THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: A shame Wiggins has to sit and wait

All due respect to Judge Ryan Luna.

No, chalk that off.

Forget respect.

This is a jurist who can't bother to do his job. That's a loser in the world of jurisprudence.

So ... how do we know anything at all about a judge in McLennan County, Texas?

We don't, really.

Judge Luna is in some of our lives because he presided over a case involving athletes — including Gonzaga forward Chauncey Wiggins — who are appealing for an extra year of eligibility.

Several of these athletes are in Texas because things looked bad in Tennessee and Georgia courts.

Thus, they withdrew as plaintiffs and tried McLennan County, where things had looked promising in a case called Wheeler vs. NCAA.

Wiggins and his fellow plaintiffs got on the docket, and their attorneys spent two hours making the case that these young people should not be denied the right to play intercollegiate sports — not when hundreds of athletes in the same situation — HAVE been granted that right.

I CAN'T think of a reason why the answer should be no in Waco (McLennan County) and yes across most of America.

Wait, the logic here gets worse.

Judge Luna denied TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders) for all the plaintiffs, and basically admitted that he wasn't judging the case on its merits.

Nope.

The judge essentially said that because these athletes had failed to make their case in Tennessee or Georgia, that was good enough for him.

Why waste a pleasant afternoon relitigating the merits of the case, when you can just blow off these kids because they had no luck in those well-known seats of law, Tennessee and Georgia?

Could you at least give it a look, Your Honor?

Why not ... have you got dinner plans? 

The strange thing here is that the court gave a different ruling earlier in this same case.

Texas Tech's Darrion Williams had his appeal heard and was granted a stay until Dec. 14.

He's eligible until then, and perhaps beyond. 

THIS MAY be a real heartbreaker for the Zags.

Wiggins has been practicing with the team, he played in Kraziness in the Kennel, but had to sit out exhibitions against Arkansas and Lewis-Clark State College.

Besides the real disappointment for the young man — and it really is a shot — Wiggins was due to fill a key spot for a Gonzaga team that could be good enough to reach the Final Four.

For a couple of months, the Zags had no eligible point guards, but a series of court decisions going in the right decision put transfers Javon Bennett (Dayton) and Xaivian Lee (Florida) in uniform.

Besides that, French point guard Nathan de Souza, who has been playing as a pro in Europe, was cleared to play collegiately in the United States.

The Zags are set in the middle with Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop, Izan Almansa and leading scorer Braden Huff taking care of business.

Guard-forward slasher Davis Fogle could turn out to be one of the surprise stars — not just in the West, but nationally.

One more downer if Wiggins can't play is more pressure on Fogle's outside shooting, which could suffer a bit if opponents constantly double him.

Wiggins doesn't look like a 3-point marksman at 6-11, but he shot 38 percent and change last year at Florida State.

Imagine the Zags offense with Wiggins occasionally parked in the corner, waiting on a streak of long balls — and opening up the court for everyone else.

There's no way around it.

If Wiggins truly gets locked out, it will be a damn shame.

And just plain unfair.

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Longtime journalist Steve Cameron writes "The Cheap Seats" for The Press three times each week.