NCAA -- yes, NCAA -- comes through for grieving Davidson

A brother on a ventilator, a girlfriend in a grave.

That's the simple, if not cruel, way to put it. But life is cruel. There is no sugar on top. So there's no sense in tippy-toeing around the issue, around the past two months, around the hell Alabama's Jermareo Davidson has endured, way more than any individual should ever have to bear.

With the benefit of a fair NCAA rule, at least one burden will be lifted off Jermareo Davidson. (Getty Images)

How do you hold on when everything is slipping?

How do you focus when life is a blur?

You don't.

Because you can't.

At least, most of us can't.

And Jermareo Davidson, despite his unusual height and natural basketball abilities, is like most of us, which is to say he's human. So naturally, the 6-10 forward fell behind in classes this semester because having to hug your mother in an Atlanta hospital and tell her everything will be fine while staring at your incapacitated brother, helpless from a gunshot wound, has a way of making you fall behind. Leaving that same hospital only to minutes later be in a car accident that takes the life of your girlfriend? That'll do it, too.

"Jermareo's had a lot on his plate," said Alabama coach Mark Gottfried. "It's been a tough start to the year."

Still, under NCAA rules, Davidson was expected to earn at least six hours this semester to maintain his athletic eligibility. That's the rule. So whereas a normal student would just withdraw from classes, mourn and try to restart in January, Davidson, it appeared, couldn't go that route because he isn't a normal student but instead a student-athlete required to pass two classes or miss the second half of his senior season.

No able brother.

Girlfriend gone.

No promised basketball.