Senior guard pulled from game due to eligibility concerns

Senior guard pulled from game due to eligibility concerns

On Thursday, Nov. 21, senior guard Raymond Taylor was pulled from the starting lineup to give FIU a chance to further investigate the eligibility concerns that surround Taylor.

Taylor withdrew from the 2012 National Basketball Association draft however, he withdrew after the NCAA deadline of April 10.

This led to Taylor sitting out a season last year under former FIU head coach Richard Pitino, now the head coach at Minnesota.

The situation came as shock to Pitino as he was told by FIU that Taylor was eligible to play upon transferring from Florida Atlantic.

According to a report done by ESPN, the NCAA was contacted on Thursday, Nov. 21 for further clarification on Taylor’s eligibility since he withdrew from the draft after the standard NCAA deadline.

According to the report, Taylor’s name appeared on the official NBA early-entry list in a release dated, May 3, 2012.  However, Taylor is in his own category as a collegian who had withdrawn from the NBA draft on the final early-entry list, dated June 20, 2012.

However, based on recent NBA releases, Taylor waited until sometime between May 3 and June 20, after the early-signing period began, to withdraw.

The biggest concern when it comes to allowing Taylor to play this season and redshirt a year ago, despite not withdrawing at the NCAA-mandated time, would be that an exception was made for Taylor that other players potentially weren’t allowed to have the past two seasons.

Raymond is averaging a total of 12 points a game to go along with an average of six assist a game and six steals so far this season. Raymond leaves the team as the Panthers third leading scorer early in the 2013 season.

Head coach Anthony Evans told ESPN after an 82-67 victory over Bethune-Cookman that his administration called him and said he couldn’t use Taylor, who was with the team on the trip. Evans said it caught him off guard and he was still in the fact-finding stage and would meet with the administration Friday.

As of today the FIU athletic department is not commenting on the Taylor situation. The FIU Office of Media Relations released a official statement that reads as follows.

“Late Thursday afternoon, the University received information related to men’s basketball student-athlete Raymond Taylor’s eligibility status.  As a result of the information presented, the University has elected to withhold Ray from intercollegiate competition until the impact, if any, this information has on his eligibility status can be determined.  A review is being conducted and will conclude as quickly as possible.  Given that the issue involves student-athlete eligibility, there is no further information that we can provide at this time.”