Saturday, November 17, 2001

[ UH BASKETBALL ]

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Eligibility issues keep
3 ’Bows out

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By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com

In some ways, it was the same Predrag Savovic that Hawaii basketball fans have come to know over the past two seasons.

He came out to the Stan Sheriff Center floor along with his teammates ready to start the season, smiling and waving. As is his style, the senior from Yugoslavia talked to everyone from ushers to game officials.

There was one big difference.

Savovic -- an all-Western Athletic Conference guard and a major key to UH's hopes this season -- was in street clothes.

So were teammates Luc-Arthur Vebobe and Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan. All three sat out last night's 76-52 victory over Norfolk State because of NCAA eligibility issues.

The UH administration held them out "to err on the side of caution," athletic director Hugh Yoshida said.

The eligibility of Savovic and Vebobe is at issue because of questions regarding their participation among professionals in their native countries before coming to college in the U.S. For Akpan, questions have come up about how he arrived in America from his native Nigeria while in high school.

The issues have gone on for several months.

"(It's a) lack of (direct) communication with the NCAA," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "They haven't given us any information. So we don't want to jeopardize everything by taking a chance and playing them.

"Our lawyers (in Honolulu) are talking to our lawyer in Kansas City, who is talking to the NCAA."

Said Yoshida: "Each case is different. Hopefully, we'll have something in place by next week. We've gone to the administrative committee of the NCAA."

UH had already decided on its own to keep Vebobe out of two or three games because of information it reported to the NCAA.

Akpan's situation is unclear at this point, but the NCAA's concern might have something to do with a scandal he was caught up in with four other foreign players at East Side High School in Newark, N.J., three years ago. They eventually became ineligible to play basketball at East Side and their coach was suspended.

According to stories in the Newark Star-Ledger, the foreign teenagers were living in an apartment without adult supervision. Also, illegal recruiting questions arose regarding how the players arrived in the United States without their parents.

Akpan ended up playing basketball at, and graduating from, Central Park Christian (Birmingham, Ala.)

Savovic's situation is most troubling to UH because the school responded to the NCAA's request for information when his eligibility was questioned last spring, but has received little feedback.

UH, in meetings with Yoshida, attorney Jan Gouveia and compliance coordinator Daniel Arakaki, determined Savovic is eligible and the school decided to let him play in the Rainbows' exhibition game last Sunday.

But with no guidance from the NCAA since, UH held Savovic out last night.

"There are some questions out there so we want to make sure we don't jeopardize his basketball (eligibility)," Yoshida said. "We're going to have to make a decision one way or another. We hope to get a response from the NCAA and make a decision based on that."

As it stands now, no one knows, or is saying, how many games Savovic might miss. Recently, the NCAA said the most games a player could miss for playing among professionals (assuming he is not a professional himself) is eight.

UH center Haim Shimonovich sat out 22 games last season in a similar situation.

"Last year was very hard for me and I'm sure it's the same for Savo. When you don't know what's going to happen it's very hard," Shimonovich said. "But I know Savo is a strong man. I'm sure he'll come back better than last year."

Savovic didn't seem concerned last night.

"It was fun. What a great team effort," he said. "I enjoyed it. I haven't seen a game like that in a long time."

He said if the Rainbows continue to win, it doesn't matter when he comes back.

"If we can go on like this, who cares?"

Said Wallace: "Savo loves these guys. He, Luc and Tony are all hurting inside. But we have to check it all out."

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii