UPDATE: Bill Walker ruled ineligible

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"The OHSAA has been investigating whether Walker has 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, which could mean he will be ineligible for the 2006-07 season at NCH."</div>
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I remember going and watching O.J. and Walker in their last year at Rose Hill and these two is by far one of the best high school duo's I have ever seen. But Rose Hill has been known for holding players back just so their basketball program will dominate and I think that is not right at all...i guess Walker was one of the ones who was held back, and if i'm not mistaking, O.J. was held back two years, so he could soon be in some trouble as well.

 

Is'nt there 2 semesters in a school year? So he was a freshman for 2 semesters there is nothing wrong with that.

 

I know both are older than seniors should be.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TwinTowers:</div><div class="quote_post">Is'nt there 2 semesters in a school year? So he was a freshman for 2 semesters there is nothing wrong with that.</div>
Yeah, then he went to Cincinnati and was a freshman there as well in 2003-2004, sophomore 2004-2005, junior 2005-2006, and now he's going to be a senior. In high school basketball, you are required to sit out a year when transferring to another school and Walker did not do that, so therefore, he will likely have to sit out the 06-07 season.

 

I know both are older than should be. And UK just explained, it, so I understand it know. They would be amazing if both were able to play. I also have heard O.J. gets into trouble a lot. Isn't that why he wanted to transfer to Oak Hill?

 

how old are these guys? i get so confused by high school players ages. Bynum was 17 when he played, i'd be 19 if i played at the same time as he did, it is so weird. arent these guys going to be like 19 when they graduate or something.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">how old are these guys? i get so confused by high school players ages. Bynum was 17 when he played, i'd be 19 if i played at the same time as he did, it is so weird. arent these guys going to be like 19 when they graduate or something.</div>
They both are turning 19 this year.

 

That's mean O.J. could enter draft this year

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting J_Ray:</div><div class="quote_post">That's mean O.J. could enter draft this year </div>
No, I think you also have to be removed from high school 1 year.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SP23:</div><div class="quote_post">No, I think you also have to be removed from high school 1 year.</div>

Well, Euro player have to be 19, so I think you can in the U.S. because most players that graduate are either 17 or 18.....not 19

 

its 19 for euros and 1 year removed form high school for collegiates i beleive.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">its 19 for euros and 1 year removed form high school for collegiates i beleive.</div>

Correct. Mayo was held back 1 year,not 2 prior to getting to N College Hill.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OHSAA: Walker ineligible

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.”</div>
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...0013/1069/SPT03

 

Definitely threw me for a curve ball there. It looks like Billy Walker won't influence OJ Mayo's decision on where he's going to ball college ball. According to CBSSportsline.com, Bill Walker will be eligible for the 2007 NBA draft if he wants to enter his name. I don't know too much about the CBA age limit so I'm taking what CBS said. Hopefully he chooses to sit out a year or go some where else and play then take his game to the college level. I was looking forward to seeing him play in college.

 

does this mean that he will be eligable for next years draft? i mean, if he is ineligable does that mean he can still go to class? if not, then he will be one year removed from high school.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">does this mean that he will be eligable for next years draft? i mean, if he is ineligable does that mean he can still go to class? if not, then he will be one year removed from high school.</div>

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the issue and to my knowledge here's what it looks like:

-Bill Walker is eligible for the 2007 draft if he decides to declare.
-Bill Walker will not be playing basketball in his senior season.
-Bill Walker can still attend college.

This is what it looks like to me, I'm not sure though. If someone can clear this up it would be great.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting C.K.:</div><div class="quote_post">There seems to be a lot of confusion about the issue and to my knowledge here's what it looks like:

-Bill Walker is eligible for the 2007 draft if he decides to declare.
-Bill Walker will not be playing basketball in his senior season.
-Bill Walker can still attend college.

This is what it looks like to me, I'm not sure though. If someone can clear this up it would be great.</div>
The NBA says you have to be one year removed, or your original graduating class has to have already graduated. So hes eligible for the NBA since his original class was 2005-06, or he can sit out, and just go to college after he graduates. So its kind of like go-to college, or the NBA to Bill Walker like it was before the age limit.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting XQzMe:</div><div class="quote_post">The NBA says you have to be one year removed, or your original graduating class has to have already graduated. So hes eligible for the NBA since his original class was 2005-06, or he can sit out, and just go to college after he graduates. So its kind of like go-to college, or the NBA to Bill Walker like it was before the age limit.</div>

Since he didn't graduate this year, I figured his new class would be this year, I still see him going to college though.....

 

The NBA won't allow him in the league. Sure the CBA technically allows it, but what would be the messege the NBA would be sending here. Flunk your junior year in high school and then go to the NBA? The reason the NBA put this rule in was so that kids would go to college and get an education.