Eligibility of SE recruit will be examined

An NCAA ruling has left the eligibility of Southeast Missouri State men's basketball signee Martino Brock in question.

The NCAA on Monday added Nashville Christian Advancement Academy to a list of 51 schools from which it will not recognize diplomas.

Brock and Nashville Christian Advancement Academy's three other basketball signees from this year's team must undergo case-by-case academic reviews before the NCAA determines their eligibility.

Southeast assistant athletic director for compliance Jayson Santos said he is hopeful Brock will be eligible for the 2008-09 season, but right now the university must play a waiting game.

"We'll wait on Martino's grades to come back and see where he's at, then we'll file a waiver [with the NCAA] from there," Santos said. "Sure we're concerned, because the NCAA has basically said these schools are not valid.

"But considering he just finished his senior year and they [the NCAA] just determined this ... we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out."

Nashville Christian Advancement Academy coach Carl Reed told the Leaf-Chronicle newspaper of Clarksville, Tenn., that he doesn't anticipate eligibility problems for his players from this year's team.

In addition to Brock — a 6-foot-5 wing who is Southeast's most heralded signee for next season — James Harris, Mike Smith and Robert Elam all signed with fellow Ohio Valley Conference member Austin Peay.

"The kids in the 2008 class are fine," Reed told the Leaf-Chronicle. "This affects the 2009 class and classes beyond this. But this is a situation that will be resolved in a week or so. I was told by the NCAA that this will not affect the 2008 class."

Reed, the brother of Austin Peay standout Drake Reed, told the Nashville Tennessean: "I've seen diploma mills, and this is not a diploma mill. There are minor things that need to be addressed and corrected. I'm pretty positive this will all be resolved."

According to the NCAA, Nashville Christian Advancement Academy uses the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) program as a primary means of delivering education.

ACE has its own review process to ensure schools administering its curriculum are doing so in an appropriate manner. Schools administering ACE curriculum in an appropriate manner are given either model or quality status by ACE.

The NCAA has determined for high schools that use the ACE curriculum as their primary means of delivering education, those high schools must obtain model or quality status from ACE before the grades of prospective student-athletes will be used to determine initial eligibility. Currently, Nashville Christian Advancement Academy has not obtained model or quality status.