Fresno State Athletics
Andrews Out For Upcoming Season
8/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | General
Oct. 29, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State women's basketball guard Emma Andrews will be ineligible to play for the Bulldogs for the 2008-09 academic year and the first three regular-season contests in 2009-10.
It has been discovered that Andrews technically violated an NCAA amateurism standard by participating on a semi-professional team, the Dandenong Rangers when she was 16 and 17 years old. Andrews' mother worked for the team and she would attend some practices so she would not be home alone after school. In 2005, the home roster for the Rangers was expanded to 12. As a result, Andrews' mother and the coach agreed to allow Andrews to sit on the bench during home contests. For this to happen Andrews signed an amateur player agreement, which is required to be listed on the roster of a WNBL team.
Andrews was listed as a member of the team for two years where she played in seven games for a total of approximately 32 minutes. Her play was limited to occasions when the contest was well "in-hand" or "out-of-hand." She did not travel with, nor receive expenses, from the team. While participating in this limited role for the Rangers, Andrews played consistently for her regular age-group team, the Nunawading Spectres. Andrews played for the Spectres from the age of 13 through 19 years old. Andrews discontinued her play with the Dandenong Rangers during her final year of high school when her parents felt she was old enough to be home alone after school. Andrews completed the necessary paperwork with Fresno State and the NCAA Amateurism Clearinghouse without reference to her participation with the Rangers because she never considered the participation significant or official. She also did not recognize the signing of the amateur player agreement as a contract. The NCAA Amateurism Clearinghouse approved her status prior to her participation at Fresno State.
Fresno State was not made aware of Andrews' participation with the Rangers until late March of 2008, following the completion of the 2007-08 season. Since that time the University has been working with the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff and committee to determine the impact on Andrews' eligibility.
The NCAA secondary infractions staff reviewed the case and determined that the institution did not know and should not have known of Andrews' participation. Subsequently, the NCAA has ruled that this issue will not affect the team's participation in the 2008 NCAA Tournament nor will Fresno State be required to pay the standard $5,000 fine for playing an ineligible player in an NCAA tournament game.
The Western Athletic Conference determines the effect on all regular season games and WAC Tournament games for the 2007-2008 season leading up to the NCAA tournament and that process is ongoing at this time.
