N.C. State player must sit due to OSU classes

On the same day that the University of North Carolina escaped any NCAA punishment over running an academic fraud scheme, one freshman basketball player at UNC rival North Carolina State learned he might have to miss an entire season because he actually attended class.

Braxton Beverly, a 6-foot shooting guard, originally committed to Ohio State and began classes there in May. After head coach Thad Matta’s resignation on June 5, Beverly requested a release from his Buckeye commitment and signed with N.C. State to play for his former prep school coach in Kevin Keatts.

But now, Beverly’s classes at Ohio State are coming back to bite him. In a News & Observer report, Beverly’s short Ohio State tenure triggered what the NCAA has deemed a violation of transfer rules, and has ruled Beverly will have to sit out the entire 2017-2018 season before beginning his four years of eligibility.

“I’m devastated by this decision; it’s incredibly unfair,” Beverly said in a school-issued statement. “I appreciate N.C. State and the work being done here to appeal this decision. My hope is that it gets resolved and I can be eligible to play this season.

“If worst comes to worst, I have to sit out,” Beverly said at media day. “I knew that could be a possibility coming into this situation.”

Beverly’s situation reveals another layer of the confusing decisions the NCAA makes. The NCAA’s official transfer rules lack some clarity about the specifics that apply to transfer student-athletes, according to the Washington Post:

While one rule states that a player is considered a transfer if he or she “attended a class or classes in any quarter or semester in which the student was enrolled in a minimum full-time program of studies,” another rule — 14.5.3.1 — says a student-athlete isn’t considered a transfer if he or she “has been enrolled in or attended classes only in a summer school,” which would seem to be the case here. Maybe the NCAA doesn’t consider Ohio State’s post-commencement classes to be “a summer school” but rather “regular school that is held in the summer”? Either way, it’s confusing.

N.C. State has said that it will appeal the NCAA’s ruling. Whenever Beverly is set to play, he will have four years of basketball eligibility remaining.