Kyle Anderson Expected to be cleared by NCAA

There has been speculation in past few weeks about the eligibility of three of the fab Freshmen: Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson, and Tony Parker. Soon after the speculation appeared, Tony Parker was announced as cleared. Now, reports are coming in that another freshman is clear. As reported by Zag’s Blog:

UCLA freshman guard Kyle Anderson is expected to be cleared by the NCAA to play this season, a source with direct knowledge of the case told SNY.tv Thursday. ‘The UCLA compliance office is confident that he will be cleared before practice starts Oct. 12,’ the source said. The NCAA looked into the recruitment of the 6-foot-9 point guard in early August, the source said. Anderson, a McDonald’s All-American out of St. Anthony, was cleared for UCLA’s China trip late last month, and he posted two double-doubles in three games there.

With that said, Kyle Anderson can now fully participate in UCLA practices before the official practices start. This is clearly good news since the Bruins now have one of the two important pieces they should need for a deep NCAA tournament trip. However, one piece remains: Shabazz.

Kyle Anderson was able to play in China because, as noted by ,a href=”http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/63679/3-point-shot-10″>Andy Katz: “he NCAA gives schools a 45-day window for players to practice during an initial eligibility process.” Thus the China trip counted towards Anderson’s 45 day window. As for Shabazz:

UCLA hasn’t started the clock for freshman forward Shabazz Muhammad because he was hurt in August and also wasn’t ruled eligible to go the Bruins’ trip to China. TThe Bruins don’t start the fall quarter until later this month. The Bruins could conceivably wait to start Muhammad’s clock until practice starts on Oct. 12. That means Muhammad could practice for the first month of the season and play possibly in the opener while the NCAA deals with an amateurism/extra benefit issue with Muhammad. The process with Muhammad may drag for a while so by not starting his clock the Bruins have a chance to start the season practicing with their star newcomer.

Here’s to optimism and hoping Shabazz will be cleared in time. If not, expect the Bruins to still be able to possibly claim the Pac-12 championship and make a deep tournament run. Go Bruins.