Leticia Romero finally is granted her release from Kansas State

Leticia Romero can play basketball anywhere she wants.

Well, except for a Big 12 school -- but that’s a much better situation than she was in not too long ago.

Romero was granted her release from Kansas State on Tuesday, something the university had denied its top scorer from the last season for months.

The Wildcats fired longtime coach Deb Patterson back in March after a 5-13 season. Soon after, Romero requested a transfer but was denied amid worries the player was being persuaded to join her former coach at Northern Colorado.

An appeals committee upheld the decision and even a letter from Kansas State Athletic Director John Currie to university administrator Pat Bosco saying that Romero had assured him there were no tampering concerns and that she would not transfer to Northern Colorado did not change the situation.

Things got even messier when basketball analysts Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas, among others, spoke out in favor of Romero. Oh, and did I mention that K-State President Kirk Schulz is a member of the NCAA executive committee, which has taken heat for its policies determining when and where athletes may transfer?

Like I said, messy.

Finally, Currie recommended to Schult the school change its policy on Monday, and the Board of Governors made the change official the next day. Romero can’t play for another team in the Wildcats’ conference and the athletic director has the power to change the decision if new information becomes available.