Billy Edelin has been declared ineligible to play for the fall semester of the 2004-2005 academic year, school officials said in a statement Tuesday. Edelin, a point guard on the men’s basketball team, failed to meet NCAA academic eligibility requirements for his junior season.

The university is appealing the NCAA ruling, which requires student-athletes to complete half their requirements by the beginning of their junior season. But no timetable has been set for a ruling, Associate Director of Athletic Communications Pete Moore said.

If the appeal does not go through, Edelin will miss at least the first 11 games of the season. He still will be allowed to practice with SU during that time per NCAA rules.

‘This isn’t something that happened today,’ Moore said. ‘We said we’re waiting to hear back from the NCAA, but we’ve been working on this statement for some time.’

Moore said the university could still hear back from the NCAA before the season starts. But there is no definite date for a ruling on the appeal. The athletics communications office and the men’s basketball team simply wanted to release a statement for clarification.

SU associate head coach Bernie Fine declined comment for this story. SU head coach Jim Boeheim was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Edelin has been taking classes, Moore said. If Edelin successfully completes his fall 2004 academic requirements, he would become eligible sometime over Winter Break.

The announcement is just one more twist in Edelin’s storied career at Syracuse that began more than three years ago.

After enrolling at SU in the fall of 2001, Edelin was suspended that October after two female students accused him of sexual misconduct. No charges were ever filed, and Edelin was reinstated in June 2002.

Though he did not play that year, those two semesters are counted by the NCAA for his progress toward a degree.

Edelin was suspended for 12 games during the 2002-2003 season for playing in recreational games during his suspension. Edelin returned to play in 23 games that season, though, and was a member of the 2003 national championship team.

He started at point guard for the first 16 games of the 2003-2004 season before leaving the team because of ‘personal issues.’ He took a medical leave from the university in the spring of 2004 and did not receive any credits for that semester.

In hopes of regaining his eligibility for his junior season, Edelin enrolled in classes this summer.

Edelin is on campus this fall and has been participating in team workouts. The team has been in informal scrimmages and conditioning workouts five days a week with team trainers.

Should the ruling be overturned before the season starts, Edelin will compete for playing time with freshman Josh Wright, sophomore Louie McCroskey and junior Gerry McNamara.

Edelin appeared in 17 games last season. He averaged 33.1 minutes, 13.8 points, 5.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.

This year’s Coaches vs. Cancer tournament will look more like the NBA.

The NCAA requires exempt tournaments to use its experimental rules. This year, those include an extended 3-point line and a wider lane.

The 16-team tournament will feature these rule adjustments. The 3-point line will be 20 feet 6 inches away, 9 inches more than the usual college perimeter. The NBA 3-point line is 23 feet 9 inches.

The 16 teams will be from 16 different conferences. Syracuse is one of the host sites. Regional action, which begins Nov. 11, will feature Bucknell vs. Princeton and Syracuse vs. Northern Colorado at the Carrier Dome.

Slam magazine has ranked Syracuse No. 12 in its preseason men’s basketball poll. Kansas is ranked No. 1, Big East rival Connecticut is No. 8 and Pittsburgh is No. 19. … SU head coach Jim Boeheim was on NPR’s live broadcast of ‘Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me’ on Thursday, Sept. 16 from the John H. Mulroy Civic Center in Syracuse.

Published on September 28, 2004 at 12:00 pm