Husker Basketball loses top recruit Sallie to Big XII rules

The Lincoln Journal-Star has reported that top Husker recruit Roburt Sallie will not be eligible to play at Nebraska or anywhere else in the Big XII.  Sallie, the California Junior College player-of-the-year, enrolled at Nebraska part-time in 2006 while awaiting word of his status from the NCAA Clearinghouse.  When his appeals were denied, he withdrew from classes and enrolled at City College of San Francisco.

However, the part-time enrollment, while not jeopardizing his future at other NCAA institutions (unlike full-time enrollment), has apparently cost him his ability to ever be eligible at a Big XII institution.  According to Big 12 Rule 6.2, any student must meet initial eligibility requirements before enrolling in classes.  Because Sallie enrolled part-time in 2006 and the NCAA later ruled that he did not meet those requirements, he can no longer meet the Big 12's eligibility requirements.

This leaves the Huskers in a bind, as it effectively reduces the incoming recruiting class to 6-11 German Center Christian Niemann, who is likely to redshirt if he does succeed in becoming eligible.  Sallie was expected to provide a big scoring boost to a team that struggled on offense in 2007-08 and lost its top scorer.

In other hoops news, an announcement on the hiring of a new assistant coach is expected this week. 

Update 5/28/2008, 7:48 PM CDT: The Journal-Star has Sallie's side of the story.  He claims that he was not aware of having enrolled in classes while at Nebraska in 2006, even though the University has an enrollment record for him.  The story suggests that Academic Services may have recognized that he was attending classes and enrolled him, if his claims are accurate.  This just seems to be a sad story all around.