Night Owls

Coach Fran Dunphy will blow the whistle on Friday night as the Temple men’s basketball team opens preseason practice with an 8:30 p.m. session. A Temple source confirmed on Thursday that freshman forward Michael Eric will not be among the participants, as he has been ruled ineligible for the 2007-08 campaign due to the NCAA’s interpretation of his high school transcript.

Coach Fran Dunphy will blow the whistle on Friday night as the Temple men’s basketball team opens preseason practice with an 8:30 p.m. session. A Temple source confirmed on Thursday that freshman power forward Michael Eric will not be among the practice participants, as he has been ruled ineligible for the 2007-08 campaign due to the NCAA Clearinghouse’s interpretation of his international high school transcript.

Eric’s status is not so much an academic problem as an administrative issue. He had no problem meeting NCAA freshman eligibility requirements coming out of the School at Church Farm in Paoli, Pa. But the Clearinghouse based its decision on Eric’s academic record from his native Nigeria, where he took a standard high school equivalency test before heading to the United States three years ago. Eric spent one year at Caeser Rodney High School in Delaware and two years at Church Farm.

Since his Nigerian transcript did not meet NCAA core course requirements, Eric was deemed ineligible – even though he met all the requirements at Church Farm.

Essentially, Eric has been victimized by recent NCAA rule changes restricting the use of prep school credits to boost a deficient high school transcript. But those changes were aimed at so-called “diploma mills” and kids with bad grades, not solid students with an international background.

Temple’s appeal of the Clearinghouse decision has been denied.

Without Eric, the Owls will start practice with three scholarship players in the frontcourt – junior center Sergio Olmos and freshman forwards Lavoy Allen and Craig Williams. Walk-on forward Orlando Miller is also back with the team.

On the perimeter, Dunphy will gather seniors Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark, juniors Dionte Christmas and Semaj Inge, sophomores Ryan Brooks and Luis Guzman, and freshmen Martavis Kee and Ramone Moore.

Dunphy has indicated that Moore will likely redshirt this season, though that’s not a decision that he has to make in any official manner.

Walk-on guard Brian Shanahan will not play for the Owls this season, but he is supposed to stay with the team in some capacity. Another possible walk-on addition is 6-6 forward Rafael DeLeon, who transferred to Temple from Division III Averett University.

The Owls will hold an open practice session and student ticket event, in conjunction with the Temple women’s basketball team, at McGonigle Hall next Friday (Oct. 19). The event – “Cherry and White Night” – will start at 7:00 p.m.