After much speculation about David Brown's future, David Drew of MLive.com reported Monday afternoon that the MAC scoring champion is going to petition the NCAA for a sixth season of eligibility.
WMU basketball senior G David Brown intends to petition to the NCAA for a 6th year of eligibility.
— David Drew (@Drew_on_WMU) April 14, 2014
Brown averaged 19.1 points per game for the MAC Champions this past season as a fifth-year senior. NCAA rules stipulate that players have five years of eligibility, including one redshirt season. To get an extension of eligibility players have to petition the NCAA showing reasons why they deserve an extra year.
In Brown's case it's a pair of injuries that led to him missing most of two seasons. As a true sophomore in 2010-2011 Brown suffered an ankle injury nine games into the season that forced him to take a medical redshirt. The following season Brown suffered a season-ending knee injury 10 games into the season, but by then had used up his available redshirt season.
He responded by coming back fully healthy and capturing the MAC Sixth Man of the Year award in 2012-2013, averaging 11 points per game in 22 appearances, all off the bench. This past season Brown moved into the starting role, started in 29 of the Broncos 33 games, and lead the conference in scoring. He has several huge games down the stretch, including a nine-point performance in the overtime period of the Broncos' 64-60 win over Akron in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals, and a 32 point performance the following night in the MAC Championship game.
If Brown is able to get an extra year of eligibility that leaves the Broncos with four of their five starters returning. Center Shayne Whittington has ran out of eligibility, and is graduating. Having a dynamic scorer such as Brown back would certainly help WMU's quest to defend their crown as 2014 MAC champions.