Bill Walker Ruled Ineligible by OHSAA

[redsfan30]

Story from Enquirer:

OHSAA: Walker ineligible
BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
North College Hill basketball star Bill Walker has exhausted his eligibility and cannot play his 2006-07 senior season at North College Hill, Ohio High School Athletic Association commissioner Dan Ross announced today.

The ruling means Walker cannot return to help NCH try for a third consecutive Ohio Division III championship this coming season. Walker, a 6-foot-6 forward rated the nation’s No. 2 senior-to-be (behind teammate O.J. Mayo) by Rivals.com, averaged 21.7 points and 10.1 rebounds a game last season.

“You feel terrible any time this kind of situation occurs,” Ross said. “You feel bad for Bill, his family, the team, the players and coaches and fans. At the same time, we have to ensure everyone is competing on an equal playing field.”


Ross said Walker’s mother told him the family might appeal the ruling, but NCH principal Kelly Hughes issued a statement supporting the OHSAA verdict.

“The documentation the OHSAA recently shared with us indicates Bill completed two semesters of eligibility prior to his arrival at NCH, and, obviously, he has completed six semesters while at our school,” Hughes said.

“While we are sad and disappointed for Bill, his teammates and our community, we have the utmost respect for the OHSAA and commissioner Ross and believe the ruling was made accurately based on the information they have received.”

The OHSAA had been investigating whether Walker had exhausted his eligibility, based on a ninth-grade year at Rose Hill Christian in Ashland, Ky., in the 2002-03 school year.

Walker was listed as a freshman at Rose Hill during two semesters of the 2002-03 season, but was put back in the eighth grade upon transferring to North College Hill in February 2003.

NCH believed Walker had still not completed the eighth grade at that time, but subsequent investigations into all the paperwork determined Walker indeed was a freshman for the 2002-03 school year.

He since attended six semesters at NCH (2003-04 season through 2005-06), and is thus ineligible to play any more prep sports in Ohio.

OHSAA bylaws stipulate that a student-athlete has eight semesters to participate in athletics, from the time a student begins ninth grade.

Walker’s plans are unknown, as neither he nor any family members were immediately available to comment. Walker finished playing in the Reebok ABCD summer camp Sunday in Teaneck, N.J., and was believed to be in the process of returning to Cincinnati on Monday.

It is believed Walker might explore attending a fifth-year prep school in the 2006-07 season, then head to college for the 2007-08 season.

Mayo and Walker have been teammates since their elemenatry school days and had talked of winning a third straight Ohio championship next March. Mayo is a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 28.6 points a game last season and repeated as Ohio Mr. Basketball.

Mayo’s mother, Alisha Mayo, said today she knew of Walker’s status but said she believed O.J. would return to NCH.

“The plans haven’t changed,” Ms. Mayo said.

Dwaine Barnes, the AAU coach and family spokesman for Walker and Mayo, has not returned calls seeking comment. NCH coach Jamie Mahaffey also has not been available to comment in recent days.

According to Rose Hill Christian, Walker was considered a ninth-grader when he transferred from Rose Hill to the NCH district in February 2003.

But Walker was enrolled by NCH as an eighth-grader, and administrators believed he would be eligible to play four years of varsity basketball (2003-04 season through 2006-07).

NCH athletic director Joe Nickel said recently that his school believed Walker was an eighth-grader when he enrolled at NCH in February 2003. A closer look:

-Walker has switched schools several times since he was in sixth grade, including -according to Nickel - a stint as a seventh-grader at Marva Collins Preparatory School in Cincinnati.

-Walker also attended Rose Hill (as a sixth-grader, then as a ninth-grader), St. Joseph’s Central Catholic (Huntington, W. Va.) and North College Hill.

-Walker began the 2002-03 school year at St. Joseph Central Catholic, which has grades 7-12. Patrick Finneran, St. Joseph principal, said Walker was enrolled as an eighth-grader to start the 2002-03 school year.

“That was before we got his official transcript,” Finneran said recently. “When the official transcript came, he had already left. Before the question was answered about what grade he should be in, he went to Rose Hill.”

Walker went to Rose Hill in October 2002. Dr. Randy Douglas, superintendent at Rose Hill, said Walker was listed as a freshman upon arrival.

“He was a ninth-grader when he enrolled here, and he was a ninth-grader when he left here," Douglas said recently. “All of our records indicate that.”

Walker played in 16 varsity basketball games as a freshman at Rose Hill from Dec. 3, 2002, to Jan. 25, 2003.

Jeff Hall, Mayo’s and Walker’s coach at Rose Hill, said that in late January of that season, Walker’s AAU coach, Barnes, insisted Walker be placed back in eighth grade.

Mayo was in eighth grade in the 2002-03 season at Rose Hill, also playing varsity basketball. (Kentucky high school bylaws permit students to play varsity sports before ninth grade, whereas Ohio bylaws require a varsity athlete to be at least a ninth-grader.)

According to Hall, when Rose Hill would not put Walker back in eighth grade, his family/advisers withdrew him from the school.

“I hate it for Bill,” Hall said today, after learning of the OHSAA ruling. “At the same time, this doesn’t shock me. I wish him the best but I don’t know what his options would be. Now he’s possibly moving to another school, and that’s not healthy.”

Walker came to North College Hill in February 2003 and was placed in the NCH middle school, in eighth grade. Mayo followed Walker to NCH in April 2003 and also enrolled in eighth grade.

Regarding Walker, Nickel said NCH at the time (2003) had no records that indicated he had completed eighth grade. NCH believed that since Walker began the year in eighth grade at St. Joseph’s, Walker could be placed in eighth grade at NCH.

“Our school administration was under the impression, when Bill came here, that he had not finished the eighth grade,” Nickel said recently.

Questions about Walker’s eligibility arose over the past winter.

“We received a phone call and started looking into it,” Ross said. “I’m sure when Bill came to North College Hill, they (NCH) were not aware of his participation as a ninth-grader. When that came to light, I think they were as surprised as we were.”

OHSAA bylaw 4-3-4, Enrollment and Attendance, says that, “After a student completes the eighth grade … the student shall be eligible for a period not to exceed eight semsters taken in order of attendance, whether the student participates or not.”

[dabvu2498]

I wonder how old you have to be to play pro ball in Europe???

[Roy Tucker]

I just hope he gets a high school diploma. No matter what, he's going to need it.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

I just hope he gets a high school diploma. No matter what, he's going to need it.

That won't be a problem.

Harmony Prep in Cincinnati is not sanctioned by the OHSAA and they have a basketball team. He could go to school there and stay fresh until college.

[captainmorgan07]

read on espn he could be eligible for the nba draft

[Danny Serafini]

Originally Posted by captainmorgan07

read on espn he could be eligible for the nba draft

This brings up an interesting question. The rule says you can't enter the draft until one year after high school. But what if it takes you five years? Is it one year after your graduation (the fifth year) or after your originally scheduled class graduates (the fourth year)?

[redsfan30]

Originally Posted by Danny Serafini

This brings up an interesting question. The rule says you can't enter the draft until one year after high school. But what if it takes you five years? Is it one year after your graduation (the fifth year) or after your originally scheduled class graduates (the fourth year)?

I would assume it's one year after the athlete graduates....not the class.

But you know what assuming does....

[captainmorgan07]

Originally Posted by redsfan30

I would assume it's one year after the athlete graduates....not the class.

But you know what assuming does....

it's the class they consider walkers class the class of 2006 which just graduated

[RedFanAlways1966]

Another fine example of how trivial things like academics can get in the way of a fine athlete.

“Our school administration was under the impression, when Bill came here, that he had not finished the eighth grade,” Nickel said recently.

Oh really? Funny how school officials, the types who teach teenagers for a living and are considered a part of the academia community, are not smart enough to know where and how long the kid has played before enrolling at their High School. Of course Mr. Walker can brings lots of revenue to N.C.H with an extra year of eligibility. That is one thing that I am guessing the school officials understood very well... and you don't need a Master's Degree in Finance to get that part of it!?!

Gosh darn those academics.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by captainmorgan07

it's the class they consider walkers class the class of 2006 which just graduated

Lets hope Bill Walker doesnt turn into a Maurice Clarett in this case.

Let the speculating begin.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/story/9548336

The Ohio high school athletic association has just cleared the way for Bill Walker to become a lottery pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Advertisement


Walker, best known as O.J. Mayo's teammate at North College Hill (Ohio) High -- but a legitimate NBA prospect on his own -- was declared ineligible for his senior season on Monday. Basically, the governing body of Ohio high school sports has determined that Walker already has played four years of varsity basketball since completing his eighth grade season.

That means Walker, a nomadic sort whose high school background is murky, has met the first half of the NBA's draft-eligible requirements for high school seniors -- which says that a high school senior can enter the draft if it has been a year since his original high school class graduated. The Ohio governing body is essentially stating that Walker's original high school class is the one that graduated in June 2006.

The second half of the NBA's draft requirement for Walker is crystal clear. The NBA cannot draft a player who isn't yet 19. Walker will be 19 -- and some media reports say he will be 20 -- in June 2007.

So what kind of player is Bill Walker? He's a 6-foot-6 trampoline, a Vince Carter-like athlete with an already solid NBA body. His perimeter skills need work, but athletically he is on par -- though a different kind of player -- with freaky former LSU forward Tyrus Thomas, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft.

If he chooses to enter the 2007 draft, Walker would become the first high school senior to be picked since the NBA changed its draft rules after the 2005 draft. No high school seniors entered the draft this year.

[LoganBuck]

So if he attends a prep school like many players do after exhausting his high school eligibility, is he still draft eligible next year?

[Reds4Life]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

So if he attends a prep school like many players do after exhausting his high school eligibility, is he still draft eligible next year?

Yes.

[dabvu2498]

I still think you'll see him in Europe.

[Danny Serafini]

I bet he goes to prep school route. He can dominate against lesser opponents and hide any flaws in his game. If he went to Europe his flaws would be more easily exposed, and cost him draft spots next year.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Danny Serafini

I bet he goes to prep school route. He can dominate against lesser opponents and hide any flaws in his game. If he went to Europe his flaws would be more easily exposed, and cost him draft spots next year.

Agreed, but im sure wherever he ended up would try to upgrade the schedule somewhat.

Assuming he goes to Harmony Prep, think they could get a late NCH-Harmony Prep game in?