'12 VA PF Ifeanyi Onyekaba (URI Roster Qualifier)

Ramulous · Unread post by **Ramulous** » 11 years ago

That's what I said. If you play one sport, you do not lose eligibility in other sports.

If you swim in the Olympics, and don't attend college at the same time, then you can go to college after age 21 and play tennis under NCAA rules.

If you play basketball, however, at some un-paid club level of organized basketball, and then come to college after age 21 to play basketball then you lose a year for each year you are over the age of 21 when you enroll.

rhodyrob · Unread post by **rhodyrob** » 11 years ago

I believe their is an NCAA rule that has a foreign student losing one year for every year over 21. This was made a few years ago to stop Olympic caliber runners from coming to run the distance races in Track and Cross Country. The Kenyans,Irish and Aussies were taking up many scholarships and winning to often. Maybe this rule applies in this case.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

Ramulous wrote:If you play basketball, however, at some un-paid club level of organized basketball, and then come to college after age 21 to play basketball then you lose a year for each year you are over the age of 21 when you enroll.

Yes, that. That is what I was trying to figure out, the types of organized sport that would affect eligibility in the same sport. My experience is only with high school sports and age limits, and I know we have to be careful with some special education students and age/grade. I imagine private schools must operate under similar requirements, not to mention AAU.

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 11 years ago

Has anyone noticed the big O's birthday is now on Rhody.com and he will be 19 next month!! Now I wonder what may be holding up his eligibility?

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 11 years ago

eli#10 wrote:Has anyone noticed the big O's birthday is now on Rhody.com and he will be 19 next month!! Now I wonder what may be holding up his eligibility?

I can't imagine what it is. This is strange.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 11 years ago

OK, this is now officially weird!

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 11 years ago

Still, a positive development.

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 11 years ago

eli#10 wrote:Has anyone noticed the big O's birthday is now on Rhody.com and he will be 19 next month!! Now I wonder what may be holding up his eligibility?

That's means he's still developing physically. With the Hurleys guiding him, he's going to be a beast in a couple of years. I can't wait!

BFC · Unread post by **BFC** » 11 years ago

He may be 18 but can he/URI document it to the NCAA's standards.

Essam · Unread post by **Essam** » 11 years ago

Tell him to talk to Donald Trump

seanmc94 · Unread post by **seanmc94** » 11 years ago

If you can figure out the NCAA; let me know. I have a better chance of figuring out my wife.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 11 years ago

I noticed this in one of the articles today. What the hell does this mean?

newcomer Ifeanyi Onyekaba - currently sitting out during an NCAA year in-residence.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

It's just the language they use for a player who can practice but has to sit out of games for a year; it was worded a bit awkwardly, but I imagine it's being used to refer to all four of them, not just Onyekaba.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 11 years ago

The weird thing is that the year in residence term usually only applies to transfers.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

adam914 wrote:The weird thing is that the year in residence term usually only applies to transfers.

True, we're no closer to knowing all the details, but maybe someday. Why the sitting out? Why the talk of losing a year or two of eligibility? It's our very own unsolved mystery.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 11 years ago

RodfromCranston @RodfromCranston 10 Dec
@KevinMcNamara33 @projo Kevin, any idea what the problem with Onyekaba at URI getting a waiver is? Badly need him.

Kevin McNamara
@KevinMcNamara33

@RodfromCranston Don't know if final but waiver will be turned down. NCAA basically saying kid was in high school for longer than 4 years.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 11 years ago

Ok fine. But assuming that is true why would he be ineligible THIS year if the problem is essentially that he is too old? I guess I could see him losing a year of eligibility, but wouldn't that make more sense at the end of his career than the beginning? Also, aren't pretty much all prep school players in high school for more than four years? Seems like it is very common for guys to do a "post-grad" year to improve their recruiting stock, or repeat a year when they transfer from public high school to a prep school.

I appreciate KMac responding to your tweet, but his response really isn't helpful at all.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 11 years ago

Agree. Prep guys are 19-20 years old, sometimes, when entering college.
KMac's answer didn't make much sense in retrospect. Hoped he'd shed some light on
the greatest mystery since,why anyone in their right minds picked Jerry D as coach?

Ramulous · Unread post by **Ramulous** » 11 years ago

It probably is short answer for it took him more than 4 years to get his core subjects down.....similar to the Ledo situation.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

For Onyekaba to have done more than four years of high school, he would have had to start at 13. He turns 19 this week, so is age appropriate for a typical freshmen. It's interesting that earlier articles about him (around spring of 2010 when he was at Roanoke Catholic) regard him as a sophomore. That's on track for where he is now but only because of the late college decision. There were also some reported academic issues then, which is understandable, but reports on his academics now are good.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 11 years ago

Ace, I think the problem is that nobody is really sure what they are saying. The school/team probably knows, but they can't discuss it because of privacy rules. I don't think anybody in the media understands what the actual issue is, because not one writer has so much as taken a stab at a fully explaining it. So either they don't know or they aren't good enough at their jobs to explain it. You have guys saying stuff like "it's too complicated to explain" a couple months ago, which is a complete cop out: if you CAN explain, by all means please do! But they pretend like we wouldn't understand so they won't waste their time, which I think is pretty obviously a cover for them not knowing the answer. Then you have guys like KMac who offer a nothing of an explanation and pass it off as "really simple duh lets move on," only "he did more than four years in high school" is not a thing. Guys do more than four years of high school all the time.

I don't want to sound like a jerk about it, but I'd rather these guys just say "I have no idea what's going on there" or explain what they know, but this pretending to know something while not divulging anything is pretty annoying.

Ramulous · Unread post by **Ramulous** » 11 years ago

My best guess is the transition from Nigeria to the US in terms of core subjects and actual dates of birth are the holdups.

In my experience dealing with third-world governments it is never easy to do even the simplest things.

rhodylaw · Unread post by **rhodylaw** » 11 years ago

makes the situation even worse when you are dealing with a third world country and the NCAA - I would trust Nigeria to get it right before the NCAA does.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

As I am also a fan of Myck Kabongo, my patience with the NCAA is running very thin.

seanmc94 · Unread post by **seanmc94** » 11 years ago

Jay bilas was all over the NCAA about Kabango. Basically saying, if you know enough to suspend him, make a ruling. Not fair to hold a kid in limbo. Alluded to UK,ucla situations. Dead on.
Shit or get off the pot. I'm sure there would be a quicker turn around if the kids were eligible until the ruling came down.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 11 years ago

Right on, Sean. NCAA is woefully inconsistent in the adjudication of these types of situations. I'd like to see a national writer do some research to see if the top national programs do in fact get their issues cleared quicker on average than the other schools.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 11 years ago

Maybe they do, ATP, but that isn't helping Texas. I think as a "little guy" our first assumption is always that we're getting screwed because we're the little guy, but maybe we're just getting screwed because the NCAA flat out sucks?

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 11 years ago

Right, so that's why a longer term assessment would be telling, one way or another.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

Onyekaba and Kabongo? NCAA bias against those with Africa/Hurley connections?

No, but c'mon, get it together.

Unread post by **SGreenwell** » 11 years ago

I can't remember where I read it - maybe it was Grantland or Yahoo Sports - but the budget for NCAA Compliance and its staff is something astronomically small, at least as compared to, say, marketing. IIRC, the staff for investigating allegations of misconduct is five, which also seems ludicrous.

TexRam · Unread post by **TexRam** » 11 years ago

I know this just adds to the NCAA mystery, but this is frustrating. Solomon Poole graduated HS early, didn't enroll until last week, and is supposedly eligible to play for GT today? Anyone know anything more about why he was able to be cleared so quickly?

The Onyekaba situation makes no sense to me. Also, it would be pathetic if the reason the NCAA takes so long is because they are "understaffed" in this area... seems given the number of cases that need to be reviewed they could afford dedicating additional staff to this area.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... gible-ncaa

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 11 years ago

Thanks for sharing that, even though you got me excited when I saw a new post to this thread.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

Onyekaba was somehow named as a nominee for the McDonald's All American game. Some other familiar names on the list but no Matthews or Martin.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 11 years ago

ace wrote:Onyekaba was somehow named as a nominee for the McDonald's All American game. Some other familiar names on the list but no Matthews or Martin.

Well thats interesting...did they miss the memo that he enrolled in school this year?

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 11 years ago

EC Matthews IS on the list.
Somehow there are only 4 players from NY State, which is a joke,
compared to large numbers from other States, who don't usually product basketball talent.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 11 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:EC Matthews IS on the list.
Somehow there are only 4 players from NY State, which is a joke,
compared to large numbers from other States, who don't usually product basketball talent.

I saw someone tweet about that earlier, cant remember exactly who it was, maybe Zags?

EDIT: I found it...

Adam Zagoria ‏@AdamZagoria

All you need to know about the decline of NYC hoops and the rise of NJ hoops is that 4 NY kids are on the Mickey D's list & 17 from NJ

Here is the full list for those interested...

http://www.mcdepk.com/2013allamericanga ... rls%29.pdf

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 11 years ago

There's 10 from Utah. Come on!
Tell me that list isn't a joke!

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 11 years ago

That does seem strange. I won't pretend to know a ton about it and what goes into the selections, but it does seem weird.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:EC Matthews IS on the list.

Way to go, EC! The first list I saw had them listed by high school and only Clark was on from Romulus.

Rhodymob05 · Unread post by **Rhodymob05** » 11 years ago

who was the last all american to attend URI?

STC · Unread post by **STC** » 11 years ago

Good for EC and Onyekaba, the recruiting Hurley is doing is tremendous.

The difference between Hurley and Baron on the recruiting trail is night and day and makes you really appreciate what a rising star Hurley is as a D1 coach.

You look at the recruits Hurley has brought and you can't help but think how good and stacked this roster will be in the coming years.

GansettRam74 · Unread post by **GansettRam74** » 11 years ago

I might be wrong but I believe the last McD's AA at URI was Luther Clay

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 11 years ago

We had Scott Hazelton via UConn who was a McD's All American.

Unread post by **SGreenwell** » 11 years ago

rodfromcranston wrote:EC Matthews IS on the list.
Somehow there are only 4 players from NY State, which is a joke,
compared to large numbers from other States, who don't usually product basketball talent.

As the 80s turned into the 90s, 00s and beyond, the bubble has kind of burst out of that New York scene. Scouting streetball has been replaced a lot by the AAU system, and a lot of those hyped NYC talents - guys like Stephon Marbury, Jamel Thomas (IIRC) and Sebastian Telfair - tended to disappoint once they reached the NBA level. Also, most of the elite private high schools seem to be in rural or suburban areas now, I'm guessing so that the players can resist temptation and hangers-on a bit more.

rodfromcranston · Unread post by **rodfromcranston** » 11 years ago

Still, only 4 players? It looks like somebody is trying to send a message.
New Hampshire has as many as than NY? Utah has more than twice as many as NY? Sorry, not buying it.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 11 years ago

the most talented city kids get recruited to out of state high school programs, if they listed it by their hometown undoubtedly there would be many more than 4.

that said, i agree with rod, there still has to be better leftovers here than in utah and new hampshire.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 11 years ago

bigappleram wrote:the most talented city kids get recruited to out of state high school programs, if they listed it by their hometown undoubtedly there would be many more than 4.

that said, i agree with rod, there still has to be better leftovers here than in utah and new hampshire.

This is exactly what happens. The best kids in the northeast are playing high school/prep ball in the suburbs in CT, Maine, NH, etc. Hell, the best players in RI come out of Barrington if you go by where the high school is located.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 11 years ago

Every time I see this thread light up, I think he's been cleared to play. STOP TEASING US!

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 11 years ago

I know. I thought the same thing.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 11 years ago

I think we're pretty safe in thinking that's not going to happen.

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