Jackson Free Press

Malik Newman tested the NBA Draft waters and has decided that he didn’t like his current chances. The current Mississippi State University player and former Callaway High School star has decided to withdraw from the draft.

Newman still decided to drop out after working out for the New York Knicks yesterday. He also worked out for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets.

Today is the final day that players who haven’t signed with an agent can withdraw from the draft and return to school. Anyone who doesn’t withdraw forfeits their college eligibility and will remain in the draft.

Newman was one of the top players in the country coming out of high school. The popular thought was that he would showcase his skills for one college season before jumping to the NBA.

But things didn’t go as planned. He was hit with injuries and was inconsistent on the court. During his first season at MSU, Newman averaged 11.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He also had 1.9 turnovers per game and shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from the three-point line.

Still, even after an up-and-down freshman season, Newman was right to take advantage of the new rule that allows players to go to the NBA Combine.

Several blogs reported that Newman shot the ball well during shooting drills on day one of the event, but he didn’t stand out during the team drills. Mock drafts had Newman anywhere from being a late second-round pick to being undrafted.

Coming back to school isn’t the worst thing for Newman. He can use his time at college to better his game and still test the NBA waters after next season. Under the current rules, he can declare for the draft for three seasons (freshman, sophomore, junior) and go back to school if he doesn’t sign with an agent.

Where he will play next season might be the next question. ESPN, citing multiple sources, says Newman may transfer to another Division I school after being unhappy in his role under first-year coach Ben Howland.

If Newman does transfer to another Division I, he will have to sit out a year due to NCAA rules. That would likely mean he would have to wait two years before giving the NBA Draft another try.

MSU has another highly talented class—in most cases considered a top 10 class—coming in next season. Newman could also decide to stay with the Bulldogs and be part of a major turn around.

No matter where Newman ends up, he will have to put his NBA dreams on hold for at least one more year.

Scandals are nothing new in college sports, especially in football. It wouldn’t be shocking if every school in the country engaged in some sort of rule violation.

Schools in the Power Five conferences—ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12 and SEC—are going to garner most of the spotlight for those violations. But in reality, not every scandal is equal.

Sure, it is a scandal if a kid asks for money to pay his mom’s rent and utility bills. That story will have legs and be discussed at length by the media, but besides the NCAA, do we really care that much that a kid got money while in college?

To the rival school, it means something, but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t that major.

The major story in college athletics is the way coaches, administrators and even school presidents turn a blind eye to sexual assaults.

The recent scandal at Baylor isn’t anything new. It just highlights, again, how schools try to sweep sexual assaults under the rug.

Right now the U.S. Department of Education is investigating 161 institutions for their handling of sexual-assault investigations. Baylor currently isn’t on that list, but you should expect that to change at some point.

It also makes one question if winning on the field is more important than the safety of women on campus.

ESPN has investigated and documented the Baylor scandal in great detail. Baylor looked the other way over sexual assaults from at least 2009 to 2015.

At the same time, the Bears were starting to turn things around on the field. In late 2007 Baylor hired Art Briles away from the University of Houston.

Baylor went 8-16 from 2008 to 2009 on the field but finished with a winning record of 7-6 in 2010. It was the first winning season for the Bears since 1995, and the team went to its first bowl game since 1994.

The Bears were the "feel good" story of college football during the 2011 season, as the team tied a then-school record for wins with 10, won a bowl game for the first time since 1992 and finished the season ranked for the first time since 1986.

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III became the first player from the university to win the Heisman Trophy.

To the outside world, this was one of the great turnaround stories in college football history.

Off the field was another story for Baylor.

The university failed to investigate sexual assault cases for two years from 2013 to 2015, a violation of Title IX federal law. Baylor didn’t even hire a full-time Title IX coordinator to comply with a federal directive until late 2014.

One glaring case involved two players, Tre’von Armstead and Myke Chatman, who were named in a Waco police department report involving sexual assault in April 2013. The university knew of the report, but …

As the summer starts, so does the music festival circuit. That's the primetime for many bands and solo artists to release new music, giving them a little something extra to promote while on tour. Here's a look at some of the big releases—and a few smaller ones that I'm looking forward to—for the coming weeks.