St. Bonnies boycott

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  1. Shapecity

    Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

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    OLEAN, N.Y. (AP) -- One day after St. Bonaventure players voted to boycott the remainder of the season, the school backed them and said the final two games would not be played.

    The school was forced Monday to forfeit six Atlantic 10 conference wins for using an ineligible player. The Bonnies then voted to skip the rest of the season.

    St. Bonaventure was scheduled to play at Massachusetts on Wednesday and at home against Dayton on Saturday.

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    The A-10 also barred the Bonnies from the conference's postseason tournament for using center Jamil Terrell, who failed to meet NCAA junior college transfer guidelines.

    After the players voted, school administrators and coaches decided Tuesday to support them, school spokesman David Ferguson said.

    ``With all the attention this has gotten, and the series of decisions that have taken place, (the players) just felt angry, frustrated and confused, and they just didn't have the enthusiasm or the motivation to concentrate on a game,'' Ferguson said.

    Some players had already left the school campus for spring break, he added.

    Terrell, a junior, transferred to St. Bonaventure last year after two years at Coastal Georgia Community College in Brunswick, Ga. He appeared in 25 games, starting 18, with the Bonnies before he was declared ineligible last week.

    The ruling came after officials discovered Terrell did not have an associate's degree but had earned a Coastal Georgia certificate in welding.

    Course work in such a trade would not satisfy the NCAA's core curriculum requirements for junior college transfers, who must have minimum credits in core areas such as English, history and science.

    ``I don't want to put blame on anybody because I don't have all the facts yet,'' senior co-captain Patricio Prato said Tuesday morning. ``This is sad. It stinks, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's out of my hands.''

    On Monday, St. Bonaventure President Robert Wickenheiser took responsibility for approving Terrell's transfer.

    ``I'm not an expert in eligibility by any means,'' he told The Olean Times Herald. He did not return messages Tuesday from The Associated Press.

    ``My heart goes out to the players,'' Wickenheiser said in a statement. ``I very much sympathize with the emotions they are feeling at this time.''

    Coach Jan van Breda Kolff declined to comment.

    ``He was out to do what he could do to help Jamil,'' Ferguson said in Wickenheiser's defense. ``He made a series of well-intentioned decisions and did the best he could.''

    Gerald Cox, Terrell's former coach at Coastal Georgia, said he was upfront about Terrell's academic status with each school interested in the player.

    St. Bonaventure's board of trustees plans to review the matter.

    ``We are most concerned about the devastating impact all of this is having on our student athletes, as well as the entire university community,'' said William Swan, chairman of the board of trustees.

    The school continues petitioning the A-10 to have Terrell reinstated.

    Ferguson said the school will cooperate with any A-10 or NCAA investigation. The NCAA reserves the right to launch its own investigation to determine if further sanctions are necessary against the school. A-10 commissioner Linda Bruno said league officials will discuss St. Bonaventure's decision at an April 1 meeting.

    By boycotting its final two games, St. Bonaventure's conference record dropped to 1-15. Its overall record remains 13-14 unless the NCAA metes out its own sanctions.

    Both the A-10 and UMass were disappointed about St. Bonaventure's decision.

    ``It's ... really an unprecedented set of circumstances that they're dealing with right now,'' said UMass athletic director Ian McCaw. ``It's certainly regrettable, but we'll move on.''

    McCaw said UMass has already talked with St. Bonaventure officials to determine what the Bonnies must pay to compensate for the lost game. It's unclear whether the school must also compensate Dayton.

    Massachusetts and Dayton were both awarded victories, meaning UMass will host a first-round game in the conference tournament.

    AP writer Bill Hoppe contributed to this report.
     

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