's case, but for the time being, he is keeping his opinions to himself.