anXUfan

Maybe they're just waiting for the paperwork to clear. That's my hope.

From what I've read, he can guard the 2-4 and is a fair/good ball handler. If true and he's eligible he may see decent playing time.

College Hoops

I wouldn't give Xavier or any school one iota of credit for admitting kids like Reynolds and Davis. They were admitted because of their athletic skills. When Xavier and other schools admit kids with an academic record like Davis and Reynolds apparently had, who are non-athletes, get a full scholarship and tutorial help, then you can give them credit.

AdamtheFlyer

I don't know if courage is the right word. It's a lot tougher to get your school to let those type of students in than it is to educate them. It's not like they are taking tough classes. General studies or Communication majors with easier electives. Even athletes who are good high school students trend heavily toward those areas. And they have at least one full time employee to watch over them like hawks, and several part time tutors as well, usually grad students. There is very little risk once they achieve initial eligibility, only a very small number of kids become academically ineligible once they get to college.

There are schools who take anyone, schools who will allow a certain number of exceptions (most of the country fits here), and schools like Northwestern and Stanford who force all athletes to meet their typical standards. Every school is different.

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Sure, I've been called a xenophobe, but the truth is, I'm not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and the other countries aren't as good. That used to be called patriotism.

MichFlyer1

So. They had to pass their SAT test and didn't. Now they cant't play this year. I'm sure universities have admitted non athlete type kids before who don't pass their SAT test.

Flyer75

I don't think it's a matter of passing their SAT. It's probably a course or two that hung them up in high school that the NCAA is declaring was a duplicated class or something along those lines. Again, going back to my other post. X has recently been taking a pretty big risk on these types of players because the A10 allowed the "partial qualifier" to enroll, sit out, RS, and then play. It worked out well for X for the last 5-10 years. They had a pipeline of juniors and seniors and it didn't matter if Lyons, Martin, whoever had to sit out a year. It probably wouldn't have mattered to X much if these two were partial qualifiers either if Lyons and Wells were still around.

AdamtheFlyer

There is no such thing as "passing the SAT". It's a sliding scale that combines your SAT score with your GPA. All colleges admit all students on a similar scale, it's just a matter of their own minimum standards. If a kid has a mediocre GPA but a 1300 on his SAT, he will have a lot more options than a kid with a pretty good GPA and a 980.

Most of these cases are core class issues, either GPA related or simply not getting the right classes. No one knows the SAT score needed until after the final transcript is in. Many kids will get a solid test score, then find out they are ineligible because they got a C in their last semester and it lowered their core GPA that extra tenth.

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Sure, I've been called a xenophobe, but the truth is, I'm not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and the other countries aren't as good. That used to be called patriotism.

FlyingElvis

It's almost scary the way that roster has shrunk this offseason. There is another JUCO transfer who could be added though, assuming he is eligible academically, right?

Redford and Martin are going to have some pressure on them to perform this year. There isn't much safety net for a player who goes through a slump.

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"US Bank Arena can't be that bad"

vaNtR

Xavier is in for a really rough season. Very unfortunate last few months for the program. They'll be back, sooner rather than later, but Temple won't be here for those games. I hope we have an OOC series set up in the next few years.

Muddy Waters

. . . or even worse, a serious injury to a scholarshipped player, which hopefully will not happen to Xavier this year.

During the past five years, the Flyers lost a lot of close games they likely would have won following season-ending injuries to Chris Wright, Rob Lowery, and Josh Benson.


Three Guards (Banners on the Parkway - September 14, 2012)

Xavier will enter this season with only three pure guards on the roster.

For Davis, Redford, and Christon, it is the opportunity to showcase their talents, but it could also cripple the 2012-13 season.

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bprichard

Courage is definitely the wrong word. Honestly, big time athletics are completely at odds with the academic mission of universities, but the financial and status rewards of successful athletic programs messes with the calculus of it. It takes so little effort to get the grades and SAT score combination required by the NCAA Clearinghouse. It is well below the bar required by 90% of universities for general admission to the school. Let's not be so naive as to pretend that universities accept academically borderline athletes to benefit the athletes as opposed to their own bottom lines. At least in basketball we're talking about a small number of students who academically don't belong. Football is where the real motivation to admit students who can't handle the academic side exists. And that's where we get things like the current UNC scandal.

As much as I love college basketball, intellectually, I don't think universities and big money athletics belong together. There are just too many compromises. And I very much believe that marginal students deserve the opportunity to attend, but not based on their athletic prowess.

xudash

Let's tighten that up a little bit. The quid pro quo in all this is to respect the student-athlete model - provide focus and resources for these athletes to allow them the opportunity to receive an education while they wow their adoring fans. It isn't about race. It isn't about demographics, per se. Everyone here probably knows or knows of a kid that entered their alma mater as a somewhat scared, shy student who, at that time, couldn't fathom having to engage in public speaking, only to graduate later, with confidence, a plan and total comfort with a microphone and podium.

That aspect of all this is the good part of the story. The idea that some kids get a chance they otherwise would never see. They get it because they have an athletic gift. It's when they maximize the opportunity - achieving on the court while working towards and completing their degree obligations - that we can say the system isn't perfect, but it can be made to work, assuming everyone hold up their end of the bargain.

bprichard

The incentives are just all wrong though. Universities are incentivized to keep athletes eligible at all costs to increase the success of their teams and to accept students who lack the intention and/or ability to do the course work. The European model makes so much more sense. It's a lot less fun and interesting, but it doesn't involve the serious compromises that the university athletic system does.

Flyer75

xavierhoops scoffed at my comment on XU changing their recruiting strategy. Well, it looks like the NCAA will "force" XU to do it (and the rest of the A10). Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the "partial qualifier" tag is now gone that was so advantageous to XU. Now it looks like it's all or nothing and I just have to think that moving forward, XU won't be taking many more chances on kids that even might be 50/50...the flip side is to the recruit, they probably aren't going to shell out 30K like Davis is doing. They'll head JUCO.

Flyer75

I've accepted this fact a few years back. It's a joke in the NCAA basketball world to even have this ONE and DONE rule. Either let these kids just go pro and spare us the charade of the "student athlete" tag or make them stay 3 years. Think about it....would those UK players even had to attend classes the last half of the school year????

And I'll second, third, and fourth the comments here about how hard is it to qualify??? I mean really? We aren't talking about trying to get into MIT here. I know a lot of X fans are kind of saying, well, the NCAA screwed us and they base it on like players coming from the same prep schools making it. Well, we only know one year of prep school, we have no clue how badly Davis or Reynolds (or Ryan Taylor and Ridenhour, former UD targets) screwed up their first two years of high school. Taylor is not listed on the Marshall roster at this point and we all know now Ridenhour is probably JUCO bound.

bprichard

College baseball does this right, I think. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that their rule is that players are eligible for the draft immediately after high school or they can commit to go to college for a minimum of 3 years. Of course the big difference here is that baseball has the minor league system and therefore doesn't rely on universities to do their training for them. The One and Done rule is harmful for both the quality of the game and universities. Fortunately, this isn't much of a factor for A10 schools. The corrosive effect of college athletics is very evident at The Ohio State University.

And while everyone loves to hate on the NCAA, I think the main problem with them is that they are tasked with policing a system that makes no sense.