Simmons on his academic issues: If it was somebody else, it may not have been brought up

LSU Freshman Ben Simmons was not included among the finalists for the John Wooden Award for academic reasons. Simmons did not start the game on Monday against the Volunteers for the same reason.
Simmons spoke with USA today about his academic issues.

I think it was just little things like missing a couple of classes and things like that. And then it gets brought up. If it was somebody else, it may not have been brought up. Now, it's one of those things that's everywhere. But I'm not worried about that right now.
[...]
You don't go to some classes. You miss some classes, and you're going to get punished. That's how they handle it. I learned from it. I go to class now.
"I was just trying to be a college student, but it's not easy for me just because who I am," Simmons said, per Guilbeau. "So I just tried to enjoy little things. Enjoyed it really, learning new things with people."