UWA basketball forced to forfeit wins over ineligible player

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of West Alabama and the Gulf South Conference became aware of a potential eligibility issue for a student-athlete during the 2017-18 Men’s Basketball season and following a review of available information reported this issue to the NCAA.

On February 22, 2018, after a review of the case with the NCAA, UWA reported the student-athlete as competing while ineligible. The NCAA penalties for this secondary violation include a fine and application of nullification principles in the men’s basketball team’s final numbers for NCAA postseason consideration by the Division II Men’s Basketball Committee.

“We sincerely regret that any student-athlete competed while ineligible. UWA is committed to operating within the principles and guidelines of the NCAA and the Gulf South Conference,” said Stan Williamson, Director of Athletics at UWA. “The UWA coaches and staff acted upon information from another institution which at the time was deemed as credible. Unfortunately, as additional information was revealed, this student-athlete was deemed ineligible. We will take the necessary steps to correct this situation. We appreciate the help of the individuals at the NCAA and Gulf South Conference for their assistance in this process.”

The Gulf South Conference shall enforce additional penalties.

According to GSC Policy 12.6 (B), “(a)ny team using an ineligible player shall forfeit the event in which the ineligible player competed.” Further, “If the ineligibility is discovered during the regular season, any contest won while using the ineligible player shall be ‘forfeited’ and changed to a loss in the standings, which shall be recalculated. The original losing team shall not gain a ‘win’ in the standings” [GSC Policy 12.6 (B-1) | p. 17].

This penalty shall be applied to conference contests only. Statistics shall not be changed, but the final GSC standings shall show a loss for the games listed below. Per GSC policy, UWA’s opponents who lost a regular season contest to them shall not be credited with a win. Teams who defeated UWA in the regular season shall retain their wins.

11/30 vs. UNA 12/3 vs. UAH 12/9 at MC
1/4 at UM 1/10 vs. LEE 1/15 at DSU
1/18 vs. UU 1/20 vs. CBU 1/27 at AUM
2/3 at UM 2/5 at UAH 2/8 vs. DSU
2/10 vs. MC

The updated standings shall be utilized for tournament qualification and seeding.

The forfeiture results in UWA’s men’s basketball team finishing with a conference record of 0-20 and an overall mark of 6-22 on the season.