NBA Draft

[stever20]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... draft-rule

Kind of an interesting thing- not a Big East thing per se- but rather a huge basketball thing.

Florida International guard Raymond Taylor was pulled from the team's game against Bethune-Cookman on Thursday to allow the school to further investigate whether he's eligible after withdrawing from the 2012 NBA draft after the NCAA deadline of April 10.

FIU coach Anthony Evans told ESPN after the Panthers' 82-67 win at Bethune-Cookman that his administration called him and said he couldn't use Taylor, who was with the team on the trip. Evans said it caught him off guard and he was still in the fact-finding stage and would meet with the administration Friday.

Earlier Thursday, ESPN contacted the NCAA for clarification on Taylor's eligibility since he withdrew from the draft after the NCAA deadline. Taylor's name appeared on the official NBA early-entry list in a release dated, May 3, 2012. He is in his own category as a collegian who had withdrawn from the NBA draft on the final early-entry list, dated June 20, 2012.

NCAA spokesperson Stacey Osburn said in an email Thursday that a player can declare one time for the draft without losing their eligibility "as long as they are not drafted by a professional team and as long as they declare their intention to resume playing for their college team before the first day of the spring signing period, typically in April."

Taylor did not. Based on the NBA releases, Taylor waited until sometime between May 3 and June 20 -- after the early-signing period began -- to withdraw.

Osburn said the timeline was adopted in 2011 for the sole purpose of giving players a chance to "make a decision earlier than in the past to focus on either academics or athletics and also give coaches more flexibility with roster planning and recruiting."


I think this is a huge question that probably makes the kid from FIU ineligible. Sure seems like it.