Home

You Are Here :

News Detail

17

Nov, 2016

Fallout Update: Bassey Ineligible (11.18.16)

(Updated: 11.18.16, 7:00 a.m.)

The last 36 hours have been a complete whirlwind for the St. Anthony's basketball program. From local to national TV headlines, along with every major recruiting service posting front page reports on the fallout of loosing the number one overall prospect for the 2019 class.

There are still much more more questions than answers being provided by the administration at St. Anthony's. From an incorrect refutation of the original report, to an incorrect press conference time for Thursday's release, our staff was able to navigate through obstacles, cover some game action and still confirm the following details.

Also, to make this abundantly clear, the brief press conference held yesterday at noon, had little resemblance of one. The session was Bassey reading a prepared statement, and Head Coach Jeff Merritt nor St. Anthony's principal Rene Esccobedo taking any questions. The so called press conference was spearheaded by Bassey's alleged guardan Hennsey Auriantal and a hired public relations representative who is solely to work for Bassey.

Charles Bassey: per the Executive Director of TAPPS, Bryan Bunselmeyer, in a statement to the Express News, he has confirmed that the #1 prospect in the country for the 2019 class has been deemed ineligible for the rest of this season and the remainder of his high school eligibility if he were to stay at St. Anthony's or enroll at any other TAPPS school.

Ousmane Ndim & Obi Propser: both are currently ineligible as well, and technically have been informed that by Dec. 5th, a final decision will be made concerning their eligibility. A direct source has informed AlamoCityHoops that it is "very unlikely" that Ndim or Prosper will be reinstated and allowed to play for St. Anthony's this season.

Sam Chaput & Jordan Persad: Although St. Anthony's release only states 4 players, Chaput is the 5th, it's simply been known now for quite some time that he will be ineligible the entire season. Persad, after transfering in from Cansda a few months ago, is also ineligible to play this season for the Yellow Jackets.

Lost in all this was that the Yellow Jackets still fielded a team yesterday in their own tournament, and miraculously won both games. After their first contest Head Coach Jeff Merritt was made available to the media, but informed us he could not comment on the matter. This came on the heels of him telling AlamoCityHoops the night before that this report was false, and described it as "misinformation."

The biggest question on many minds is why have Bassey and the rest of the players been deemed ineligible. TAPPS can only say that they're investigation founded "inducement" for these young men to enroll at St. Anthony's. So in layman's terms, here's what that means:

TAPPS investigation concluded that neither a biological parent, documented legal guardian, or relative, was the entity responsible for paying the tuition of these young men. In translation, a "Booster," a 3rd party was the funding source for their finances.

Last night, WOAI News 4 Sports, also reported that in a statement to the San Antonio Express News, Bassey did admit that he is not aware of who is responsible for the payment of his tuition at St. Anthony's.

Multiple sources have confirmed to AlamoCityHoops that two rival private schools and even internal dissension at St. Anthony's were the biggest advocates for the TAPPS investigation.

Unfortunately, all these young men must now suffer the consequences while the adults who advise and guide them through their adolescence go completely unscathed and unnamed.

************************************************************************************************************

On Wednesday night, we were made aware that TAPPS had rendered a decision on the eligibility of St. Anthony's phenom Charles Bassey and 4 other players: Ousamne Ndim, Obi Propser, Sam Chaput, and Jordan Persad.

The decision was told to us by many sources that all 5 players were ruled ineligible, until December 5th, 2016, and at that time TAPPS would then determine if the rest of the season was too be lost. We personally reached out to Head Basketball Coach Jeff Merritt, who refuted the report as "misinformation," Wednesday evening.

Fast forward to Thursday morning, and ESPN's National Recruiting Analyst Jeff Borrzello and Jeff Goodman have confirmed per their sources that Bassey has been deemed ineligible for the entire 2016-2017 season. There were no other details provided on the 4 other players in question.

Our staff has reached out to St. Anthony's Catholic Private High School as of this morning, and the administration could not confirm the report by ESPN, but is aware of it. According to school officials, an official release will be made by 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, and St. Anthony's is still scheduled to participate and host their annual tournament through Saturday. The Yellow Jackets first game is set for 1:30 p.m.

Be sure to check back as we'll have details and any updates that are made available to us as the situation progresses.

Website Manager

NAVARRE UNITED FUTBOL CLUB

News Detail

17

Nov, 2016

Fallout Update: Bassey Ineligible (11.18.16)

Site Links

Navarre United Futbol Club