NC State freshman Braxton Beverly said Monday that the NCAA's denial of his appeal for a waiver to play this season shocked him, and said the news had hit him hard.
Last week, the NCAA for a second time denied Beverly's request, and he remains ineligible because he attended summer school at Ohio State before former Buckeyes coach Thad Matta was fired.
Monday, in a personal essay posted on Twitter, Beverly said, "I am still happy with the decision to come to NC State. I think it was the best move for me to set me up to be the most successful man I can be.
"Being on the court blocks everything out. That's the good thing about my love of the game. ...
"But once you get off the court, it hits you hard. I want to play in games. I can't wait to put on an NC State uniform and play in front of our fans.
"And I really want to do it this season."
Beverly also talked about his shock in June upon learning that Matta had been fired. He got to Ohio State two months earlier than the rest of the recruits because he had done well academically in a postgraduate year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, and graduated early. He enrolled at OSU in early May. He'd been at Ohio State about four weeks when he was summoned to a team meeting and told that Matta had been fired.
"Everybody loved Coach Matta and loved playing for him," Beverly said. "You think everything is fine and then out of nowhere, it's like, 'Where did this come from?'"
Beverly said he'd heard rumors about Matta's future before deciding to go to Ohio State but discounted them.
"I wasn't too worried about it because it was Thad Matta," he said. "He's been to Final Fours and won Big Ten championships. He's not going anywhere. Then Ohio State released the statement supporting Coach Matta and saying [he] was going to be there and I thought to myself, 'I have nothing to worry about. He is going to be there.'"
After Matta was fired, Beverly kept going to classes, though Ohio State told him it would back him if he decided to transfer.
"After two weeks," he said, "I decided to ask for my release. I wasn't happy and I didn't think it was going to be the best place for my career."
Beverly decided on North Carolina State, and said that Coach Kevin Keatts has been supportive through his ordeal with the NCAA.
"Twice, he's had to give me bad news," Beverly said. "When my waiver was denied the first time a few weeks ago, Coach Keatts was calm. He told me he didn't agree with the decision, but he talked me through the process and told me it wasn't over yet. He let me know how we were filing the appeal and he was confident everything would be fine.
"When he told me that my appeal had been denied earlier this week, I could tell how upset he was. I took it pretty hard. I was shocked. I think Coach was too."