Judge Backs Coleman, Criticizes Missouri

A federal judge in Jefferson City, Mo., ruled Tuesday that Missouri forward Jamal Coleman won’t be suspended from school because of a theft conviction.

U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright angrily criticized university disciplinary procedures as a “damned outrage,” and suggested that Coleman, who is black, didn’t get fair treatment from an all-white disciplinary committee.

Wright said after a daylong hearing that Coleman, 21, may keep playing for the eighth-ranked Tigers, removing questions about the future of the senior’s college basketball career.