Larry Brown’s SMU Mustangs suffered their second significant loss of the last four months on Wednesday with the news that junior power forward Markus Kennedy would be ineligible for the first semester, according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman. Kennedy is the school’s best returning front court player after averaging 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season on 53.4 percent shooting from the field.
SMU forward Markus Kennedy ineligible for first semester, per report
The Mustangs will be without the 6’9 power forward for the start of the season.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Kennedy’s presence was a big reason why SMU was the No. 10 team in our preseason top 25 countdown. His eligibility has been in jeopardy for the last month after Brown acknowledged it would be an issue. This means the Mustangs will be without the 6’9, 245-pound forward when they face Gonzaga on Monday in the second game of the season.
SMU also thought it would have top freshman point guard Emmanuel Mudiay this season, but the five-star recruit opted to play professionally in China instead ahead of the 2015 NBA Draft.
SMU was ranked No. 22 in the first AP Poll of the season. The Mustangs finished last season 27-10 but did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. SMU reached the final of the N.I.T. before losing to Minnesota.
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