NCAA appeals restraining order on Wright

By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Last Wednesday the NCAA appealed the temporary restraining order
of men’s water polo fifth-year senior Adam Wright, which had
allowed Wright to compete after UCLA declared him ineligible, two
days before postseason play was to begin for the team in the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

Wright, the team’s leading scorer with 39 goals, was ruled
temporarily ineligible on Oct. 31 by UCLA when it was revealed that
he never filed for a medical redshirt his true freshman year. He
had played in the first quarter of his first game before injuring
his shoulder.

UCLA co-head coach Guy Baker said that it was his fault Wright
didn’t file the papers because Baker misunderstood the
medical hardship rule and thought Wright didn’t have to file
any documentation.

When the school’s petition to the Pac-10 on Nov. 15 and
appeal to the NCAA on Nov. 16 to get Wright his eligibility back
were turned down, UCLA declared Wright permanently ineligible.
Wright then sought private counsel, and got a temporary restraining
order from the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Nov. 17 that
allowed him to play in a nonconference game against USC on Nov. 18.
The Bruins won 6-5, with Wright scoring three of the team’s
goals.

However, it was a short-lived victory for Wright. On Wednesday
the NCAA appealed the decision and the restraining order was
overturned. Wright watched last weekend’s MPSF tournament
games as a team assistant from the sidelines.

“It’s a bad deal. I wish I could play here with the
rest of the senior class. I feel like I didn’t get a fair
shake, but I’ve got to what I can for the team,” Wright
said.

He added that the NCAA wasn’t fair to him.

“I don’t understand the NCAA. The NCAA’s there
for the student; they weren’t there for me,” he said.
“A mistake was made. Obviously, they didn’t care. I
guess I’m just one person out of a million to
them.”

Originally, the Pac-10 had recommended as penalty that the
Bruins forfeit the games they won by three goals or less, totaling
five games including the recent USC game. That penalty did not go
into effect because the restraining order stated that UCLA
couldn’t be punished for playing Wright. After the
restraining order was overturned, the penalty went into effect.

As a result, the Bruins chances for an at-large bid were
severely diminished, forcing them to win the MPSF tournament to
take the champions’ automatic berth.

According to UCLA co-head coach Guy Baker USC, which adds three
winning games to its record because of the penalty, will likely
receive the at-large berth even though the Trojans were upset in
the first round of the MPSF.

No other punishment for the Bruins has been handed down by the
NCAA.

“I don’t see how they can punish us anymore.
They’ve hurt me, they’ve hurt our team. What more do
they want to do?” Wright said.

Baker regrets that Wright can’t finish out his career with
the team into postseason.

“It’s seriously unfortunate,” he said.
“Whatever happens this season, for us it’s never going
to be the same.”

Wright still believes the Bruins can make it all the way without
him. The Final Four ““ and NCAA Championships ““ take
place this upcoming weekend.

“They have the potential to do it,” he said of the
Bruins. “If we lose, it won’t be because I’m not
here. One player is not going to cost them the ultimate
goal.”

It’s obvious that Wright is still a key emotional part of
the team. After the MPSF title game and during the awards ceremony,
each Bruin was called to accept his MPSF champion T-shirt, with
Wright’s name as the glaring omission. After that the
announcer called for all “team captains” to step
forward to accept the tournament trophy.

At that point UCLA sophomore Brian Flesher grabbed Wright and
pulled him forward, and forced him to accept the award for the
team.

The pain is still there, though.

“I’m not able to play with my team, that’s the
worst,” Wright said. “We’ve all worked our asses
off for five years. For this to happen now is a
nightmare.”