Beilein: Caris NOT cleared, tells reporters to "back off"

I think he's trying to cover for Caris. 

It's not that we or the media are entitled to know anything. It's that the handling of this seems very strange. Giving a little insight into the type of injury etc. would go a long way towards getting people to "back off". It has become a much bigger story due to the secrecy. 

I see three explanations for where we're at, and someone looks bad in each of them.  

Possibility 1: the coaching staff and training staff expected him to be back in a week or two, and the fact that he's not has the coaching staff thinking he's soft, so they're a little pissed at him.  They can't call him out explicitly without being assholes themselves so instead they have to prolong the uncertainty while continuously talking about "pain."  

Possibility 2: The injury was serious and they knew it was a 5-6 week period or more and instead of just saying so, played this Hokian game of not talking about it, which created the uncertainty and has made Caris look as if he's being soft in not overcoming an injury that he really should not have been expected to overcome.  

Possibility 3: The trainers don't know what's going on and they can't figure out why he wasn't able to go a month ago, or they misdiagnosed the injury, leaving Beilein to continuously explain why Caris is still not available without providing him any real answers.  

For Caris' sake, I hope it is the second choice and Beilein has just screwed up the communication in some failed quest to protect him somehow.  

Maybe Caris is out because he has 2 fouls on him.  At all costs, JB does NOT want to get that third fould oh him, even if it means tanking the season!

Caris is such a great kid.  Its too damn bad his draft stock is tanking because of this injury. Costing him some benjamins.

You are free to watch if you would like, or not watch if you would like.  You are also free to demand answers from Beilein.  Coach Beilein, however, is also free to not provide those answers, and you thinking that you deserve them is just you being douchey.

Go ahead and stop watching then. I dont think they will miss you.

Unfortunately, I think you're right.  From one Joe to another.  Watching him on the sideline, he doesn't look like a kid that's itching to get out there.  Looks more like a kid who knows his fate, and it ain't good. 

My best guess is that he's clear to play, but I think Caris might be worried about his future and wants to wait longer, which I don't blame him for at all. It's just such a shame watching all these injuries drag on. 

Been feeling this way for weeks but still wishing he swoops in for March Madness

Even without HIPAA Beilein wouldn't be accountable for answers

I mean, he could give us a less vague update without delving deep into the medicine of it.  Especially since this contradicts what he previously said when he said Caris was cleared to play.  This whole thing has become a circus and I'm sure it hasn't helped the team's mental preparation.

I feel like I read something somewhere about how student athletes sign something waiving their HIPAA rights for injury reports. Maybe I'm misremembering but I swear I saw that somewhere. I guess I could google it, but i'd rather just speculate instead and let someone else do the actual work to find out. 

The University's health records on its student athletes are not covered by HIPAA, they are covered by FERPA, as long as those treating the student are employees of the University. If not, say outside doctors under contract, then HIPAA applies. 

In both cases blanket authorizations to release PHI can be obtained and usually are, often as a requirement for participation in the athletic program. Not because they want to or have to tell the media, but often they have to report to the conference or to people who aren't licensed medical providers, such as some trainers. 

There's an obvious difference man. Harbaugh usually just says, "He's working through something." Then that's the end of it. For weeks now Beilein has made it seem like Caris' return is just around the corner, but it hasn't happened. And it's looking like it might not happen. On Tuesday Beilein said, "This is his call. This isn't my call." Now a few days later he says, "I want to be clear about something with Caris: Nothing is clear, that's what I want to be clear of." Beilein has obviously worded things poorly from the start and has gotten himself into a bigger mess. I think he realized how people might view Caris as selfish, so he backtracked. The real issue was making it seem like Caris might have come back a month ago when that clearly wasn't going to happen.

His draft stock hasn't really fallen.

#25 http://www.nba.com/2016/news/features/scott_howard_cooper/01/23/top-30-draft-board-version-1-for-2016/

#22 to Toronto http://hoopshype.com/2016/01/09/nba-mock-draft-2016/

#15 to Utah http://www.nbadraft.net/2016mock_draft

#23 to Boston http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2016/