St. John’s is working with the NCAA to confirm that star basketball recruit Maurice Harkless is eligible to play for the school.
Questions have arisen over Harkless’ status because he played in a couple of tournaments with the Gauchos. The St. John’s director of basketball operations, Moe Hicks, served in an administrative role for the famed AAU program.
According to recently adopted rule 11.4.2, a college that employs an individual associated with a prospective student-athlete in any athletics department non-coaching staff position can’t recruit that player for a period of two years.
Harkless played mostly with the AAU Panthers, and Hicks did not serve in a coaching role with the Gauchos, so the Red Storm are confident they will not have any difficulty getting final clearance from the NCAA’s basketball focus group, created in January of 2010 to monitor these issues.
“St. John’s works attentively to be in compliance the NCAA legislation at all times, and we have been diligent with all of our incoming men’s basketball student-athletes,” said Mark Fratto, St. John’s senior associate athletics director for communication.
“Naturally, with basketball focus group legislation being relatively new and still evolving, we are collaborating with the Big East and NCAA to establish clarity, as we do in all cases.”
If the NCAA determines that Hicks is what it deems an IAWP or individual associated with prospect, Harkless would not be allowed to play for St. John’s.
Harkless, a 6-foot-8 forward from Queens, is one of the players who make up the Red Storm’s third-ranked recruiting class. What makes Harkless special is that he is from the city and could be the Pied Piper to other top city prep players who want to stay home.
“Maurice is the best player in New York City,” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said at the time of Harkless’ signing.
“He is an excellent athlete, highly skilled and versatile enough to contribute at multiple positions. Our staff is pleased with the signing of Maurice because it is especially vital for St. John’s to secure the top talent in the New York-New Jersey metro area.”