By Bill Cole
JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: May 15, 2010
Two high-school basketball players North Carolina has expressed interest in would most likely be ineligible to play next season because of ACC rules governing transfers within the conference, a league official said yesterday.
Although Kevin Noreen and Marcus Thornton are still in high school, the problem would be that each signed a binding national letter-of-intent with an ACC school last November, said Shane Lyons, an ACC associate commissioner for compliance. The fact that they were released from the letters in the last six weeks because of coaching changes would not matter.
"From a conference standpoint, there are issues," Lyons said.
Noreen, a 6-11 forward from Minneapolis, was released from his letter-of-intent by Boston College, and Thornton, a 6-7 forward from Atlanta, was released by Clemson.
UNC has called the high-school coaches of both players to gauge interest after the unexpected transfers of twins David and Travis Wear, both 6-10 forwards, created depth problems in the frontcourt.
"Even if you get a full release from the national letter-of-intent, you still can't go within the conference to another member institution (and receive financial aid)," Lyons said. "Our rule indicates that if you leave, you lose one year of eligibility."
If Noreen and Thornton go to any major-college outside the ACC, they will be eligible immediately and have four seasons to play.
Noreen has received 40 scholarship offers since being released, including one from Virginia.
Thornton is considering Georgia Tech, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. The ACC rule would still apply at Virginia and Georgia Tech.
If either re-signs with an ACC school, officials at that school can appeal to have the ACC rule waived.
"The school they would want to go to would have to provide some type of waiver appeal that would show the necessity to be able to transfer to that new institution," Lyons said.
The ACC transfer rule affected Gus Gilchrist, a 6-9 basketball player who signed with Virginia Tech in November 2006. After a shooting spree on campus in April 2007 killed 32 people, Gilchrist had second thoughts.
After considering a year in prep school, Gilchrist requested and received his release from Virginia Tech. He enrolled at Maryland in December 2007, but the ACC ruled that he would have to give up a year of eligibility and sit out until December 2008. Maryland appealed twice, and lost twice.
Gilchrist left Maryland in June 2008 without playing a minute of ACC basketball and enrolled at South Florida.
UNC has two returning frontcourt players, Tyler Zeller and John Henson, and three open spots on its roster under the NCAA maximum of 13 players on scholarship.
Given a need for immediate help, UNC would appear to have better chances with Kadeem Jack, a 6-9 forward from New York's Rice High School, and Justin Knox, a 6-9 forward who is transferring from Alabama.
Knox is graduating but will have one season of eligibility left. He also is considering Georgia Tech, Southern Miss and UTEP. He averaged 6.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 20 minutes last season.
bcole@wsjournal.com
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/may/15/players-facing-a-rules-problem/sports/
