I think I found the answer to Kier's hardship waiver, should my reading comprehension not fail me:
"o The injury or illness occurs prior to the first competition of the second half of
the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship in that sport
(see Bylaw 14.2.4.3.4) and results in incapacity to compete for the remainder of
that playing season;
o In team sports, the injury or illness occurs when the student-athlete has not
participated in more than three contests or dates of competition (whichever is
applicable to that sport) or 30 percent (whichever number is greater) of the
institution's scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in his or her
sport.
Only scheduled or completed competition (including exempted events
but excluding scrimmages and exhibition contests identified as such in
the legislation) against outside participants during the playing season
that concludes with the NCAA championship, or, if so designated,
during the official NCAA championship playing season in that sport
(e.g., spring baseball, fall soccer), shall be countable under this
limitation in calculating both the number of contests or dates of
competition in which the student-athlete has participated and the
number of scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition
during that season in the sport.
Dates of competition that are exempted (e.g., alumni contests, foreign
team in U.S.) from the maximum permissible number of contests or
dates of competition shall count toward the number of contests or
dates in which the student-athlete has participated and the number of
scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in the season,
except for scrimmages and exhibition contests that are specifically
identified as such in the sport's Bylaw 17 playing and practice season
regulations"
"17.3.5.3 Annual Exemptions. The following basketball contests each year may be exempted from an institution's
maximum number of contests: (Adopted: 1/10/90, Revised: 1/9/96 effective 8/1/96, 10/27/98 effective 8/1/99, 10/28/99
effective 8/1/00, 4/29/04 effective 8/1/04, 4/27/06 effective 8/1/06, 11/1/07 effective 8/1/08, 1/17/09 effective 8/1/09, 8/7/14,
10/4/17)
(a) Conference Season-End Tournament. A regularly scheduled, season-end, single-elimination basketball
championship tournament conducted by a conference (or the tournament used to determine the conference's
automatic entry in an NCAA basketball tournament) among some or all of its members."
. . . so they way I read it, Kier would qualify as the A-10 toutnament would be "countable" towards the number of scheduled/completed contests.
