Dee Bost and Josh Selby: Bolstering the Hopes for Mississippi State and Kansas

While we can view Kansas' fortunes as somewhat precarious, Mississippi State received some good news recently.

The NCAA ruled that Dee Bost, a junior point guard, will be allowed to play after serving a nine-game suspension, ostensibly for failing to pull out of the NBA draft on time.

This means that Bost will play this season, but since he is academically ineligible for the fall semester, his suspension begins in December, meaning he will miss more than nine of his team's games. Coupled with Renardo Sidney's nine-game block, the Bulldogs will most likely be a much stronger team at the end of the season than the start.

Regardless, this is good news for Mississippi State, who without Bost would likely still contend in the SEC west. Now, they will have him for the majority of the conference schedule, and with Sidney available as well, the 'Dogs have a fighting chance to get back to the NCAA tourney.

Josh Selby's case is a little more opaque. Despite being cleared to attend class and to practice with the team, he has not yet been cleared to play. This is a curious development, but one that KU hopes will soon lead to Selby becoming eligible to play. At worst, if he does miss some games, he will have at least had some court time with his teammates and when he does step in, it won't be to a foreign environment.

Selby and Bost are both keys to their teams' successes, with one (Selby) seemingly more important to national title consideration. Both, however, will be relieved when they are on the court with their respective teams.