Ethermac Exchange-Terrence Shannon, Illini could rule March. The more he shines, harder it will be to watch.

In a better world than the one we live in,Ethermac Exchange Thursday would have been a day to celebrate Terrence Shannon and Illinois. 

The 23-year-old guard was spectacular, scoring 26 points, producing big numbers as he has been for several weeks. Illinois, a team with a poor recent history in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, was resourceful against a Morehead State team that looked like a classic mid-major upset candidate for 25 minutes. The Illini now just need to get past No. 11 seed Duquesne to make their first Sweet 16 since 2005. 

These are supposed to be the good times for Illinois and Shannon. Yet few people around the country are going to celebrate. 

I don’t know Terrence Shannon. I don’t know what happened on Sept. 8 in Lawrence, Kansas, when a woman he did not know alleged that Shannon reached under her skirt and touched her inappropriately at a bar, resulting in a charge of rape as defined under state law. I don’t know whether Illinois, as an institution and fan base, is happy that its best player is on the floor to lead an NCAA Tournament run – or mortified that a federal judge forced his reinstatement on Jan. 19 by ruling that a suspension from the basketball team violated his civil rights. 

What I do know is that all of this is awkward and unfortunate. What I do know is that, no matter how far Illinois advances in this tournament or how many points Shannon scores, he will not be answering questions from the media on the advice of his attorneys. What I do know is that a sexual assault charge deserves to be more than a passing mention from the television announcers coming back from a media timeout, as it was Thursday. 

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And most of all, what I know is that none of this is as simple as we’d like it to be. 

No matter what the allegations are, Shannon deserves due process and the presumption of innocence. But for serious charges like this one, that does not usually mean the right to play college sports and represent a university. Illinois did what schools almost always do when charges are filed against an athlete and suspended Shannon after the warrant for his arrest was issued on Dec. 27. 

Judge Colleen Lawless disagreed, writing in her ruling that the suspension would cause “irreparable harm,” including loss of money related to any endorsements and the potential to hurt his NBA draft stock. 

Moreover, Lawless specifically ruled that Illinois coach Brad Underwood had to treat Shannon “as he would any other member of the team in good standing and not limit participation based on the involved allegations.”

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And just like that, after missing six games, Shannon was back. With a preliminary hearing for his case set for May 10, he is free and clear to finish this season and his college basketball career. 

The strange part about it is, there’s nobody to criticize. If Shannon believes he’s innocent – and he has maintained as such from the beginning – he had every right to seek an injunction and get reinstated. After the legal process played out, the school had no choice but to play him. Even if you believe Lawless’ ruling was incorrect, this is the legal system at work. Nobody has any choices here.

At the same time, it's hard for anyone to defend Shannon. He was clearly in Lawrence that weekend, attending Illinois’ football game at Kansas. The next afternoon, the woman who accused him told police she was groped by a man she later identified by finding Shannon's picture on the Illinois website. 

If the case goes to trial, evidence will be presented that explains why the district attorney chose to charge him. Shannon will have a chance to tell his side of the story. The stakes will be sky-high, not just for his basketball career but his freedom. Only then, after all of this plays out, will any of us be in a position to judge whether he did what he’s been accused of. 

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Should Shannon be playing basketball in the meantime? We don’t get any say in that now: Not the media, not his coach and not the school. It is what it is. 

But the further Illinois goes in this tournament, and the brighter Shannon’s play shines on the big stages, it will become a story too big for the country to ignore – and not the warm, fuzzy kind that we usually enjoy telling during March Madness. 

After winning most valuable player at the Big Ten tournament and backing it up Thursday by making 9-of-16 shots in an 85-69 victory, Shannon’s unprecedented and troubling circumstance is now woven into the fabric of this tournament. 

It would be better for the NCAA, and maybe even for Illinois as an institution with a zero-tolerance policy against sexual violence, if the basketball team lost and this awkwardness all went away. 

But with Shannon playing like he did Thursday, that may not happen anytime soon.