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Report: Sam Cassell Jr ineligible at Maryland

Maryland Terrapins' Turgeon yells from the bench during the first half of their ACC college basketball tournament game against North Carolina in Atlanta

Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon yells from the bench during the first half of their ACC college basketball tournament game against North Carolina in Atlanta, Georgia March 9, 2012. REUTERS/Tami Chappell (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

REUTERS

According to a report, Maryland will likely be without the services of Sam Cassell Jr. for the upcoming season due to academics. From InsideMDSports:

It’s unclear if the academic roadblock relates to coursework from Notre Dame or from his previous schools in his native Baltimore – Towson Catholic and St. Frances Academy – but Cassell is unlikely to play for Maryland during the upcoming season and possibly beyond, multiple prep coaches with knowledge of the situation told InsideMDSports.

The report also says that Cassell could remain committed to Maryland and attend a Junior College, but that there is a possibility he could end up transferring to a school that accepts partial qualifiers. There, he would sit out this season while getting himself academically eligible for 2013-2014.

The loss of Cassell hurts, but it won’t be a death-knell for Maryland’s season, particularly if Pe’Shon Howard is able to come back from last season’s torn ACL at 100% and Dezmine Wells catches a break and gets a waiver from the NCAA to be eligible immediately. If not, Howard will share backcourt duties with freshman scorer Seth Allen and Albany transfer Logan Aronhalt with Nick Faust, a potential breakout star, joining them at the three.

With Alex Len, Jake Layman and Shaquille Cleare up front, Maryland still has some potential this season.

But, if we’re being honest here, the Terps are probably still a season away from peaking as a program. So while it’s always frustrating to lose a recruit to what is reportedly an academic issue in September, this doesn’t change the long-term outlook of the team. It just means that Howard and company will have to play more minutes.

(h/t Testudo Times)

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.