"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

No loss of scholarship for MU.

There's a lot of concern over how the new NCAA rules might affect Marquette with the recent transfer of Dameon Mason.

The material out of the NCAA has been confusing at best, and incomprehensible at worst. However, there is one example that shows how the new rules are implemented. More info is here.

Teams get one point for each player enrolling and earning academic standing, one point for staying for the next semester (or finishing eligibility). So a player has a possiblity of earning 4 points per year.

If a player leaves mid year, he has a maxiumum of 2 points.

For example, Marcus Jackson gets 4/4 points--
one for enrolling and being eligible in the fall
one for returning for the spring
one for enrolling and being eligible in the spring
one for graduating.

Mason is a 3/4 player
one for enrolling and being eligible in the fall
one for returning for the spring
one for enrolling and being elibilge in the spring
zero for not returning for the fall.

The enforcement begins with two years of data, ultimately growing to 4 years. So looking at MU's scholarships:

For 03-04:
1 Sanders 4/4
2 Merrit 4/4
3 Jackson 4/4
4 Townsend 4/4
5 Diener 4/4
6 Chapman 4/4
7 Novak 4/4
8 Christain 3/4 did not return following fall
9 Matthews 1/2 1st semester only.
10 Mason 4/4
11 Bell 4/4
12 Bradley 3/4 did not return following fall
13 Grimm 4/4

Total: 47/50

1 Jackson 4/4
2 Townsend 4/4
3 Diener 4/4
4 Novak 4/4
5 Grimm 4/4
6 Chapman 4/4
7 Mason 3/4 as explained above
8 Kinsella 4/4
9 Fitzgerald 4/4
10 Barro 4/4
11 Amoroso 4/4
12 Bell 1/2 enrolled for fall, did not return.
13 Berkowitz 0/2 enrolled, did not maintain academic standing, did not return.

Total: 44/48

2 year total: 91/98 = 929, above the 925 threshold for scholarship limits.

Furthermore, there will be a "squad size adjustment" that reduces the 925 threshold. The example cited was baseball, which has an 895 limit for a 35 player team. I'm not sure how this is calculated--but for MU it doesn't matter since we're above the limit anyway.

The only possible loss of scholarship would have been for next season for Berkowitz. Teams lose scholarships for any 0/2 player--if they are below the 925 threshold. MU is not, and can fill his scholarship.

More good news is on the way--the NCAA is evaluating the academic progress of transfer players versus dropouts, and plans to incorporate an adjustment that will benefit MU so long as Matthews, Bell, Christain and Mason make academic progress at their new schools.

2 comments:

TB said...

Quick question regarding Niv: why is he and 0/2 player? I thought he enrolled in the first semester, but he must have been unable to take the full complement of classes. Regardless, he was eligible for the second semester -- with that in mind (he was eligible), is Niv really a 1/2 player?

Steve Susina said...

I didn't include anything for the first semester. Niv was neither enrolled nor eligible, so the fall term was 0/0 as far as he was concerned.

I'm assuming that since he left mid-semester, he did not leave in good academic standing. Which means he won't get the point for academic progress.

And he obviously won't get the point for returning next fall!