Letters From TSSAA On Rulings – 11-20-17

Here are the letters sent to Memphis East on the eligibility appeals of two transfers:

tssaa

 

 

 

tssaa1

Both appeals were denied, no word yet on the next step for the two transfers.

UPDATED:

11-19-17 – Two Memphis East players, Ryan Boyce and James Wiseman, ruled ineligible by the TSSAA sat out the Mustangs first game since the ruling was made.  It wasn’t a problem as East easily handled Mitchell 84-54 in the Hall of Champions tournament.

When asked by the Commercial Appeal after the game about the situation, former NBA great and East Head Coach Penny Hardaway commented:

“I’ll just leave that to our principal and all those guys.  All I’m trying to do is help kids.”

“Of course, you can get frustrated. I came back to make a difference in the city. … I wouldn’t put a kid in harm’s way.”

The TSSAA plans to release the letter (Monday) to the media which was sent to East school officials  after the appeal hearing  on Thursday with the final results.

East Principal Dr. Marilyn Hilliard told SSN on Thursday night in a reply to an email requesting a comment on the ruling:

I will make a statement when TSSAA makes a decision. I was told it will be tomorrow.

But no statement has been sent to us on the issue as of tonight (Sunday).

UPDATED:

11-16-17 -Two Memphis East basketball players have been ruled ineligible for the 2017-18 season after the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) determined Wednesday the school had violated the state’s “prior link” rule for transfers.

tennessee

East appealed the decision during a meeting of the TSSAA’s executive council today at 3 p.m.

Statement from Matthew Gillespie Assistant Executive Director TSSAA

That decision will be made in Executive Session.  Per our policy, we inform the school of the decision first and give them a 24-hour period to disseminate the information as they see fit.  We encourage them to share with the media, but that is their decision.

The school should be informed Friday.  If they do not respond to requests for the decision, we should be able to share the letter to the school with you on Monday.
East was ranked #3 this week in the SSN National Public HS Boys Basketball Rankings.

—————————————-

(11-14-17) One thing that jumps out to you as we share the preseason ratings, many of the Top 10 Public High Schools have major D I recruits dotting their rosters, plus several top rated transfers.

The 2017 Michigan Class A Boys Basketball State Champions, the Clarktson Wolves, are the preseason #1 in the SSN National Public HS Boys Basketball Rankings. The Wolves won their first state title last season for veteran Coach Dan Fife who is nearing 700 wins after 35 years of coaching.

This year’s team is led by 6’1 Senior Foster Loyer (Michigan State commit) a preseason candidate for Mr. Basketball. Foster led Clarkston to the state championship last season, averaging 25.4 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals per game.

Power Forward 6’9 Taylor Currie, who just de-commited from Michigan, is the #199th player and No. 44 power forward in the Class of 2018, according to 247Sports composite rankings. Currie is getting plenty of looks from top Top D 1 schools now that he is looking for a new school.

Two D I transfers, 6’9 power forward Thomas Kithier transferred to Clarkston from Macomb Dakota before the school year began, after playing AAU ball this summer with Loyer and is also a Michigan State commit. Kithier’s MHSAA’s eligibility currently is in question after the transfer.

6’7 Wing Hank Schemmel, who played in Maryland the past three years, enrolled at Clarkston recently.  Schemmel is another Big 10 commit who will be attending Wisconsin.

A look at several of the other Top 10 teams:

#2 Webster Groves won the Missouri state Class 5 state title last season and return two top scorers in Courtney Ramey (6-3 Sr guard 19.2 ppg),  who recently decommitted from Louisville and (6’8 Sr F) Carte’Are Gordon (19.1 ppg), who signed with Saint Louis.

The Statesmen pick up  (6’1 Jr G) Amorey Womack, who averaged 16 points and 6.4 rebounds a game at Richmond Heights Maplewood last season.

Two former NBA players are having success at the high school level, Brndon Roy moves from Seattle Nathan Hale (last year’s State Champs) to his alma mater Garfield. The other is Penny Hardaway who continues to build his Memphis East (two-time defending champion) team into one of the powerhouse Public schools.

Roy has added to the Garfield roster Papillion-La Vista All-Nebraska player Ed Chang (6’7, 180lb Senior Forward) who made the move to Seattle to play for Roy at Garfield.

Hardaway lost guard T.J. Moss, who transferred to Findlay Prep, but adds two quality transfers , one is Nashville Ensworth’s (PF 6’11 Jr)  James Wiseman (20.0 points a game) and  Memphis Houston’s Ryan Boyce (Alabama-Birmingham commit ) a 6-5 SF. The two will team with returning Senior (6-foot PG) Alex Lomax who has committed to Wichita State.  ***see update above

McEachern is a young team who returns everyone from a state AAAAAAA semifinalist team.

  • Junior 6’5 SF Isaac Okoro (22.5 ppg)
  • Sophomore ’10 PG Sharife Cooper (16 ppg),
  • Junior 6’9 C Babatunde Akingbola
  • Junior 6’6 F Brandon Suggs.

A key addition is 6-9 Junior transfer  F Jared Jones, who went to Mabelton Pebblebrook last season .

Sidney sits at #10,the Yellow Jackets have a solid crew back this season, including Junior standout Andre Gordon and Senior Isaiah Bowers, both are coming off big football seasons. Sidney should be a big factor in Ohio this season.

Preseason – SSN National HS Boys Basketball Rankings

School

  1. Clarkston (MI)
  2. Webster Groves (MO)
  3. Memphis East (Memphis, TN)
  4. Garfield (Seattle, WA)
  5. Shadow Mountain (Phoenix, Ariz.)
  6. Cypress Falls (Houston, TX)
  7. Simeon (Chicago, IL)
  8. McEachern (Powder Springs, GA)
  9. Westlake (Austin, TX)
  10. Sidney (Ohio)

On the Bubble
Whitney Young (Chicago, IL)

The Dolphins are the defending 4A Illinois state champions have the guards to compete with any team.

Top Returners:

  • Senior PG Xavier Castaneda, a South Florida commit
  • Ssenior 6-3 SG Javon Freeman, a Valparaiso commit

One transfer who will help,  honorable mention All-City Sophomore Elliot Sieger, who played  last season at De Paul Prep (Chicago).