Saturday, November 3, 2001
The fate of Hawaii's foreign basketball players is once again in the hands of the NCAA. Paperwork in on
UH foreignersBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe NCAA is expected to make eligibility decisions on senior Predrag Savovic and junior Luc-Arthur Vebobe based on the paperwork already submitted by university officials. NCAA officials said the decisions will be made as soon as possible to avoid disrupting the upcoming season.
The NCAA board of directors on Thursday affirmed an earlier recommendation by its management council to penalize players who had competed in first-tier pro leagues either 20 percent of games played or a maximum of 8.
Based on the paperwork submitted by Hawaii, Vebobe would sit out 2.2 games and Savovic none.
UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida, Rainbow coach Riley Wallace and university counsel Jan Gouveia met yesterday to discuss what course of action the school will follow once the NCAA comes back with its decision.
It is still unclear what the procedure will be. One possible option is that once the penalty recommendation is made, the university will have to reapply for the athletes' reinstatement.
"We'll wait and see what the decision is and go from there," said Wallace. "Our position has not changed from the beginning. We think Savo should not be penalized and, based on the decision (Thursday), we'll lose Vebobe for 2.2 games."
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii