WVU’s RaeQuan Battle releases a statement to the NCAA
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Press Virginia is back.
No, not on the court, but maybe soon in the courts.
This is neither a zone press nor a man press.
It’s more a person-to-person press and the opponent is the heartless, archaic NCAA.
It’s a Battle. RaeQuan Battle vs. the NCAA.
You know the history. If you don’t, you shouldn’t be reading this anyway, but suffice it to say in bringing you up to date that RaeQuan Battle is a West Virginia University basketball transfer who has twice been denied eligibility by the NCAA despite seeming to meet the mental health and well-being rule that the organization uses as one exception to its rule against immediate eligibility for double transfers who have not yet earned a degree.
The committee behind this has heard from a lot of people in making this ruling, heard an impassioned plea for a waiver from the school, but it hadn’t heard from Battle himself.
Until now.
On Tuesday, Battle released on social media a moving explanation of his unique circumstances, of the mental torture he has undergone and how much he needs to play basketball for his mental well-being.
The video began this way:
“My name is RaeQuan Battle and this is a message for the NCAA.”
It was the only way he felt he himself could have his say directly to the NCAA, which never called him in to state his case.
And, his case is touching. It also has to be the strongest case to come before the group, which is not against giving out waivers, except when WVU is involved, having denied such waivers for Jose Perez, Silvio Martinez and Battle over the past two seasons.
People are beginning to turn up the heat. Jay Bilas, a former Duke star who has become an influential television analyst, not only of games but of the sport itself, was moved to take to social media with this response after seeing the video.
“There is no legitimate reason to deny a way to @RaeQuanBattle. None. The NCAA set the conditions for the waiver, Battle met them, and it’s still denied. For what, NCAA? For what?
What indeed?
The video is viral on social media. We could publish it here word for word, but it’s easier on you to look at it yourself, to hear Battle’s voice, to experience the pain he is suffering by being denied the waiver.
But we will analyze the key points for you. It begins with what basketball has meant to him, a Native American who was raised on the reservation of the Tulalip Tribe in the state of Washington.
“I started playing basketball when I was 10 years old and once I started playing basketball, everything started to change for me. My life was changed. I started traveling around the world, which is something Native American people that come from reservations ever begin to think about.”
His travels led first him to the University of Washington, then to Montana State, where he was adopted by coach Danny Sprinkle.
“I ran into Danny Sprinkle at Montana State. The main thing with me being comfortable is having the coach, I want to be close with the coach. Coach Sprinkle was able to do that. I kind of saw him as a personal therapist,” he said.
This is important because he needed someone to guide him through a maze of disasters that had enveloped his life, from a mass shooting in grade school to a string of deaths among those he loved.
“Just over a year ago I lost a best friend to drugs. He overdosed. The last words my friend ever said to me was ‘You’re getting drafted,'” he said. “It was 6 in the morning. The first thing I did was call Coach Sprinkle. I said, ‘Yo, one of my best friends is gone. He was by my side the whole time.’
He was happy at Montana State. So, why did he leave?
“I never wanted to leave Montana State,” he admitted. “Just good things happen to good people and Sprinkle was offered another job. At Montana State, it felt like it was me and him. Without him, that kind of forced me into entering the portal.”
There is, by the way, a waiver that allows an eligible player to transfer with immediate playing eligibility in the case of a coach changing jobs.
Why West Virginia, though? This is an intriguing story.
“Typically, mental health transfers want to choose to play at home. I already had that experience. Playing in Washington I lost countless people to COVID, drugs and alcohol. I experienced that growing up as well. It wasn’t anything new to me growing up on a reservation. I wasn’t able to focus on what I had to do playing at home,” he said.
“That’s what made me choose playing away from home; a lot of the hardships wouldn’t bother me as much as if I were close.”
He was looking for a school and a coach, and WVU’s first-year coach Josh Eilert was the perfect combination of what he wanted.
“Coach Eilert blew me away when I flew over for my visit. He grew up on a reservation for a few years, as well. That’s why we felt such a huge and comfortable connection. I’ve had three coaches in the past years, something I never thought would happen.”
The world, however, was swirling around him without really involving him in any of the decisions he had to make.
“A lot of this was out of my control. It took a huge toll. I was left in the dust a lot and it made me feel very uncomfortable.”
Some schools offered NIL money. So, too, did WVU, but it offered guidance and therapy.
“West Virginia has offered many programs for me to take care of my mental health such as the Rockefeller Neuroscience Center. Things like this are reasons why I’ve shown a tremendous amount of progress since being at West Virginia.”
With all this the NCAA has said no.
Don’t get this wrong. WVU is not Father Flanagan’s Boys Town. It cares about its athletes, but it is looking to win, too.
There’s a lot involved here with the university, and yes there is a monetary involvement that comes with having a winning, popular team … TV exposure, gear sales, ticket sales, the NCAA Tournament, recruiting for the future.
But a kid’s mental well-being is the ultimate reason to reconsider. RaeQuan Battle is applying his own full-court press in hopes of getting a turnover; a turnover of the NCAA’s original decision in his appeal.