Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse basketball recruit Quincy Guerrier, the gifted forward from Montreal, will not enroll at Syracuse University this semester, his coach said this morning.

Guerrier, who announced his intention to play for the Orange on Oct. 31, had hoped to enroll in school this month and begin practicing with his new teammates. He and his coach, Ibrahim Appiah, have worked to expedite the eligibility process with the NCAA since Guerrier’s announcement. The process was complicated by a few factors, notably the time constraints and Guerrier’s academic records, all of which needed to be translated from his native French to English and then presented to the NCAA for a ruling.

Syracuse students started classes last week, but students would generally be allowed to enroll this semester as late as Tuesday, the last day to add or drop a class.

Appiah said today it appears that Guerrier’s push to beat the NCAA clock has expired.

“Right now it seems like it won’t be possible for him to come in,” Appiah said during a phone conversation. “He might be short a credit so he might have to take another class here.”

Guerrier is a Montreal native but has attended school and played basketball in Thetford Mines, about three hours from his hometown. He talked last month about enrolling early at Syracuse to familiarize himself with the Orange system and begin bonding with his new teammates. He was excited about the possibility, but cautious about the chances of it working out for him.

“He’s disappointed,” Appiah said. “He would have loved to be there right now and I would have loved for him to be there right now training with those guys. Now I guess he’s going to have to get ready for summer school (at SU)."

Guerrier needed approval from the NCAA’s Eligibility Center so he could accept a basketball scholarship from SU. Appiah said he and Guerrier are still awaiting final word from the NCAA, but they are assuming at this point that he needs one more credit to qualify. Emily James, an NCAA spokeswoman, said last week the NCAA works on a case-by-case basis to determine eligibility and cannot predict how long each of these situations will take.

“It’s bad, but it’s not that bad,” Appiah said. “If we didn’t try to rush the process, we would never have known we needed the credit.”

Guerrier, a 6-foot-7 physically imposing forward named the best recruit in Canada in his class, did not intend to play basketball for the Orange this semester. He and his coach discussed how difficult it would be to drop in on SU mid-season during the most difficult portion of the Orange schedule. He wanted, instead, to test himself against bigger, better athletes than he would face in Quebec this year to better prepare himself for his freshman season.

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