Marquette's Todd Mayo Rendered Academically Ineligible

Marquette University's athletic department issued a press release Thursday evening announcing that sophomore shooting guard Todd Mayo has been rendered academically ineligible.

The loss of Mayo is a big one for Marquette as he was expected to play a significant role at the 2G spot this season. Last year as a freshmen Mayo was impressive, appearing in all 35 games while averaging 7.9 points and 2.7 rebounds.

In Marquette's press release Buzz Williams made the following statement:

"Todd understands success in our program requires a sincere commitment to excellence on and off the floor. I'm extremely disappointed he's put himself in this position, but he has the full support of our program as he works to improve."

Per NCAA rules, now that he is academically ineligible, Mayo will not be able to play or practice with the team, but does remain on scholarship.

As the news broke fans on message boards started asking questions about the rules, the situation and the most frequent question of, "Why now, why mid-semester?" Well, it is virtually impossible to get an answer on the specific details in a situation like this because coaches and athletic department staff members are strictly prohibited from speaking about any player's academics, so all we can do is rely on rumors, hearsay, or what you hear from others that are close to the player in question, in this case Mayo.

With that said, here is what my understanding of the situation is.... There are rules in place that state players must maintain a certain GPA. There are also rules that require players that have had academic issues to achieve higher than a certain grade in any one particular class. It is possible that Mayo may have been in that situation and needed to drop a class as opposed to taking a below average grade. In opting to drop a class, he may have dropped below the number of credits required to remain eligible.

So why was he taking the minimum number of classes?
Basketball is unlike other sports. These players put in so many hours, practice, weight training, travelling, film study - it takes up a lot of time. When you have "semester sports", like football or soccer, athletes generally take a light load first semester, and heavy load second semester when they have more time. Basketball crosses over in both semesters, so there is no way to do that. But many do take lighter loads first semester as they are adjusting to boot camp/training camp and the start of the season.

So why would he have dropped the class?
When you look at rules and penalties as they pertain to Marquette or the NCAA, there may be more options down the road by becoming ineligible one way, as opposed to another, in regards to the potential of being reinstated for the second semester, or as it may pertain to a potential transfer.

Again, the explanation above is only speculation as there is no way to get an answer from the athletic department per NCAA & HIPPA rules.