SYRACUSE — Syracuse center Fab Melo has been ruled ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament, the school announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes two days before the top-seeded Orange were set to take on UNC-Asheville in the tournament’s East Region.
“Syracuse University sophomore men’s basketball center Fab Melo did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh, and will not take part in the NCAA Tournament due to an eligibility issue,” read a statement posted on the university’s website.
“Given University policy and federal student privacy laws, no further details can be provided at this time.”
The 7-footer was suspended for three games earlier this season due to an unspecified academic issue. Syracuse lost its only game of the regular season in that stretch, beaten at Notre Dame. Syracuse’s other loss came on Friday to Cincinnati in the Big East tournament.
According to ESPN, Melo’s tournament ban is linked to the same academic problem.
“This is an academic issue related to the first suspension,” a source told the network. “He was initially cleared after the first suspension but the NCAA has since revisited the case and deemed him ineligible again.”
NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said Syracuse, not the NCAA, declared Melo ineligible.
Melo, a key piece in the middle of the team’s zone defense, finished the regular season ranked second in the Big East with 88 blocks, averaging 2.93 per game. He was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.
He averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds this season.
Coach Jim Boeheim said the Orange will be “ready to play.”
As he left the bus in front of the team hotel Tuesday, Boeheim at first said he had nothing to say. He then told The Associated Press that “all we can do is be ready to play with the guys we have.”
“That’s all we can do,” he said. “There are injuries, things happen during a season. We’ll be ready to play and we’ll go play.”
Melo’s sudden ineligibility made waves in Las Vegas, where Cantor Gaming dropped Syracuse’s chances of winning the title to 12-1 from 10-1 Tuesday morning, said Mike Colbert, Cantor’s risk management director. Colbert said the region’s No. 2, Ohio State, was lifted to 5-1 from 6-1 and other lines were affected.
Syracuse went from a 16.5-point favorite against 16-seeded UNC-Asheville to a 15.5 point favorite.
Boeheim would not say if sophomore Baye Keita and freshman Rakeem Christmas would start at center.
Last week, school officials said the university had more than a year ago self-reported possible violations of its internal drug policy by former members of the team and that the NCAA was investigating. None of the current members of the team was involved.
And that was the culmination of a season that began with the dismissal of associate head coach Bernie Fine after two former ball boys accused him of sexually molesting them in the 1980s. While charges have yet to be filed against Fine, he was fired in late November. Boeheim and the university also are facing a defamation suit filed by the ball boys — Bobby Davis and stepbrother Mike Lang.
Through it all, the players have remained on an even keel, seemingly unfazed by anything. Time will tell if this new issue gets in their way during the season’s most important time.
With AP