Kevin Ware gets clearance to begin play immediately at new school
After more than a year of physical and emotional pain, Kevin Ware finally got some good news on Wednesday.
The former Louisville swing man who became an inspiration for a championship run when he suffered a gruesome broken leg was cleared to play immediately this coming season for Georgia State, the school announced. He reportedly will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Ware broke his leg during the 2013 Midwest Regional final against Duke — an injury which moved onlookers to tears, plunged the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd into silence and horrified television viewers. The Cardinals recovered to win that game, then used Ware as a rallying point en route to victories over Wichita State and Michigan the following weekend to win the national championship.
Ware returned last season, but played in only nine games before applying for a medical redshirt in December, not yet recovered enough to play the full season. After the season, Ware transferred to Georgia State, close to his parents' home in Atlanta.
Panthers head coach Ron Hunter told ESPN that the NCAA on Wednesday morning cleared Ware to play immediately and the school later confirmed the news.
Hunter said that Ware, who averaged 1.7 points in his brief stint last season, has been working out every day and will play when the team goes on a four-game trip to Central America in early August.
"It's one of the main reasons we did this trip," Hunter told ESPN. "So [Ware] can play."
Georgia State went 25-9 last season, going 17-1 in the Sun Belt Conference before losing in the conference championship game to Louisiana-Lafayette by one point in overtime, then falling at Clemson in the first round of the NIT.
