Raleigh Word of God's John Wall (above) may be eligible for the 2009 NBA draft.
NBA spokesman Tim Frank told Tom Ziller of fanhouse.com that if Wall applies for 2009 draft eligibility, the NBA will do its "due diligence to determine his eligibility." Wall has not yet applied for early entry, according to Frank.
The NBA's collective bargaining agreement, which governs the draft, is murky on whether Wall is eligible for the 2009 NBA draft.
To be eligible a player must be 19 during the calendar year of the draft (Wall is) and be a year removed from his high school graduation (Wall is scheduled to graduate from Word of God this spring). But if a player does not graduate from high school, he needs to be a year removed from when his class graduated.
Wall is a fifth year senior. He was a junior at Broughton when he transferred to Word of God, but was enrolled as a sophomore. If he had stayed at Broughton or at Garner, where he played as a freshman and sophomore, he would have graduated in 2008.
Wall was outstanding in last week's Nike Hoops Summit game in Portland, Ore., setting the game record with 11 assists and tying the record for steals with five.
He is expected to play in the Jordan Brand All-America Game in Madison Square Garden this week and make an official visit to Miami next week.
Last Thursday, Wall said he was considering scholarship offers from N.C. State, Memphis, Miami, Kentucky, Kansas, Duke and Baylor.
-- Tim Stevens
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12 comments:
After five years of "high school", the chances that he will be a competitive academic student at a top university are nil. Please go pro now.
So if he drops out, he can go pro now, but if he graduates, he has to wait a year. What a loophole!
Just goes to show you its not about education!And what a name for a high school?
He is not eligible, so this is a moot point. Just because he reclassified doesn't change the fact that he will graduate this year.
sad sad sad...
I don't think people realize that his 5th year of high school had nothing to do with his intelligence, it's simply the fact that anytime you go from public to private in North Carolina I know, you generally move back a year just because of the curriculum.
I had friends who transferred to privates for sports and had an added year of high school because of it. So don't judge him based on that. I'm sure Coach K wouldn't touch him if he was stupid.
Now Coach K has to set his standards low and recruit anyone these days. The program is not what it used to be. Even if John wall is smart or not, Duke can't compete with the Heels!
So i guess what you are saying is that Duke has to stoop down to UNC's level to compete?
What does is it say about Roy Williams that he has now entered the Wall sweepstakes in a major way?
Mike, the sad thing is either that your friends convinced you of that or believed it. What private school's AD WOULDN'T help convince the registrar that a tranfer's transcript showed them with an extra year to play at their place?
MichaelProcton, looks like the sad thing is you think you know what you're talking about. That rule of staying back a year has nothing to do with athletics. The AD is never involved. My siblings transferred from public to private schools here in CLT and were held back a year. Matter of fact when they transferred back to public school they advanced up a year, hence they were back where they started in terms of graduation. My sister didn't play sports and she graduated in the top 3% of her high school. My brother played sports but certainly not at the level of a recruit of any star level and he had a similar experience.
John Wall's intelligence most likely had nothing to do with him being held back a year when he transferred from public to private school. That's just the way it works.
And what's with all the "Coach's setting their standards low by recruiting this kid" talk about? Just because he might be a one and done player? Do Duke fans wish they'd never recruited Corey Maggette or Luol Deng? Do Carolina fans wish they'd never recruited Marvin Williams? That's insane. These kids will always have an opportunity to get their degree, but the opportunity to set themselves up financially and live the dream of playing in the NBA has a much smaller window to work with. He's the #1 rated PG in this class and some have him the overall #1. I'd recruit him. Hope Carolina lands him!
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NO# 5 and still counting!
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