Could Damian Dunn Get Another Year of Eligibility?

Pitt guard Damian Dunn suffered a fractured elbow against North Carolina, and is out for the season.

“[Damian is] out for the season,” his head coach Jeff Capel said after Pitt’s win against Miami. “He won’t play again this season, has a fractured elbow. And so he won’t play, I think the timeline for that is 6-8 weeks, it’s non-surgical. We just found that out.”

However, as Dunn has missed significant time this year due to this injury as well as an earlier dislocated thumb injury that required surgery, many wondered if Dunn could potentially receive an additional year of eligibility from the NCAA.

“I doubt it,” Capel said on Monday when asked the same question. “I think he’s played too many games. There’s a certain percentage that you have to be under in order to get a redshirt, and I think he played too many games for that.”

Dunn played in 16 games for Pitt this season, starting 12 and averaging 25 minutes per contest. He shot a career-high 43% from the field this year, as well as a career-best 41% from three-point range. This was Dunn’s sixth year of college basketball, after spending four seasons at Temple (redshirted first year), and one at Houston prior to coming to Pitt.

According to 2adays.com, the NCAA grants medical redshirt years to players who meet the following criteria: 1. suffer an injury that is deemed “season-ending,” their injury must occur before the halfway point of the season, and not participate in more than 30% of the season’s games.

Dunn played in 16 games out of the team’s 31 games in the regular season.