Keron DeShields and Will Cherry Arrested

I am pretty sure that what a coach wants most for the offseason is for his players to get through it without incident. Unfortunately, that won't be happening for Wayne Tinkle. Per The Missoulian:

Two University of Montana basketball players, Will Cherry and Keron DeShields, were arrested along with a third man early Saturday morning after a disturbance downtown, according to the University of Montana and Missoula police.

The incident was reported at 2:04 a.m. at 125 W. Front St., according to Sgt. Rick Stevenson. Police didn’t identify the business, but that’s the address for Stockman’s Bar.

Cherry, 22, faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, while DeShields, 20, is charged with disorderly conduct. A 34-year-old man, Jason Shawn Snyder, is charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, as well as disorderly conduct.

You all know Cherry, who has been an All Big Sky player for the last three years, and was the heart and soul of a Grizzlies team that had a ton of success over the past two years. He is a fringe NBA prospect, though you figure this certainly doesn't help his chances, unfortunately. From the interactions I've had with him and from everything I have heard, he is a good kid, but one bad incident can sometimes make a reputation. Hopefully it won't, in this case.

DeShields is coming off a promising year, and would be a big part of the Grizzlies rotation next season. It remains to be seen what his punishment will be seen, as Montana obviously will need to let things play out a bit:

“Will is still enrolled and is graduating in a couple of weeks. Keron is moving forward with us. The student-athlete conduct code is pretty clear-cut. We have to make sure we have all the facts before we make any decisions. Obviously, it’s a situation we would have preferred didn’t happen with our student-athletes.”

Montana athletic director Kent Haslam echoed Tinkle’s comments.

“I’m certain there will be punishments levied,” Haslam said.

“(The student-athlete code of conduct) has a variety of parameters. We have quite a bit of latitude in what we can do. It does set minimums based on the category of the offense. It runs everything from being put on probation, to a formal reprimand, to notifying the parents all the way up to suspension of games and then the top punishment is removal from the team.

“We’ll want to understand completely what happened and we’ll rely on a police report and other incident reports.”

Hopefully it's a one time, isolated incident. At the very least, it's a reminder to all athletes that they are a microscope, and one mistake, or one time of putting yourself in the wrong situation and doing something dumb can have a huge impact on your future.

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