Emmanuel Mudiay passed through the NCAA Eligibility Center on the academic front, SMU coach Larry Brown and an NCAA source told SNY.tv on Monday.
“The NCAA Clearinghouse approved his credits from Prime Prep,” Brown told SNY.tv exclusively after speaking with his compliance director earlier Monday. “I want people to know he could’ve gotten into SMU. He chose to go to China to help his family, not because of an amateur issue.”
An NCAA source confirmed to SNY.tv that the 6-foot-5 point guard was cleared on the academic front by the NCAA. The source added that the amateurism review was not completed, so it’s not clear whether or not that would have been a stumbling block.
It’s possible Mudiay could have been made to sit out some period of time had an amateurism violation been proven, but the NCAA source said, “That stuff is really, really hard to prove.”
Mudiay last week announced that he would forego his freshman season at SMU to play overseas. It was later reported he would earn $1.2 million to play in China.
In the end, the issue is moot because Mudiay will play next season in China. He is projected to be a top-5 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and will reportedly return to the United States next spring to begin working out for the draft.
