Okay everybody, it's (not exactly but still kind of) baseless speculation time. Earlier this morning, we thought Jonathan Mandeldove was gone for good. But now, as it turns out, Jim Calhoun has said he could still join the team as a walk-on.
Here's the thing, UConn has an open scholarship for this year. In fact, until Enosch Wolf shows up in a few months, the Huskies have two. Since Mandeldove is a senior, giving him a scholarship would seemingly have no impact on the school. No one else could take it, and he's done after this year anyway, so it won't take a spot from a recruit. So why isn't UConn offering him a scholarship? I can't say for sure, but since Calhoun is open to the idea of him joining the team anyway, I doubt it is because he is being punished.
Rather, the safe money would appear to be that UConn has decided to self-impose a scholarship reduction as they face down NCAA sanctions. Syracuse did a very similar thing a couple of years ago. A few weeks ago, UConn filed its response to the NCAA's allegations. We still don't know what that response included, but with the Mandeldove news, I'm willing to bet a lot of money that you'll see losing a scholarship for this season as part of UConn's punishment.