Mantas Rubštavičius Withdraws Eligibility Case, Auburn Fires Basketball GM

The Auburn Tigers will reportedly be without one of their top signees this summer, as Justin Hokanson reported on Monday that Auburn had not only fired its basketball general manager, Brian Kloman, but also that Auburn guard signee Mantas Rubštavičius had withdrawn his eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA. 

According to the report, Rubštavičius is withdrawing his lawsuit after new information emerged about his eligibility, while Kloman allegedly hid information pertaining to Rubštavičius’ academic work while overseas. 

This is quite a significant loss for the Tigers, as despite the fact that Rubštavičius did not play in either of the Tigers’ two preseason games thus far, he was expected to be a major contributor on the court once his eligibility was put in place by the court. 

Rubštavičius signed with the Tigers back in June, though his eligibility case has been quite the saga over the past 11 days. The 24-year-old first sued the NCAA on October 15, but there was a delay in the proceedings when Judge Jeffrey Tickal ordered an extension on his decision, which was reportedly due to a request from Rubštavičius’ lawyers for an extension to file some supplementary paperwork.

According to Hokanson, the information surrounding Rubštavičius’ academics came to light as Rubštavičius’ attorneys were filing that paperwork. 

There have always been a few interesting wrinkles in this case, including Rubštavičius’ age and the €300,000 he paid back to his old Lithuanian club when he signed with the Tigers, but it turned out that neither of those facts mattered in the eventual withdrawal of the case.

Now, the Tigers will have to continue their season with the roster they have, and that roster has struggled so far in the preseason. Two weeks ago, the Tigers took on Florida State to open their preseason and were outmuscled in the paint despite signing Narcisse Ngoy and Bukky Oboye, a pair of 7-footers. 

Then, the Tigers took on the Alabama Crimson Tide in a preseason Iron Bowl of sorts, dropping the matchup by just two points amidst a highly aggressive game that saw the Tigers in consistent foul trouble. A player like Rubštavičius would have certainly changed the way those games looked, but now the Tigers will no longer be able to plan for the Lithuanian to eventually join the team.

Auburn still has plenty of talent on their roster, but the loss of Rubštavičius will certainly be felt on the Plains. The Tigers will look to start building some winning momentum this Thursday, as their final preseason game, against Samford, is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT in Neville Arena. 

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