In a shocking development on the eve of the NCAA basketball tournament preparations in Pittsburgh, SU center Fab Melo will not play for the East Region number one-seeded Orange in the NCAA Tournament due to an eligibility issue.
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SU Assistant Athletics Director for Communications Sue Edson released the news as the team was departing for Pittsburgh, the site of second and third round games Thursday and Saturday, for the mandatory press conference and open practice in the arena tomorrow prior to Thursday afternoon’s game with 16th seed UNC-Ashville (approx. 3:10 pm).
The university had no other comment.
As The Juice Online has been reporting since January 11th, Melo has had academic-related issues leading up to missing three games in late January in which the Orange went 2-1. Melo started every other game of the season averaging 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, with 88 blocked shots.