UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad eligible to play for UCLA

The NCAA has reportedly fired Abigail Grantstein in the wake of the unraveling of the Shabazz Muhammad case. Grantstein is an assistant director of enforcement for the NCAA, who tasked her with the responsibility to investigate Muhammad. Unfortunately, her loud-mouthed boyfriend might have ruined her career.

The name of Grantstein surfaced earlier this year after a conversation on an airplane. Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times reported that a passenger was caught on an airplane flight stating that her girlfriend was doing whatever it takes to ensure that Muhammad would not be eligible this year, regardless of the findings. An attorney overheard the conversation, eventually interviewed the Times and sent his findings to a former NCAA infractions committee chairman.

After stating their case on Friday, it has been decided that Muhammad can play immediately. He will have to pay back $1,600 to the NCAA. Since he sat out UCLA’s first three games of the season, he does not have to miss any more. The Bruins’ next game is a showdown with Georgetown on Monday.

The Bruins entered this season with high expectations. Some national pundits pegged Muhammad as the National Freshman of the Year in the preseason, and some even believed he would be an All-American. Now that he is eligible to play, UCLA becomes one of the more formidable teams in the country.

The facts: Shabazz Muhammad was the no. 1 or no. 2 basketball recruit in America last year (depending on where you look), and last spring he chose UCLA over Duke and Kentucky. Then last weekend the NCAA declared him ineligible indefinitely.

They issued a press release explaining the ruling:

The supposed accusation would make it seem as if the NCAA had prejudged that Muhammad would be found ineligible regardless of the findings of the investigations. An attorney supposedly overheard a man claim that his girlfriend (an NCAA attorney) would find Muhammad ineligible. The attorney did sign her name in the email but has asked the Times to keep her identity confidential.

Here are more details from Holmes:

Head coach Ben Howland told reporters that the NCAA will hear the appeal on Friday and that they hope to have a resolution shortly after. The NCAA ruled last Friday that Muhammad would not be eligible to play due to a violation of amateurism rules.

Muhammad, a 6 ft. 6 swingman out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, has been practicing with the team all season, but missed the first two games, both Bruins wins, as UCLA is ranked No. 13 in the nation. UCLA’s strong recruiting class has been a key part of the team’s early success, and they are led by freshman Jordan Adams, who scored 26 points and made all 16 of his free throws in the Bruins’ narrow 80-79 win against UC Irvine on Tuesday.

The NCAA ruled the highly-touted UCLA freshman ineligible for several recruiting violations. Muhammad took unofficial trips to Duke and North Carolina and apparently accepted travel and lodging from a family advisor in Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln is the brother of an assistant coach on the Bishop Gorman high coaching staff, which is the school which Muhammad attended in Las Vegas. The NCAA has determined that the benefits that Muhammad received weren’t permissible.

UCLA has yet to appeal the decision to declare the Muhammad eligibility decision as they wait for more information to leak on the Muhammad situation. Athletic Director Dan Guerrero has stated an appeal will occur. Muhammad will have to sit out at least ten games before he can be cleared to compete for the Bruins.

The NCAA statement read:

Muhammad has been under investigation by the NCAA for connections between his family and a financial planner that gave money to Muhammad’s summer team in Las Vegas.

The UCLA Bruins have one recruit out of trouble, as Tony Parker has been cleared of any issues regarding his recruitment. But two more of UCLA’s basketball players have yet to be vindicated, as Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad remain under investigation.

Muhammad was ranked as the No. 1 shooting guard in the country by multiple recruiting services and was considered the top basketball recruit in 2012. Anderson was one of the top small forward prospects and also possesses the ability to play at the point occasionally. Parker is considered one of the best big men in the country.

Scout.com had the original report on these new allegations, though CBSSports.com had a report on Muhammad and his alleged ties to financial advisors back in February. The NCAA is now looking into the recruitments of both Anderson, the swingman out of New Jersey, and Parker, the team’s big man of the future out of Georgia.

Muhammad was not allowed to travel with the team on their recent trip to China, though both Anderson and Parker were cleared to go and play with the team.

So now we get headlines about Muhammad’s dealings with shady street agents, we get potentially a major hurdle in Muhammad’s basketball and personal development and the player (who also happens to be an 18-year-old kid) gets tagged with all kinds of nasty labels.

All because of the NBA age minimum.