WKU Basketball: Mitchell Robinson Returning Raises More Questions Than It Answers

Reports began to circulate over the weekend that Mitchell Robinson was planning on re-enrolling at WKU come Monday, the final day to do so…

Reports began to circulate over the weekend that Mitchell Robinson was planning on re-enrolling at WKU come Monday, the final day to do so and still be eligible to play for the upcoming school year.

As plenty of folks on Twitter (mostly, and the internet as a whole), it’s probably the best situation for him, since schools like Kansas and LSU wouldn’t bring him aboard, most likely because they knew he wasn’t going to play this year due to transfer rules and was going to bounce for the NBA come the 2018 draft anyway.

It brings to an end a long, tumultuous and all around strange set of circumstances regarding a top recruit we’ve seen in quite a while, and potentially ever.

And, while several questions have been answered with Robinson’s return to the Hill (such as, yes, WKU can give him his scholarship back), but there are far more questions to be asked.

How do his former and future teammates feel about all of this?

This is a point that I’ve been raising ever since speculation that he might return to WKU began to circle — what of the rest of the team that didn’t leave campus for a “better,” opportunity? Does Stansbury really expect the group, who have had a great bonding trip to Costa Rica and who already have competitive minutes under their belt, to just welcome back someone who walked out on them with no explanation?

I can’t imagine Stansbury and his staff didn’t run it by the rest of the players, or else I’m sure he would have told Robinson that there wasn’t any way he could come back to WKU. I’m sure bonds will be mended, somehow, but it’s at least worth talking about.

Is Robinson still suspended?

Don’t forget, the day before Stansbury and WKU granted Robinson a release from his scholarship, Stans announced that Robinson was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. While no specific violation or team rule was ever expounded upon, it’s still something that was handed down, and I wonder if 1.) the suspension is still in play and if 2.) Robinson understands whatever terms or conditions he needs to meet in order to get that suspension lifted.

Let’s be real right quick. If Robinson comes back to campus and is the ultimate citizen — mends his relationships with teammates, is the first to activities and the last to leave, doesn’t miss a class and even tutors those who are having trouble in his classes — then Robinson is going to miss zero time on the floor.

Hell, even if half of one of those aforementioned things happened, the suspension will be lifted. Robinson isn’t going to miss out on any playing time. It’s just…an interesting wrinkle into this already all-time interesting story.

What message, if any, does this send to other top recruits Stansbury might want to bring in?

When Robinson committed to WKU the first time around, way back in June of 2016 with his verbal commit, he in essence put WKU basketball back on the national map. It was, once again (or, arguably, for the first time in the program’s history) a destination and a place players could potentially go to raise their professional stock.

Then, Robinson leaves. What message did that send to top players? No one will notice me if I’m at WKU. Plus, their head coach had the audacitiy to suspend him, what if he does the same to me?

But, with Robinson coming back, does that play in or out of WKU’s favor? Does this just mean WKU is a door mat, where anyone can come in and do damn well what they please, if there are enough stars attached to their name on Scout or Rivals? Or, is it a place with an understanding coaching staff and teammates, where even if you make a disastrous mistkae, you’ll be welcome with open arms and hope to learn from it.

I can’t speak for any of this, but the Tops just landed a pretty solid JUCO commit and are in on a couple of high profile names from the 2019 class. One would like to think this bodes well for WKU, especially if Robinson gets national attention and becomes a lottery pick straight from the Hill, but I suppose all of that will come out in due time.

What questions do you have now that Robinson is back on campus? Is the drama really over, or are we in for a whirlwind for another three months until Hilltopper Hysteria? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.