Quote:ACC Reps To Defend Romero
By DOUG CARLSON
Tampa Tribune
Published: Jan 9, 2004

TALLAHASSEE - If the NCAA doesn't reverse course this weekend and declare Florida State junior men's basketball player Diego Romero eligible to play for the Seminoles, the case could end up being decided in court.

Romero has been caught up in what FSU compliance director Bob Minnix and Athletic Director Dave Hart characterize as ``an oversight'' by the NCAA in the way current rules related to the collegiate eligibility of foreign players are implemented. NCAA Vice President David Berst disagrees with the assessment.

"I've been involved with this business now for about 28 years, and I do truly believe that this is a student-athlete welfare issue,'' said Minnix, a former longtime NCAA employee.

"I think it is about fairness. I think it's about the NCAA really living up to the new credo that the president of the NCAA - Myles Brand - has put out as far as flexibility and giving the benefit of the doubt to the student-athlete.''

The NCAA, to date, has rejected appeals from FSU and the Atlantic Coast Conference on Romero's behalf, including two personal conversations between Hart and Brand. Hart acknowledged that Sunday's meeting of the NCAA Management Council in Nashville, Tenn., represents Romero's final chance to compete at FSU short of legal action against the NCAA.

Three ACC representatives, one from the league office, one from Wake Forest and one from North Carolina, will defend FSU's position at the hearing Sunday afternoon in front of the 51-person management council.

Hart hopes to know Romero's status as early as the conclusion of the meeting. FSU plays North Carolina State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Romero competed for a professional club team in his native Argentina before traveling to the United States in 2001 to pursue a dream of playing Division I basketball and becoming the first in his family to earn a college diploma.

Under the old  "two-prong'' test of athletes in Romero's situation (Did he intend to make himself a professional?  Did he gain a competitive advantage?), Minnix believes Romero would have served an eight-game suspension and been eligible by Dec. 18.

Under a new application of the rule, which was changed in 2002 while he was in his third semester at Lon Morris Junior College in Texas and applied to athletes not enrolled at NCAA schools before August 2003, he is not eligible. Romero enrolled at FSU in August.

"That was the rule Diego came in under,'' Minnix said of the two-prong test and the eight-game suspension. ``When he enrolled in the fall of 2001, that was the rule. There was no other rule.

"Having sat on many of these committees, I think when this was discussed [twice in 2002], I don't think anybody considered the more specific issue, `What about the junior college player or transfer already in the system?' '' Minnix said.

Minnix also contends (and the NCAA disagrees) that a change in wording on the rule from ``enrolled in college'' to ``enrolled at an NCAA institution'' was not discussed before first appearing in an NCAA e-mail after the October '02 Management Council meeting and that the difference is critical in Romero's instance.

Romero, who speaks in broken English but earned a 3.0 GPA in the fall semester at FSU, according to Hart, said he is uncertain what his next step will be if he gets bad news from Sunday's meeting. He said he will discuss the possibility of legal action against the NCAA with his parents.

"The issues here don't relate so much to whether a violation of amateurism rules occurred. It relates to when eligibility should be restored, or if it should at all,'' said Berst, who added that FSU is not alone in its concern about this rule.

"I am aware of a few Management Council members who feel strongly we need to look very closely at this issue,'' Berst said.

Hart said he is confident Romero's case will get a close look.

"I still believe that ultimately the right outcome will surface and that common sense and fairness will prevail,'' he said.

Quote:NCAA Declares FSU's Romero Eligible To Play, But Will He?
By DOUG CARLSON
Tampa Tribune
Published: Feb 13, 2004

TALLAHASSEE - Two months after declaring Argentine forward Diego Romero permanently ineligible to play for Florida State, the NCAA on Monday morning reversed course, clearing the way for him to begin his career with the Seminoles in tonight's game at Clemson.
The remaining question is whether or not he will choose to do so.

Romero, who has missed the first 15 games of the season, could choose to sit out the remainder of this season and have two full seasons of eligibility remaining. Romero has not yet decided if he will play this season, according to FSU coach Leonard Hamilton.

Romero was in Clemson, S.C., with his teammates when news came of his eligibility. Hamilton said Romero and his teammates broke down in tears when they got word that his ordeal had ended.

``This has been such an emotional, draining scenario that we've gone through, unlike anything that I've ever experienced almost as a head coach,'' Hamilton said. ``It created almost a state of depression.''

Hamilton is upset that Romero was forced to wait this long to be declared eligible and that he had to endure two unsuccessful appeals, plus the difficult news in November that he never would be allowed to play NCAA basketball.

The problem was a change in wording to an NCAA rule on when, or if, foreign players who signed professional contracts in their native country would be allowed to play at an NCAA school.

FSU argued that Romero, who enrolled at Lon Morris (Junior) College in Texas two years ago, should have been subject to the rule as it was written when he first entered junior college. Under that scenario, he would have been forced to miss the first eight games of this season as punishment for signing two contracts as an underage player in Argentina that ultimately paid $2,400 in travel expenses.

Romero (6-foot-10, 240 pounds) is a gifted outside shooter who would appear to give the 'Noles an inside-out scoring presence from the frontcourt that they lack. He has been working out with his FSU teammates since August, and Hamilton has made clear that he believes Romero could make a significant contribution this season.

However, Hamilton said he doesn't want to be selfish about whether or not Romero should play immediately.

"What we don't want to do now is get caught up in the emotional part of what has happened and now make a decision that is not in his best interest,'' Hamilton said.

"Take under consideration there's going to have to be an adjustment period for him when he does come back, if he does come back and play this year. Is that the right thing to do for everybody?''

DO you play him or redshirt him?

rickheel Wrote:DO you play him or redshirt him?

Well, that's a very good question Rick... he didn't play in that loss to Clemson Monday night. A Seminole site reports that the decision to play him or redshirt him will be made before the Noles play Virginia this weekend.


:wave:

If he knows the offense and would fit in and be a plus right away, play him. If not, might be better to rs him. You guys are building a hoops powerhouse down there!

<a href='http://www.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/011504abe.html' target='_blank'>Will Sit Out Season</a>