When a player comes from Junior college he must have earned a legitimate degree from that college.  That means a diploma.  Within the curriculum must be courses that would qualify the player to be in the same year (sophomore, junior, etc.) in the college he's transferring to.  That must not have been the case with Robinson.  About ten years ago, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies had a player who was a JC transfer.  He had a diploma that was not more than a welding certificate.  His curriculum would not have earned him a spot in St. Bonaventure's junior class.  He played anyway and the Bonnies were put on NCAA probation.  The big mistake was that the Bonnies did not submit the player's JC curriculum to the NCAA like Duquesne did with Robinson.  It took eight seasons for St. Bonaventure to get up off the mat and be competitive.  Duquesne did the right thing in submitting Robinson's curriculum to the NCAA.  There is no NCAA clearing house for JC transfers.  There should be.  This decision would not have taken this long.

Robinson is not a JC Transfer.  He is coming in as a Freshman.  He needed to "qualify".

Division I - In order to become a "qualifier" as defined by the NCAA, prospective student-athletes are required to have graduated from high school, and to have successfully completed a core curriculum consisting of the following:

English (4 years)
Mathematics (2 years)
Science (2 years)
Social Science (2 years)
An additional course in English, mathematics or science (1 year)
Additional courses in any of the above, or in computer science, philosophy, nondoctrinal religion or foreign language (2 years)
A "qualifier" must also achieve a combination of minimum grade-point average (in the core curriculum) and minimum SAT/ACT score as indicated by the NCAA's "Division I Qualifier Index".

I certainly don't know all of the details with Robinson, but I would guess that the issue was the courses that he took (or did not take) at Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem, NC.  This school has many red flags, both from the NCAA and the state of North Carolina.  Kids coming out of this school (and others like it) face harsher scrutiny over their classes and grades.  Here's an article on this school, coach and issues:

http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/01/28/charter-schools-international-basketball-team-raises-oversight-questions/

 

We mostly presumed that the NCAA was taking an excessive amount of time in reaching a simple decision. Evidently, there was a hold on the decision until the semester ended. Apparently, if Robinson had achieved something better (than what he apparently achieved) in the fall semester, he would have got the qual for the rest of the season.

We certainly hope he gets things done in time for next season.

applecorps, although the timing lines up with your thought process, I don't believe the 1st semester grades had anything to do with the NCAA decision.  If Robinson did in fact get the waiver to practice with the team next semester, that would indicate that his first semester grades were good and he is progressing at a satisfactory academic rate.  The NCAA could have disallowed him from practicing with the team and pulled his scholarship; they did neither.

indygjm wrote:

Does anyone have insight into what this means for the young man's future as a Duke?
Is he going to quietly disappear next year and another scholarship becomes available? Or, is the university working toward NCAA compliance in order to keep him for four more years?

Based upon what we think we know (he has been ruled a non-qualifier, allowed to keep his scholarship and allowed to practice with the team), he has the opportunity to play for 4 years at Duquesne.  In order to keep his eligibility, he must continue to make satisfactory progress toward his degree as defined by the NCAA (certain nuumber of credits; certain minimum GPA).

Also, this has nothing to do with Duquesne's compliance with the NCAA.  The issue is between Robinson and the NCAA.

Last edited by PhoenixRising2 (1/03/2014 5:45 pm)