With junior point guard Cezar Guerrero among the returnees from a team that reached the championship series of the CBI last season, Fresno State was expected to be one of the teams in contention for the Mountain West title in 2014-15. However things haven’t gone as planned, with the Bulldogs off to a 5-8 start and Guerrero being declared ineligible by the NCAA.
Guerrero, who is in good academic standing according to Fresno State, was deemed to have not met NCAA continuing education standards. Those standards work to ensure that athletes are making proper progress towards earning their degree. Wednesday afternoon, hours before the team begins Mountain West play at New Mexico, the basketball program announced via its Twitter account that Guerrero’s status remains unchanged.
“Fresno State guard Cezar Guerrero won’t play in today’s MW opener @ New Mexico (NCAA continuing eligibility standards),” the statement (released via Twitter) read. “Guerrero remains in good academic standing w/ the university and has missed all of the Bulldogs’ games this season. Guerrero is enrolled in winter intersession courses; needs to meet necessary requirements to have eligibility recertified.
“There is no timetable for when Guerrero, who continues to practice with the team, may be available to return to the floor.”
Without Guerrero, who averaged 13.1 points and 3.5 assists per game last season, the Bulldogs have struggled offensively as they’re shooting just 43.6% from the field and averaging 9.9 assists per game. Efficiency-wise, Fresno State enters Mountain West play ranked eighth in the conference in adjusted offensive efficiency per Ken Pomery’s statistics.
Also of note is the fact that starting guard Marvelle Harris, who leads the team in scoring, won’t start Wednesday’s game due to his being late to practice on Tuesday.