Ellingson seeks to gain red-shirt

IOWA CITY - Iowa freshman guard Brady Ellingson will red-shirt after Coach Fran McCaffery deemed his surgically repaired foot was too much of a hindrance for the Wisconsin native to play through this season.

'I think for him, from the minute he got here in June, he's not been 100 percent,” McCaffery said Friday. 'He was hurt when he got here. He tried to get better, and then he got surgery, and then he tried to come back, and then he had a setback, and that was a long break, and then it still hurts.

'He was in terrible shape, which anybody would be if you sit for two months. So he's just trying to battle back and work with our trainers and our doctors, and I think next year he's going to be a really good player for us. I think it was the right move for him, and I think it was the right move for our program.”

Ellingson, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Sussex, Wis., played in seven games this year and scored 13 points. He came to Iowa early in the summer with a foot injury, which resulted in treatment, then surgery. He was unable to compete in the summer Prime Time League.

A player who fails to complete 30 percent of the season before the competition halfway point is eligible to receive a medical hardship waiver, per the NCAA rule book. But the final decision rests with the Big Ten's academics and eligibility subcommittee.

According to the Big Ten, a petition is made for a medical hardship after the season is completed. The compliance coordinator and head team physician must fill out a medical statement that includes the injury date, prescribed treatments and medical reasons why the athlete could not participate.

'There has to be legitimacy to it,” McCaffery said. 'It can't be the guy played in seven games in the first half, and oh, yeah, had that thing with my knee, and you're kind of making it up. This kid was in a boot all summer, then he had surgery, he's back in a boot. It's got to be all documented, and there's got to be legitimate medical personnel who say, you know what, this didn't work for this kid this year. So they have to sign off on it. They have to put their reputation on the line, and it's got to be legitimate.

'So knowing that it's legitimate and knowing that our doctors will do that, there's no reason to believe that it wouldn't be. But it still couldn't be. It still has to ... it's a case-by-case situation.”

Ellingson, who stands 6-foot-4, finished his career as Sussex Hamilton's all-time leading scorer with 1,763 points.

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