McCray Ruled Ineligible for Rest of Season
Terps' Two-Year Captain Had Been Averaging 15.2 Points Per Game
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 23, 2006; 4:06 PM
Chris McCray, the leading scorer and two-year captain of the Maryland men's basketball team, was ruled academically ineligible for the remainder of the season, a serious blow to the Terrapins' hopes of returning to the NCAA tournament.
Beginning Wednesday at Georgia Tech, the Terrapins will play without McCray, a senior who was averaging 15.2 points per game and was widely viewed as the team's most consistent player the past two seasons.
The school announced the news through a release Monday. Student-privacy laws prohibit Maryland officials and Coach Gary Williams from commenting on specifics involving McCray's academic status, but team sources have indicated for weeks that McCray's eligibility could be in jeopardy when the spring semester started Wednesday. An athletic department source said last week that McCray would receive his grades early this week, which would determine his eligibility.
It had already been a trying year for McCray, who was arrested in August because police said he refused to leave the scene of a fight and initially fled police after an early morning incident in College Park. McCray, 21, was charged with misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace, resisting arrest and escaping from custody.
Those charges were dropped in mid-October, when McCray agreed to take an alcohol education course offered through the school and serve some 20 hours of community service. At the time, McCray said that the arrest "definitely humbled" him and taught him he had to live by high standards because he was the team's captain.
On Oct. 27, less than two weeks after the charges were dropped, McCray was with teammate Travis Garrison at the Cornerstone Grill and Loft, a popular College Park bar, when Garrison was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense.
Williams suspended Garrison on Jan. 14 for one game, against Wake Forest, for violating a team rule for being at the bar. Williams said he did not suspend McCray, who was listed as a witness in court documents, because unlike Garrison, McCray was not charged in the incident.
McCray's absence should mean more minutes for popular reserve Mike Jones, who matched his season high of 22 points in a 90-86 victory against Wake Forest on Jan. 15. Williams said after the game that he had recently told Jones to shoot without hesitation and such contributions from Jones would be much needed the rest of the season. Jones, however, does not possess the defensive presence that McCray did.
In addition to his scoring ability, McCray as been the team's best defensive player in man-to-man situations the past two years. This season, he denied Arkansas standout Ronnie Brewer a field goal in the final 14 minutes of Maryland's 75-62 victory on Nov. 23 in the Maui Invitational.
His best defensive efforts came last season when the 6-foot-5 guard held Duke all-American J.J. Redick to two subpar shooting efforts in two Maryland victories. McCray averaged 14.1 points last season, which was second on a team that missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012301018.html
:-"
