This is pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if Heron hasn’t been granted a hardship waiver because of how close St.John’s is to where his mother lives.
Connecticut is driving distance to St.John’s, but how much can the kid really help his mother if he’s going to school in Queens? How far is it really? 1.5/2 hours by car?
Who knows what the NCAA is thinking, but maybe this would be a clearer case for them if he transferred to a school that was 15/20 minutes away.
Interesting hypothesis but it assumes that the NCAA is anything other than a corrupt self interested organization that caroms between self-interest and capriciousness.
I don't see how proximity to the family homestead (relatively speaking i.e., half and hour versus two hours) can be a consideration. The NCAA considers " responsibilities related to the care of the family member" - but a student athlete cannot be expected to provide care-taking during the school week; regular weekend visits two hours away on the other hand that relieve regular care-givers, that seems reasonable.
Another thing the NCAA considers is "is it the best thing for the athlete and his or her family is to allow the athlete to play immediately." It certainly is the best thing to allow a player like MH who might declare for the draft after sitting a year to play CBB right away , as opposed to playing CBB never.
Finally there's the politics (aka money) of it. On the one hand the NCAA only cares about football conferences, so there's little down side to refusing to granting an SJU player a waiver. OTOH there might be considerable downside to refusing a waiver to a program with a new AD with close ties to
darth vader Mike Schrewshrenki coached by a guy who's in the HOF twice.
That said, I've consulted my magic eight ball and and according to it all signs point to maybe.