Hmm. Some likely good news via Pittsburgh Sports Report.
According to a source close to the situation, the Pitt basketball program received good news today when the team learned that NASIR ROBINSON of Chester High School in Chester, PA has officially qualified.
While Robinson’s test scores had been high enough, he still had to wait for his final G.P.A before his eligibility could be official.
Of course there seems to be some concern that Darnell Dodson might never play for PItt. Dodson appeared to have reached qualifying status in the summer. Even getting a head start over the summer by taking some courses before the fall.
Then he wasn’t. The NCAA Clearinghouse had a problem and took until late October to declare him ineligible.
There appears to be some concern over a Roburt Sallie situation.
The reason lies in Big 12 Conference Rule 6.2, which states that any student-athlete who enrolls at a conference institution, part time or full time, must meet NCAA initial eligibility requirements.
Sallie had not met those requirements when he enrolled part time and paid for his own classes at Nebraska in the fall of 2006. At the time, Sallie, a prep school standout who’d signed with the Huskers, was waiting to hear if the NCAA academic clearinghouse would grant him eligibility.
…
Had Sallie enrolled full time at Nebraska in the fall of 2006, he would’ve been in violation of the NCAA rule, too. Instead, he’s only in violation of the Big 12 rule, meaning he can still compete at any NCAA school outside the Big 12.
I honestly don’t know whether the Big East has a similar rule to the Big 12’s “Rule 6.2,’ but that there is a NCAA type rule that renders him “ineligible to compete at any time for any NCAA school” if the NCAA Clearinghouse denied him is insane.
The NCAA has a rule making a player forever ineligible to play if they start taking classes while they re-evaluate his eligibility status. Putting the kid in limbo. So even if a kid does everything right after not being cleared. Goes to junior college. Gets the academics in order, the NCAA would not allow a kid to receive a scholarship to play and go to a NCAA school.
Of course, it does seem that Pitt never let Dodson actually practice with the team. He was enrolled at Pitt, and taking courses. This whole thing seems ridiculous. And yet, no one is sure. It makes my head hurt.
Do people think Jamie Dixon and the staff are complete idiots? Obviously they researched this before sending him to JUCO. Anybody who thinks they will allow themselves to be burned twice with the same issue is not being rational.
Brian Generalovich: dentist
Paul Krieger: engineer; lawyer
Bob Sankey: engineer
John Fridley: dentist
Dick Falenski: dentist
John Maczuzak: engineer
Ben Jinks: MBA (from Columbia University)
Bob Lovett: lawyer
And the list goes on. To my recollection, each player on those teams earned a marketable degree and had successful careers post Pitt. The (career) book is still being written about the players of this era. Hopefully they likewise will do the university proud although (presumably) none have or will have the degrees of those of yesteryear.
How do you know that the coaches are the ones that are worried? Is it because Chris Dokish says so? He has been wrong more than once about the qualifying status of players (e.g. DeJuan Blair). He has also stirred the pot with this Nasir Robinson situation as well. The guy is no better than a reporter for effing US Weekly. Dodson will be at Pitt! I’m not worried about it at all.
“Stirring the pot” — that’s funny. While Robinson was not yet eligible, that’s what was being reported. When he became eligible, that’s what was reported. Pretty simple concept.
Pitt1972 — I agree 100% with you regarding the NCAA’s obligation to rule on these kids in a reasonable time frame.
But its not unusual — they’ve been a circus forever. When I was swimming in college, I had a teammate whose paperwork “was lost” and she was suspended pending the NCAA’s ironing out her situation. She had to resubmit everything, which took several days, then it took them almost two weeks to rule on her situation, and of course she was indeed eligible — but she missed almost three weeks of training. She tried to speed up her training so she could catch up, which was a mistake in retrospect, because she suffered an an injury. Basically her freshman season was a total waste.
Completely unfair.
What’s for dinner?
that was before all the tv money hit the pros and college ball. Guys looked at a scholarship as a way up the economic ladder. Now, with the demands of practice and travel, I can’t imagine anyone taking a professional degree.
Additionally, Sara, you didn’t answer my question. How do you know the coaches are worried about it? Is it because Dokish said so?
GO PITT!
I asked Sara a simple question: do you have any information other than what Dokish “reported”?
But he’s certainly solid and not negative whatsoever. All he reports on is Pitt (from what I have seen). So sometimes the news is good and sometimes the news is bad. Reporting bad news is not being negative.
If he was really laughing and joking with Antigua and Herrion, then he sounds like he borders on a shill for the coaching staff, so the “negative” comments are ridiculous.
Omar I am from Miami, went to two colleges in Florida and have relatives who coach basketball in Florida.
Regarding Dokish, I am referring to the “information” on his blog when discussing his negativity. Let’s get one thing straight, I do not believe Dokish is a reporter in any sense of the word. His writing is awful, he provides no insight and never does any in-depth research. His “reports” consist of him talking to an anonymous source close to the staff and relaying dubious recruitng information. I am not going to insult journalists by calling this guy a reporter. It is clear that he has no training as a journalist. He is a blogger. That is it.
