NCAA overturns penalties against Lakers basketball team

PRESS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY LAKERS

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NCAA erases forfeits and reinstates Zeitlin

Ruling is based on change in criteria

Nov. 10, 2005 -- The NCAA has overturned its decision on Lake Superior State University junior basketball guard David Zeitlin, reinstating him, and erasing five forfeits of Laker wins in which Zeitlin played last spring.

Following the 2004-05 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference season, the Athletics Department at LSSU self-reported to the NCAA that it believed Zeitlin had played spring semester after rendering himself ineligible.

Zeitlin had dropped a three-credit class, which may be done on-line at LSSU, during the semester. He was still carrying 14 credits, but three of those were "developmental" in nature, and only freshman athletes may take developmental courses for full credit at Lake Superior State.

LSSU discovered the discrepancy in May, while running an academic-year check of grades and credit totals on all athletes. It was believed that Zeitlin had fallen below the 12-credit requirement for full eligibility.

After the initial report, the NCAA concurred with LSSU and docked Zeitlin 12 games this season, the same number in which he played after allegedly falling below full-time status last spring. LSSU was required to forfeit five wins achieved during the time in which Zeitlin was alleged to have been ineligible.

The Lakers appealed the ruling and, in dealing with the appeal process, the NCAA opted use of Bylaw 14.1.8.1.3, which states that developmental coursework may be counted toward full-time enrollment status for a given semester.

"The NCAA has exonerated David Zeitlin," said Director of Athletics Bill Crawford. "It has permitted us to withdraw our reported violation and ruled that David was eligible last spring and that our forfeited games may be erased. We will clarify that via the GLIAC office.

"Dave Zeitlin has work to do to maintain eligibility because his continuing eligibility still could be a problem. However, he is fully eligible this fall and will be playing when we visit Lewis University and Wisconsin-Parkside this month."

To be considered a full-time student, an athlete must be enrolled in minimum 12 credits each semester. To be permitted to compete in the next academic year, a student-athlete must have earned an average of 12 credits each semester of full-time enrollment, or at least 24 credits the previous academic year.

By successfully completing six credits of class during the LSSU summer session, 2005, Zeitlin was able to meet the requirement of 24 countable credits for 2004-05. While the NCAA has ruled that his developmental credits last spring counted for the semester's eligibility, those credits did not count toward the 24 required for the year. That is why Zeitlin took summer courses at his own expense, which is permitted.

"When we reported what we perceived as a violation, the NCAA first agreed with us," said Crawford. "Our faculty athletics representative, Prof. Tom Boger, runs regular checks on all student-athletes, for immediate and continuing eligibility. We thought we had a problem and followed the procedures as set down by the NCAA.

"In the appeal process, they moved from looking at it as a continuing-eligibility issue to a current-eligibility issue. The bylaw they ultimately cited is subtly different from that we were using. But it is clear. David Zeitlin was eligible last spring, with 14 countable credits. The NCAA amended its earlier decision on Dave."

Once the forfeits are reinstated, LSSU's men's basketball record for the 2004-05 season will be 9-18.

The Lakers play Grace Bible College at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at Cooper Gym.

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