What's Juanie Newton's status?

Something that garnered a little attention last night was the fact that transfer guard Juanie Newton was not dressed or with the team. In fact, he sat in the bleachers with the students. Newton started the season off as a pretty reliable contributor off the bench but for whatever reason has been deep in Toole's doghouse and has not seen the court. 

When Toole was asked postgame about Newton's status he said it was "unclear" and he is still with the team. Newton also responded to some questions of his availability on twitter, stating he has not left the team:

Those who followed the team last year may remember a sort of similar situation with Mike McFadden, where he was not with the team for two games but came back. Of course, the reasons for leaving were different. Mike was struggling with injuries and didn't want to keep tearing down his body while Newton's is playing time related.

Before the game I was told pretty much exactly what Newton tweeted; he left the team but there is a chance he could return. It's unfortunate this situation has progressed  to where it is. I love Juanie's game-- he can hit some shots from behind the arc and brings a ton of energy. The problem is, where is the energy being focused? Toole has proven he will not play guys if they don't want to play defense.

If Juanie does come back to the team, it'll be interesting to see in what capacity. 

--Chris Cappella

--@C_Cappella