Duje Dukan will miss 1st 2 games, regains season of eligibility

As expected, Duje Dukan has regained his senior season of eligibility, the NCAA announced Wednesday. Dukan will, however, miss the first four "contests" of this season, beginning with last weekend's closed intrasquad and including Wednesday night's exhibition versus UW-Parkside.

Dukan will also sit out the Badgers' first two regular-season games next weekend, against Northern Kentucky and Chattanooga. He'll return for the third regular-season game, Nov. 19 vs. Green Bay.

The crux of this situation is that Dukan was credited with a full season of competition in 2012-13, even though he redshirted that season because he suffered from mononucleosis in the fall. Because the ailment wasn't deemed "incapacitating for the full season," Dukan didn't qualify for a medical hardship waiver. Wisconsin sought to regain eligibility for the 2012-13 season and mostly succeeded -- Dukan missed last weekend's "secret scrimmage" against DePaul and will be held out of the next three competitions as part of the penalty.

The issue is that, per NCAA rules, Dukan must sit out two contests for every one in which he played in 2012-13.

"We'd like to make it clear that Duje did nothing wrong in this situation," UW Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance Katie Smith said in a statement. "We have exhausted every effort on Duje's behalf to reduce the extent of the withholding, but unfortunately the rule does provide an opportunity to appeal."

Dukan is expected to be a major part of Wisconsin's rotation, which returns all but last year's starting shooting guard from a squad that reached its first Final Four since 2000.