Earlier today, the Big XII released their preseason coaches poll, and there wasn't a huge surprise at the top -- Kansas State was picked first, with Kansas being picked second.
The surprise came next, as Texas was picked third by the coaches with Baylor coming in fourth. Most writers (including us) have Baylor as not only a top three team in the league, but a potential top ten team.
Maybe the coaches knew something we didn't, because not six hours after the poll was released, word came out of Waco that LaceDarius Dunn has been indefinitely suspended from the team. He turned himself into police this afternoon to face felony charges of aggravated assault. Police were called to Hillcrest Hospital after Dunn's girlfriend was taken to the hospital on September 27th with a broken jaw. Dunn has been booked into jail with a bond of $12,500.
LaceDarius Dunn turned himself into police after allegedly punching his girlfriend in the face.(photo credit: Dallas News)
But here's the catch -- the woman, a 21 year old named Lacharlesia Edwards that has been dating Dunn since the eighth grade and had a three year old kid with him, doesn't want to press charges. In fact, according to Edwards' father, the incident was an accident:
"She said it was an accident," Charles Edwards told [Jeff Goodman of] FOXSports.com. "She said she sneaked up on him in the dark and he hit her by mistake. It wasn't a fight at all."The woman's attorney told Yahoo's Jason King a different story, that she and Dunn got into an argument and that he hit her "one time" with "one punch, not three or four". It broke her jaw in two places, requiring minor surgery to fix.
"She doesn't want to press charges or anything like that," he added. "She's torn up now that he's been arrested."
Regardless of which story you want to believe, the one constant here is that the victim does not want to press charges, and was actually upset when she learned of Dunn's arrest. She refused to give police a statement at the hospital.
Dunn, if convicted of the felony, could face up to 20 years in prison. But a conviction would be tough without a witness, and Dunn may not even be formally charged.
"Even though he was arrested for a felony, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to be formally charged with a felony in the court system," [Edward's attorney] Jason Darling [told Jason King of Yahoo! Sports]. "[The victim] will probably fill out an affidavit of non-prosecution or write a letter to the D.A.'s office that she doesn't want to pursue any charges.Dunn has been suspended from all team activities by Baylor head coach Scott Drew until further notice. Dunn's importance to the Bears cannot be understated. He is a senior leader for this team, one of the best scorers in the country, and a surefire preseason all-american. Losing him would be a catastrophic blow to the 2010-2011 version of the Bears, and would put a whole lot of pressure on guys like Quincy Acy, AJ Walton, and super-frosh Perry Jones to perform beyond expectations if Baylor has any hope of making the tournament. It will be interesting to see what kind of punishment Dunn gets from Scott Drew.
“At that point it will be up to them whether to pursue the charges or not, but it's going to be hard to prove a case without a witness."
The bigger issue, however, is the trend this summer of male college basketball players assaulting women. From Tre'Von Willis to Tony Woods, or the unnamed Michigan State players to the unnamed St. Louis players, it seems like every time we turn around there is another instance of a hooper hitting or raping a woman. And while seven players does no constitute a trend in a sport with nearly 350 teams, it absolutely is seven players too many.
While we wait to hear what Dunn's specific punishment from Drew will be (and it should be fairly hefty), how about we keep our to our hands to ourselves. Whaddaya say, fellas?
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