Tuesday, August 24, 1999
Musketeers lose guard to grades
Xavier disputes NCAA decision on frosh Chalmers
BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Xavier could enter the college basketball season with just one point guard on its roster.
Freshman Lionel Chalmers, who is scheduled to start classes at XU today, has been declared academically ineligible by the NCAA — a move discovered by Xavier officials last Friday and one that shocked the school and the Chalmers family.
The 6-foot point guard from Albany, N.Y., will have to pay his own way to school — tuition alone for a year is almost $15,000 — while Xavier appeals on Chalmers' behalf. Chalmers' family, in town to drop him off at college, has remained in Cincinnati and is weighing its options.
Junior Maurice McAfee, who has been a backup to Gary Lumpkin the past two seasons, is the only other scholarship point guard on the team.
Here's what happened with Chalmers:
A student in good standing, Chalmers transfered to Albany High School from Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, N.Y., after his junior year.
At Albany, he was told what courses to take and what grades he needed in order to be eligible to compete as a college freshman. Chalmers did what he was told and was presumed eligible.
Xavier Athletic Director Mike Bobinski would not be specific about what is keeping Chalmers ineligible, but said transfering schools caused “an information gap.”
“He relied on information he received from both schools and met all the expectations and, in fact, exceeded them,” Bobinski said Monday. “Now that has turned out to be not satisfactory.
“We've talked to the NCAA and prepped them on the general parameters of the situation.”
Bobinski said a document in support of Chalmers is being prepared and will be sent to the NCAA as soon as possible — perhaps today.
But the process of waiting for a decision could take weeks.
“Nothing moves fast,” Bobinski said. “We don't know anything at this point, and we probably won't for a while.”
Chalmers, who signed a letter of intent to attend Xavier last November, transfered to Albany, saying Bishop Gibbons raised its tuition and that Albany had a better basketball program.
He averaged 22.4 points as a senior, returning after breaking his hand Dec.27.
XU coach Skip Prosser could not be reached for comment Monday.
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